Higher-end homewares and furniture retailers have an opportunity to make gains among the 18-34 age demographic, as younger consumers are more likely to consider quality factors as key to value for money, rather than simply the price tag, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.
GlobalData’s recent survey* found that younger UK consumers, in particular, were less likely to consider price to be a key factor in home retailers’ value for money credentials. Just 31.7% of under-35s cited low prices compared with 46.3% of over-55s, and instead disproportionately cited factors concerning craftsmanship such as comfort and design.
Oliver Maddison, retail analyst at GlobalData, comments: “To a large extent, young consumers are more likely to consider value for money to be comprised of factors that will boost their enjoyment of the product over its lifetime, even if it costs more. 18-34s perceive comfort to be the third most relevant factor to value for money, ahead of the other age groups.”
The comfort of furniture and homewares is a factor most clearly favored by higher-income consumers, with 42.0% of respondents with a household income above £50k considering comfort to be a key attribute to value for money in home retailers, compared to 35.6% nationally. The fact that younger consumers are more likely to consider such elements in their value for money calculations, while de-emphasizing price, speaks to an opportunity for more premium retailers to make hay out of younger consumers’ more refined tastes.
Maddison continues: “While still a secondary consideration to factors like price and quality, younger home shoppers are also much more likely to consider style to be important. 23.4% of 18–34-year-olds considered ‘designs or styles that will not go out of fashion’ to be a key value for money attribute, and 18.9% said the same for on-trend designs, compared to 16.4% and 13.6% of the population at large, respectively.”
The preference for classic styles over trends among under-35s contrasts with the 35-54 age group, who are more likely to consider on-trend designs to be a key attribute of value for money at 15.1%, compared to 13.0% for classic styles. The growing preference for designs that outlast trends among young consumers mirrors developments in clothing & footwear such as ‘underconsumption core’ and capsule wardrobes, with consumers making fewer, more considered purchases.
Maddison concludes: “Retailers such as Next, which place a heavy emphasis on their style credentials in their home offerings while also ensuring that their products are high quality, are best placed to be perceived as good value for money by younger home shoppers.”
*GlobalData’s monthly tracker survey consists of 2,000 nationally representative UK respondents
