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The home improvement boom has continued past lockdown and an opportunity for retailers to capitalise on increased demand remains.

B&Q recently announced a 70% increase in pre-tax profits for the first half of 2021, while the value chain Dunelm reported sales up 44% on pre-pandemic levels.

We explore three means by which retailers are increasing homewares sales:

Online
Ignited by Instagram, more young people are buying fashionable homewares, while older consumers are using the internet to inform their purchases. Product imagery and information are two of the most important factors in a consumer’s buying decision.

E-commerce sales were estimated to have reached 33% of the total in 2020. Homeware, which perhaps historically has been more resilient to the effects on online penetration, also saw online sales rise sharply too. For instance, Dunelm saw a 38% year on year increase in online sales even after stores reopened, one quarter of which was click and collect.

Wayfair, and American e-commerce company selling furniture products, has also enjoyed success during and following the pandemic. Active customers reported rose to 31.1 million (20% y-o-y increase) last month. Free and rapid delivery has helped established strong customer loyalty and repeat purchases.

Partnerships
To capitalise on the growing appetite for home upgrades, grocers are expanding the range of household products within their supermarkets. Sainsbury’s recently relaunched Habitat (seen above) in its stores, selling products such as cushions and vases, as well as a children’s furniture range. Alongside Argos units, which have been rolled out within most large Sainsbury’s stores, this represents a concerted effort to expand their non-grocery offering.

As well as the convenience of purchasing these goods in-store, some supermarkets have grown their online household goods presence too. Aldi now sells a range of value interior items through a new online home store. Sainsbury's also hope to revive Habitat's online presence, and in the words of the CEO, make the brand ‘more accessible and affordable for everyone.’

City centres
To target a younger consumer demographic, some homeware retailers have increased their presence in city centre locations. IKEA, which has traditionally focused on large out of town units, is soon to launch in the former Topshop flagship on Oxford Street. Central units tend to focus on showrooming products, as well as offering smaller household accessories, such as cushions. In central locations such as London, where the rental market is strong, these products have greater appeal to consumers.


In the future, homewares retailers can continue to take advantage of the boost to the sector by expanding both their online and offline channels, as well as expanding click and collect services and those which provide the best omnichannel experience will likely do better.

One trend for the future is sustainability .Niche players are already selling recycled and recyclable items and it is likely this will become more prominent in the sector soon.

Jamie Parker