NEW YORK— HOMEWORLD BUSINESS® recently sent one of its resident Millennial editors to four New York-area home stores in an effort to find out just what kind of draw today’s retailers have for this steadily growing generation of consumers.
Under the facade of a new homebuyer looking to fill their home with essential housewares, HomeWorld found many useful insights into how retail is evolving to meet the needs of today’s 21 to 30-something consumer.
“Hi, can I help you with anything?” The seven most important words for many Millennial shoppers looking to stock their first home.
Whether through happenstance or a clever customer service strategy, the helpful staff member was a newly engaged, Millennial homebuyer herself.
When asked what essentials a new homebuyer might need, while keeping future bridal shower and wedding gifts in mind, she was able to speak from experience with authentic and genuine recommendations, noting that she herself was registered at the retailer for her upcoming nuptials.
She took her time walking through the store and pulling products she thought would be necessary for home cooking while waiting for the big-ticket items to be gifted to the household in the future.
Also a chef and one of the instructors for the retailer’s cooking classes, she was able to offer up products (and recipes!) with a healthy lifestyle in mind, particularly those for a Millennial vegetarian.
She also understood the Millennial penchant for small batch, family owned brands, and, when asked, was more than able to describe the small, family-owned nature of many of the brands stocked in-store, delving into each brand’s heritage, location and product assortments.
After explaining each product and its uses, she added, “I can also offer you a 10% discount, if you choose to buy anything today.”
Not only did she offer a discount that wouldn’t have been found otherwise, she offered it without being pushy; a big incentive for the Millennial shopper who doesn’t want to be forced into a purchase but instead lead to the decision themselves.
Due to the store’s outstanding customer service and product selection, Sur La Table ended the day with at least one more lifelong customer.
Unless there’s a specific product in mind, shopping at a mass home store can be daunting. Cue the customer service (and sound the alarm for merchandising).
While no staff member was on hand walking into the mass home specialty retailer, a conversation could be overheard between an older couple and a Bed Bath & Beyond employee.
“But this isn’t our usual mop,” the older man said.
“We don’t stock those anymore,” the employee replied.
The employee noted that a new brand of cleaning tool was now exclusively available in-store and could be found by the couple in the cleaning aisle.
Looking distraught at the idea of having to switch from their tried and true product to a new, unknown brand, the employee seemed unable to assuage their fears or offer insights into the new products available.
However, after more investigation it was discovered that the staff member had called a customer service representative to meet the couple in the cleaning aisle to help them with the decision.
While hopes are high that the couple walked out with a new forever cleaning tool in hand, it raised the question of whether or not the retailer would be able to meet the unique needs of their Millennial consumer when they seemed to fail their Greatest Generation.
However, a unique merchandising strategy was found in the store’s home environment section, where each fan available for purchase was plugged in and running.
Millennial consumers will refrain from purchasing anything that takes up room in their home unless it’s worth it, and seeing (and feeling) a product at work pre-purchase is a major plus.
Walk into Target with $5 and leave with $100 worth of product— it’s happened and will continue to happen to most Millennial shoppers, and it’s a nod to the retailer’s easily perusable store layout and product selection.
Easy purchases for the home or kitchen at seemingly fair prices abound, and, while it is curious that the retailer places its home environment appliance selection outside of the home aisles where other appliances like kitchen electrics and floor cleaners can be found, it does a good job with signage and directing shoppers through the large open spaces.
Millennials don’t want to be overwhelmed when it comes to store layout, product selection or customer service, and the combination of perusability and easy finds is a major plus when it comes to attracting this consumer.
However, the retailer’s merchandising strategy left much to be desired during this store visit. For example, end cap vignettes meant to showcase a college dorm room or home office were cluttered with irrelevant product and brown boxes piled higher than the end cap itself.
Display furniture on the shelf was also broken and worn, and with a $200 price tag on a simple table it’s hard to persuade a Millennial shopper to go mass-production when an extra $100 will buy them the one of a kind, handmade option, and the individuality they crave, from the shop down the road.
In addition, while searching for a store employee to point out a few essential housewares items suitable for a new homeowner, and finding none, the addition of craft beer to its consumables aisle couldn’t help but be noticed. Millennials are the darlings of the craft beer craze, and have prompted an explosion of craft beer related product development.
This unexpected find prompted one Millennial to peruse the tabletop aisle for new glassware, and gave the inclination that maybe, just maybe, the retailer really is trying to speak the Millennial language.
Mason jars filled with baked good ingredients: $5 to $10.
Giftable mason jars with recipe cards and baked good ingredients: $12 to $15.
Mason jars that satisfied both wants, lined up all in a row on a reclaimed wood storage stand: Priceless.
Analysts and marketers agreed, showroom-style merchandising is the future of a successful retail experience, and DL Barn has the concept down pat.
Millennials are constantly searching out trends while creating a few of their own, and showcasing how a simple housewares item can transform into a coveted, on-trend product or serve multiple purposes is a merchandising strategy bound to draw the attention of the Millennial shopper.
In addition, perhaps more than anything Millennials want to assert their individuality, and the “one-of-a-kind” nature of many of the items found at DL Barn answered that need.
The store’s owner noted that while some items could be made to order, accommodating numerous home dimensions and design choices, many were also produced with reclaimed materials in batches as small as one. This included a hand-made, one of a kind wine rack that may have been purchased by this editor during the duration of this visit.
Millennials have also supported the maker movement more so than any of its predecessors, and, according to the store’s owner, 95% of the products at the independently owned specialty home store are Amish-made while the other 5% are hand picked from makers in the same Pennsylvania area. If a retailer is able to on-board small batch items that support a community instead of a conglomerate, they’ll be that much more likely to draw in and retain their Millennial shopper.