18 ebook Holiday VerticalPocketGuide Homegoods.pdf

The Pocket Guide to

A remodeling renaissance

Homeowners are finally back in the green after years of upsidedown mortgages and tight credit. An increase in home equity and discretionary income, a strengthening housing market, and a strong economy are all contributing to the growing demand for home furnishing and home improvement products.

At the same time, Millennials are finally entering the home ownership stage. They are doing so later than the generations that preceded them, partly because they are also getting married later, and possibly because they grew up during the financial instability of the Great Recession. But those that are buying homes are spending more in renovations year over year.

58% of homeowners plan to invest in home improvement projects this year, with 45 percent of those planning to spend at least $5,000.

5 out of 6 Millennials plan to spend as much or more on home improvements in the coming 12 months as they did last year, with more than half of Millennials expecting to spend more.¹

Smart homes, smart marketing

While the global markets plodded toward recovery from the financial crisis, the technology impacting the home and how we market home products has rocketed ahead at lightning speed.

It seems that any home object that can be connected to the internet now is, or soon will be, as the IoT (Internet of Things) continues to take over. Smart speakers, smart fridges, even smart garbage cans, are changing the way we think of "home" altogether—and changing the way marketers can reach their audiences. Brands trying to stay ahead of the curve are already improving their voice shopping capabilities and getting their systems in place to collect and analyze the unprecedented amount of IoT data coming their way.

How shoppers buy their home products is changing, too. Webrooming (researching online before buying in a store) and Showrooming (looking at a product in a store before buying online) are increasingly popular. These methods of shopping, along with the expectations of Millennials and Generation Z, are forcing home goods brands to revisit their digital and physical environments.

Smart homes, smart marketing

AR (augmented reality) and VR (virtual reality) are also making waves in the home category. Innovations as far-out as 3D printed furniture and immersive experiences using CGI recreations of stores are being explored. AR already in use today includes apps that enable shoppers to visualize specific items in their home and in-store navigation that uses computer vision to direct shoppers to specific items they need within the store.

51% of the world’s top global marketers expect that IoT will revolutionize the marketing landscape by 2020.²

3 trends to watch

What’s on the horizon for the home goods industry?

Mobile sales will continue to surge.
Shoppers use their phones while in-store to research and compare, they use them to find things like “furniture stores near me”, and they use them to make purchases in larger numbers every year. To stay competitive, brands will need to make sure that their mobile presence is on point.

Apps built with AR will be necessary to compete.

IoT will usher in a new level of hyper personalization
The home furnishings/improvement category presents many opportunities to get creative with AR and the amount of customer data available thanks to IoT will enable marketers to respond to individual needs more precisely than ever before. Through the connection of IoT devices with other marketing technologies, brands will be able to deliver the perfect message at the perfect time.

Key takeaways

1. Determine if you need a mobile makeover

Criteo’s most recent Global Commerce Review shows that mobile’s share of transactions is approaching 50% around the world. In recognition of mobile’s dominance, Google also rolled out a mobile-first index this year, which means that it is using the mobile versions of websites for ranking purposes.

Now is the time to take a hard look at your mobile presence and make sure it’s as good as it can be. Review your mobile site, including things like design, CTAs, product pages, and site speed, and revisit and optimize your mobile ad strategy.

2. Put your app at the center of your mobile strategy.

Criteo’s Global Commerce Review shows that for retailers who actively promote their shopping apps, mobile transactions represent 65% of all transactions and the share of in-app transactions across the globe has grown 30% YoY. Conversion rates on apps are also 3-6X higher than on mobile web. For home goods/home improvement brands and retailers in particular, a good app can turn an on-the-fence shopper into a happy customer.

3. Start improving your personalization now.

The beating heart of personalization is shopper data (like all that amazing IoT data we talked about earlier). Most brands and retailers don’t have enough of it to deliver the level of personalization they want. Take a look at your campaigns— is your data locked within walled gardens? Is it granular enough to deliver the right message? And do you have the AI technology to analyze it all and turn it into actionable insights?

A little marketing renovation goes a long way

For homeowners, certain renovations add more value than others. The same is true in the marketing world. For home goods brands and retailers who want the most bang for their buck, getting their mobile and personalization strategies in order are a sure win.