3X Online Growth, 2X Brand Loyalty: How Challenger Brands Are Reshaping the Building Products Industry
In an industry traditionally dominated by established players with deep pockets and extensive dealer networks, a new wave of challenger brands has emerged, fundamentally disrupting the building products landscape.
These insurgent companies aren't just winning market share - they're reshaping customer expectations and transforming how products reach professional contractors, builders and homeowners.
The Perfect Storm: Why the Building Products Industry is Ripe for Disruption
According to recent research from Zonda , we're witnessing a significant shift in how building products are purchased. E-commerce sales have grown 2.7-3x since 2020, mirroring a transition similar to what the retail industry experienced over a full decade (2007-2017) but compressed into just four years. Most tellingly, professional contractors are now reporting increased online purchases, including pure e-commerce platforms and direct-from-manufacturer channels.
This digital transformation coincides with major demographic shifts. The report highlights that between 2024-2030, as baby boomers retire, the industry will face a wave of skilled contractor "age-outs," creating labor shortages precisely when demand is set to surge. With older homeowners (65+) spending nearly 90% of their remodel budgets through professionals rather than DIY, the power balance is shifting dramatically toward pros who influence product selection.
For challenger brands, this convergence creates the perfect opportunity to disrupt - particularly as contractors face an overwhelming array of choices online. Where professionals once selected from fewer than 20 options at traditional distribution, they now navigate thousands of alternatives in the digital marketplace.
Successful Challengers: Strategies That Won Market Share
Several ambitious companies have already successfully challenged category leaders by employing distinct strategies that leverage these industry shifts:
1. Marvin Windows & Doors: Premium Differentiation
Challenger Tactic: While Andersen and Pella competed mainly on price and volume through mass-market channels, Marvin positioned itself as the high-end, design-forward alternative.
Key Strategies:
Built direct relationships with architects and designers for high-end, custom projects
Avoided big-box retail in favor of showroom experiences and trade partnerships
Emphasized craftsmanship and customization rather than standardization
According to Zonda's Brand Power Index, Marvin scores significantly higher with remodel contractors (1399.6) than with builders (352.1), demonstrating its success in infiltrating the premium renovation segment where design significance matters most.
2. LP SmartSide: Technical Differentiation Against Category Goliaths
Challenger Tactic: LP SmartSide directly challenged fiber cement giant James Hardie by developing engineered wood siding that combined the durability of cement with the aesthetic appeal and workability of real wood.
Key Strategies:
Targeted contractors with messaging about easier installation and superior impact resistance
Conducted visible side-by-side durability demonstrations against James Hardie products
Built relationships directly with builders rather than focusing primarily on homeowners
The results speak volumes: LP SmartSide scores 339.5 with builders and 492.1 with contractors in the Zonda Brand Power Index - among the highest in the engineered wood siding category and a clear indicator of its successful penetration in both market segments.
3. Trex: Creating a New Category Through Sustainability
Challenger Tactic: Rather than competing directly with wood decking manufacturers, Trex essentially created and dominated a new category - composite decking - by emphasizing sustainability and lifetime value.
Key Strategies:
Marketed its products as eco-friendly (made from 95% recycled materials)
Focused on homeowner demand creation through advertising and influencer partnerships
Positioned itself as a premium lifestyle choice rather than just a decking solution
Trex achieved an extraordinary 1904.3 with builders and 1552.0 with contractors in the Zonda Brand Power Index, dominating the composite/PVC decking category and forcing traditional wood decking manufacturers to defend their relevance.
4. Cambria: American-Made Luxury Against Global Competitors
Challenger Tactic: Cambria took on international quartz brands like Silestone and Caesarstone by emphasizing American manufacturing and premium positioning.
Key Strategies:
Created an exclusive dealer network with premium pricing
Developed direct-to-consumer showrooms for an immersive brand experience
Leveraged "100% American-made" messaging against imported competitors
Cambria's Brand Power score of 236.1 with builders and an impressive 434.4 with contractors demonstrates its successful positioning as the premium American alternative in the quartz countertop category.
5. Toto: Technological Innovation in a Traditional Category
Challenger Tactic: Japanese toilet manufacturer Toto entered the U.S. market with high-tech, bidet-equipped fixtures that directly challenged American giants like Kohler and American Standard.
Key Strategies:
Redefined the conversation from basic plumbing to cleanliness, comfort, and environmental benefits
Targeted luxury hotels and high-end architects to establish prestige positioning
Marketed advanced features (heated seats, water-saving technology) that traditional U.S. toilets lacked
The Digital Transformation: What's Happening Now
There’s a fascinating pattern emerging as building professionals shift their purchasing behavior. When contractors move their buying online, two distinct dynamics emerge:
Margin pressure for mediocre brands: "Middle-of-the-road" products face increasing price competition when exposed to the transparency of online markets.
Concentrated power among "superstar" brands: Products with exceptional professional awareness and loyalty actually gain advantage online, as contractors overwhelmed with options gravitate toward names they trust.
This mirrors what happened in other industries that underwent digital transformation. When the music industry shifted from traditional distribution to streaming, overall margins compressed, but a small number of "superstar" artists captured a disproportionate share of revenue and profit.
The Long Game: Why Brand Building Is Essential for Challenger Success
One of the most striking findings in the Zonda research is that brands with high "Brand Power" scores (over 500) were 2.2x more likely to capture purchases when contractors shifted to e-commerce. This underscores perhaps the most critical element of challenger brand strategy: brand building as a force multiplier for performance marketing.
Brand Building: The Differentiator in a Crowded Digital Landscape
In an industry where thousands of options are now just a click away, the ability to stand out based on professional reputation and recognition has become exponentially more valuable. This explains why:
Memory Structures Matter: When facing overwhelming choice, contractors default to brands they recognize and trust. The neural connections created through consistent, distinctive brand building become the mental shortcuts that guide purchase decisions.
Price Sensitivity Decreases: Strong brands like Marvin and Cambria maintain premium pricing even in transparent online environments because their perceived value transcends simple price comparison.
Specification Becomes Self-Reinforcing: Once architects and contractors develop loyalty to brands like Trex or LP SmartSide, they become less likely to experiment with alternatives, creating a virtuous cycle that increases market share.
The Balance: Long-Term Brand Building vs. Short-Term Performance
The most successful challenger brands in building products have mastered the balance between:
Performance Marketing: Targeted digital campaigns, trade show presence, and dealer incentives driving immediate sales
Brand Building: Consistent investment in distinctive assets, professional education, and category-defining positioning that compounds in value over time
Research across industries consistently shows that the optimal balance is roughly 60% brand building and 40% performance marketing - yet most building product companies reverse this ratio, over-investing in immediate sales activation while under-investing in the brand equity that would make those activations more effective.
Each of our challenger success stories demonstrates this principle:
Marvin invested in architectural relationships and design credentials long before seeing market share returns
LP SmartSide built contractor trust through education and demonstration, creating preference that withstood price competition
Trex committed to category-defining sustainability messaging when immediate sales didn't justify the investment
Cambria established premium American-made positioning that now commands price premiums online
Emerging Trends Reinforcing the Need for Strong Brands
Several additional trends highlighted in the Zonda research further reinforce why long-term brand building has become more crucial than ever:
Category Concentration: The report reveals that out of 1,117 brands analyzed, only 258 were "above average" in capturing contractor preference, with just 48 achieving exceptional Brand Power scores. This concentration of influence means the window for establishing meaningful differentiation is narrowing.
Pro Veto Power: The research documents increased instances of "pro veto" - where contractors override specified products in favor of their preferred brands. With labor shortages increasing contractor influence, the ability to be the "preferred brand" carries outsized value.
Interior Products Leading Digital Shift: Categories like cabinets, appliances, and countertops are shifting online fastest, creating precedents that will eventually extend to structural and exterior products. Brands that establish digital preference now will have advantages as these shifts accelerate.
Amazon's Growing Influence: The report notes that Amazon sent more representatives to a recent building products strategy conference than any other company - a telling indicator of how digital marketplaces are reshaping the industry. In this environment, brands that stand out among thousands of listings will capture disproportionate share.
What It Takes to Become a Successful Challenger Brand Today
Looking across these success stories and current market dynamics, several key strategies emerge for companies wanting to challenge established leaders:
Identify a genuine point of differentiation: Whether it's design aesthetic (Marvin), technical performance (LP SmartSide), sustainability (Trex), origin story (Cambria), or innovation (Toto), successful challengers lead with clear differentiation.
Bypass traditional channels: Many challengers succeeded by circumventing the dealer-distributor networks that incumbents dominated, instead building direct relationships with influential specifiers.
Master digital engagement for professionals: With contractors increasingly researching and purchasing online, challengers need sophisticated digital strategies to capture attention at critical decision points.
Commit to long-term brand building: The most successful challengers invest consistently in building professional awareness and preference, recognizing this as a multiplier for all other marketing efforts.
Build distinctive brand assets: In a crowded digital marketplace, owning unique visual elements, terminology, or positioning creates the mental availability that drives selection.
The building products industry is undergoing its most significant transformation in decades.
As professionals shift to online purchasing and face overwhelming choice, the brands that will win are those that combine genuine differentiation with powerful digital presence and professional influence.
The question isn't whether disruption will continue - it's whether your company will be among the disruptors or the disrupted.
And increasingly, the answer depends on your willingness to invest in long-term brand building alongside immediate sales activation.
If you're leading a building products company with ambitions to challenge category leaders, I'd welcome a conversation about how these market shifts might create specific opportunities for your brand. The window for establishing challenger positioning is open now, but won't remain open indefinitely.
How I Help Building Product Brands Challenge the Status Quo
As a brand strategist and Fractional CMO specializing in building products, I help ambitious companies identify and capitalize on these market shifts. My approach involves:
Deep industry trend analysis: Understanding exactly how professional purchasing behaviors are evolving in your specific category.
Distinctive positioning development: Crafting a unique market position that separates you from both established leaders and other challengers.
Digital ecosystem optimization: Creating seamless digital experiences that capture professional attention and convert research into specification.
Balanced marketing investment: Developing strategies that properly balance long-term brand building with short-term performance marketing.
Professional influence strategies: Building systematic programs to increase brand power among the contractors and builders who increasingly drive purchasing decisions.