Reaching out to our younger consumers

Written by Steve Collinge – International speaker, thought leader, retail influencer and commentator, MD Insight Retail Group & Executive Editor Insight DIY.

Our industry has a huge challenge ahead of us.

As retailers and manufacturers, we’ve been riding on a wave of increased expenditure and interest in our Homes and Gardens, generated by the COVID – enforced lockdowns and spare cash to invest.

If like me, you’ve probably read numerous articles talking about the ‘new consumers’ entering the market, the Generation Z and Millennials who appear to have discovered a new love for picking up a paint brush and transforming their living spaces, investing in house plants to improve their mental health and growing their own vegetables.

Earlier this year, as I began to reflect on 2020, I felt really encouraged by this surprising new trend, thinking this was going to fuel growth for the established Home & Garden retailers across the globe for decades to come. As this generation then move from being renters to first time homeowners they will probably invest more and more in their homes and gardens, remembering how important their homes have become during the dark days of lockdown.

So, what’s the problem then, what is the huge challenge ahead of us? The industry is in a great place, many of the retailers and merchants are full of confidence, trialling new format stores, dramatically increasing their online ranges, experimenting with new product categories – all designed to inspire us, make our homes and gardens beautiful and our lives easier?

The issue and challenge is ultimately one of brand loyalty. We believe we know our customers and where they prefer to buy their home and garden products and why they make their purchasing decisions. We also think that these same customers have a fairly good idea of what they are doing with the products when they get home.

However, particularly in the UK, the new consumers who have entered the market during lockdown and played a role in boosting our sales and profit numbers do not have the experience and knowledge that we do. They have no loyalty for any of the retailers, or quite frankly any of the brands, with them we’re starting from ground zero. Our combined investment in advertising over the years has had little or no impact on them and even today, it’s highly likely that the places we’re advertising and promoting our brands and products are not focused on the younger generation and their needs.

I recently spoke with a Head of Insight for a global Home Improvement retailer and she told me, ‘the real problem is we don’t know who these younger consumers are, we’re struggling to understand their motivations, needs and behaviour and we don’t know how to reach them’.

Understanding and reaching out to this new generation of consumers is a real challenge for almost all retailers and most brands in our industry.
To help, a new report by youth marketing experts YPuLse titled ‘No Place like Home’ provides some helpful insights on how the Covid pandemic has changed how Gen-Z and Millennials view their homes.

In summary the report states “As young people look to their spaces as mental health retreats, at-home items and services that comfort, declutter, or foster a feeling of escape from the outside world will resonate.”

YPulse observed that millennials have homebody tendencies, with a majority preferring to go to a café or watch Netflix at home as opposed to going to a party on a Saturday night. A recent survey confirms that this sentiment was present even prior to the pandemic with, “67% of 19–37-year-olds telling YPulse in January 2021 that they would rather stay in on the weekends than go out.”

The Role of Socials

We are all aware that Gen Z and Millennials grew up on social media and as a result it influences so many aspects of their lives. Fifty-six percent of 13-39-year-olds say everything in their home should be beautiful so it looks good in pictures for social media. Social media is also where Gen Z and Millennials are finding home décor for their spaces, with Instagram and Pinterest the top social media platforms for inspiration.

So, what’s happening in our industry, which brands have taken the first, brave steps to engage with a generation who hasn’t grown up with big box or traditional home improvement retailers.

Lick Paint and Instagram

A business that only launched in the UK at the end of March 2020, Lick Home has taken social media by storm. Employing an aggressive Instagram strategy, they’ve engaged with the coolest lifestyle influencers to help spread the word about their new brand.

Younger and more approachable than the established competition, Lick have showcased modern paint trends, utilising user-generated content (UGC) and their IGTV (Instagram TV) series ‘Decorating Diaries’ is a must view for anyone after a splash of inspiration. They are one of the best examples of a brand in our industry reaching out to the younger consumers, with another great example being how responsive they are to customer queries, answering many questions daily, such as ‘What colour would match with Pink 04?’.

Wickes & TikTok

In November 2020, Wickes became the first brand in the Home Improvement industry to launch a campaign on TikTok. Partnering with Takumi, a global influencer marketing agency, the #MyWickesMyWay campaign, involved seven content creators each producing a video on the social media platform. The objective was to drive awareness of Wickes’ range of products and reach a completely new audience with authentic and creative content.

Working with Takumi, the TikTok creators were tasked with adapting existing trends including DIY tips and transformation hacks to create cultural moments and increase product usage. Supporting Wickes’ vision to increase home projects and to be the partner of choice for younger home improvers. The innovative campaign has delivered over 612,600 views and 120,000 likes as well as a combined reach of 442,000 and an engagement rate of 18%.

I’ve watched the campaign and it really wasn’t something that would motivate me to go and buy from Wickes, but of course that is the whole point!

B&Q and Zara Home

B&Q have also recognised the importance of engaging with a completely new, younger audience. Following the launch of a tasteful collection of DIY tools by Zara Home, it was great to see B&Q showing some real personality and a sense of humour.

“Shout out to Zara Home on their new tool range, we hope we did you justice. Zara x B&Q collab?” – Tweet by @BandQ – Sept 2021

Conclusion

According to a recent whitepaper from Takumi ‘Into the Mainstream: Influencer Marketing in Society’ during the next year, 35% of marketers are considering working with influencers on TikTok and almost three quarters are now allocating a greater proportion of their resources to influencer marketing than they were a year ago, including sectors less traditionally associated such as architecture, engineering & building.

The future of our industry is in the hands of the younger generations, it will be these individuals who will decide whether our brands and our businesses survive the next ten years. Understanding their motivations and needs when it comes to caring for and transforming their homes and gardens and reaching out to them in ways that meets those needs, is critically important.

If we don’t, we risk being irrelevant to these consumers and missing out as they continue to invest in their homes and gardens in the decades ahead.

Steve Collinge is an international speaker, influencer, retail commentator and is Managing Director of Insight Retail Group Ltd and executive editor of Insight DIY. You can follow Steve on LinkedIn and Twitter and contact him via DM on LinkedIn.