Opinion
kbb Birmingham 2018 Show Special
How to… keep up with the changing consumer
Jane Blakeborough, research director of market intelligence resource Trend Monitor, outlines the latest consumer trends that directly affect independent KBB retailers and has some suggestions for how they can take advantage of them
K
eeping up with today’s consumer is all about learning how people live their lives and use their homes. By understanding these motivations, we can get a better insight into the kinds of products they will want to buy. We’re all aware of the long purchase cycle associated with bathroom and kitchen products. Couple this with a general lack of brand awareness, and the result is often a nervous consumer who relies heavily on the retailer and installer to guide them through the purchase process.
Our behaviours and lifestyles are constantly evolving, and although we think we’re making personal decisions when it comes to the way we live, we are also, often unknowingly, reacting to major global trends. Understanding a little bit about these trends and asking a few simple lifestyle questions will give some big clues as to the kinds of products a consumer really wants
and needs in their new kitchen or bathroom Take wellness, for example. Wellness is a huge trend that encompasses a wide range of industries from holidays to finance. For the KBB industry, it’s been a fabulous trend to run with. But what is wellness and why are we seeking it out
now? According to the World Health Organisation, wellness is defined as “the state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not necessarily the absence of disease or infirmity”.
Influence
Asking a few simple lifestyle questions will give some big clues as to the kinds of products a consumer really wants and needs in their new kitchen or bathroom
A closer look at some mega-trends will give us an indication as to why wellness has become such an important trend for the KBB sector. Nine out of 10 of the UK population lives in an urban environment, often in a house significantly smaller than the size guidelines set by the Government in the 1920s, possibly working from home, with their twenty-something children and elderly parents living under the same roof. All of these influences are having a profound impact on our mental and physical health. And our reaction is to seek out wellness – to create a sanctuary to escape to in our own home. There’s little doubt that the phrase wellness will suffer the same fate as the term ‘super-food’ – overused and misunderstood. But will consumers continue to seek a home environment that has a positive effect on their physical and mental health? Definitely. This goes way beyond purchasing ‘spa’ products – it’s about creating a calm space that is individual to us.
Another consumer buzzword is ‘experiences’, referring to the trend for seeking out an experience, as opposed to buying more ‘stuff’.
Selling an experience, rather than a product, is an extremely effective sales technique, as I found out myself first-hand when I went in search of the perfect oven combo for my new kitchen.
Despite telling myself that a steam oven was out of my price range, I walked away from a manufacturer’s
36 kbbreview kbb Birmingham Special Edition March 2018 12%
THE PERCENTAGE OF HOMEOWNERS THAT CONSIDER THEIR DOG WHEN PLANNING A NEW KITCHEN
‘Experience Centre’ not only with the oven, but having booked myself onto a steam oven cookery course. Why? Because this oven will make the perfect risotto. All I need to do is arrange the ingredients on the steamer tray, set the timer and, hey presto, I get home at the end of the day to a very tasty risotto. I wasn’t buying the oven, I was buying the experience. One of the greatest influences on how we use our homes is the people we live with – our household structure. When we think about occupants in a house, we tend to think in terms of families, but 30% of households in the UK are classed as ‘non- family’. These include single-person and multi-family households, or simply groups of people who live at the same address and share cooking facilities and a social space. The Office of National Statistics has identified these as the fastest-growing household types. Research has shown that living in a shared, non- family environment is a very positive experience, but it does raise the issue of privacy. Consequently, these are the households that are that are putting in more bathrooms, often into very small spaces – under stairs, in the loft and into single-storey extensions. And let me leave you with one of our favourite consumer insights from our own research
into
kitchen purchase behaviour, namely that 12% of homeowners will take their dog into consideration when planning a new kitchen.
• Jane Blakeborough will be speaking at the kbbreview Retail & Design Conference, see pages 8-9 for the full programme
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