How Do You REALLY Feel?

October 31, 2010  by in UnCategorized   

By Home Furnishings Business in on November 1, 2010

I love consumers. I love to ask them questions and I love to hear their answers. They fascinate me because, while many times they follow the norm, there are times when they totally surprise me. That is the fun part.

 The Consumer Intelligence application on FurnitureCore allows us to show graphically the results of surveys we conduct which delve into the attitudes of consumers about their homes and home furnishings. The following screens from FurnitureCore present some of their thoughts on the furniture-shopping process. I am sure you will find some things that will make you happy. I am also sure you will find some things that will give you pause. You may even find a few surprises of your own.

What would you say is the most significant barrier to your shopping for furniture?
What is keeping the consumer from shopping for furniture? Two factors stand out as external obstacles in the minds of 70 percent of consumers€”the issue of lack of money to put toward a furniture purchase, and the problem of €œWhat am I going to do with the old furniture?€

Obviously, the money issue is heavy on the minds of consumers, with 61.5 percent giving this as the reason. The concern here is how the retailer can get these consumers into the store merely to €œtake a look.€ The problem of getting rid of the current furniture is a major nuisance to around 9 percent. While this is not a huge number, retailers may want to investigate ways the store could make it easier for the consumer to discard the old so she can bring in the new.

The other barriers are internal issues. Often the sales associate may not at first recognize these hidden issues. They are uncertainty and fear. Thirty percent of consumers are grappling with these hindrances. Of the two, uncertainty is a problem with 22 percent of consumers who indicate they don€™t know what they want. They are unsure about the style and the look. It€™s hard to pull the trigger when this is the situation. Another 8 percent are afraid of making a mistake. This lack of confidence can cause these skittish consumers to avoid the buying process altogether.

If you had a free afternoon, what is the likelihood that you would spend it in a furniture store?

Another area we looked at was the likelihood of visiting a furniture store just for fun. We asked consumers if they had a free afternoon, what€™s the chance they would spend that time in a furniture store? This was on a rating scale of 5 to 1, with 5 being very likely and 1 being not at all likely. The average of the responses for all the responses was a 2.9€”a rating barely above the halfway mark.

However, when we segmented our consumer respondents by Lifestyle cluster, we found that Style Awares were much more likely to enjoy an afternoon in a furniture store€”a rating of 3.4 of a possible 5. In Impact Consulting€™s proprietary database of Lifestyle clusters, Style Awares are those consumers who have a heightened sense of style and are very motivated by how things look. They spend a good part of their leisure time actively shopping and surveying what is in the marketplace. Therefore, not only are they comfortable in a furniture store, but they like being there.

Which word or phrase most accurately describes your last furniture shopping experience?

Exactly how did the consumer feel about her last furniture shopping experience? Prepare for medicine that may be somewhat bitter.

Forty-one percent thought it was ho-hum or negative! It was either frustrating (16.6 percent); it accomplished a goal and nothing more (17.8 percent); or it was forgettable (6.5 percent). Forty-eight percent said it was nice (pleasant), while ONLY 11 percent said it was exciting!

If the consumer is in the furniture store, it€™s highly likely that she is in the market for furniture. Apple has firmly established the idea that shopping for a phone can be so exciting, people will stand in line for hours or days to buy the latest. Who says shopping for the home couldn€™t also be exciting?

OK, so furniture shoppers probably won€™t stand in line for hours in the pre-dawn waiting for your front door to open.

Even so, give some thought to what type of first-rate shopping experience you could offer them that would make them eager to see what€™s happening on the other side of that door.

Complete the following sentence with the phrase that best describes your reason for wanting new furniture: €œI want to change my room because €¦€

Our experience has shown that Replacement is the most frequently ۬cited reason for wanting new furniture. The consumer has looked at the worn upholstery on the sofa about as long as she can stand it and has decided to do something about it. This is the need factor. In the same vein, Function is only slightly less often given as the reason to shop for furniture (31 percent). With this consumer need also is seen as a motivation to purchase.

Desire is exhibited in the Comfort issue (11 percent). The furniture may be in perfect condition so there is no real need to replace it. However, if it is not meeting the comfort requirements of the consumer, desire for comfort will drive the purchase.
Style is the motivator for 23 percent of reasons for wanting new furniture. Outdated color or style, the desire for more formal styling, or a wish for more informal styling are all internal motivations for a consumer to begin to shop for furniture. These internal motivators can be the strongest of all motivators. We often see an outwardly expressed need for change may simply be a cover for an inner desire for furniture.

After you have made the decision to purchase home furnishings, what are the steps you take in your shopping process? List in order with 1 being the first step, 2 being the second step, etc. Use each number only once. Do not number any steps you do not use.

By far, the first step that consumers take most frequently is Internet research. This consumer will come into the furniture store armed with information. She has seen a large selection of products and gotten ample product information when researching Web sites€”whether manufacturer sites, retailer sites or other information sites. She is definitely an informed customer.

Looking at the furniture on the retail floor is the second step in the process. When she comes into the furniture store, she has already seen a broad assortment of products (probably on the Internet) and most likely will be a consumer aware of what her options are and decisive in her choices.

The third shopping step is saving newspaper articles and ads. According to our research, there€™s nothing more satisfying to the furniture consumer than to curl up with the Sunday furniture supplement. This is true even for those consumers not currently in the market for furniture, those who just want to keep up with what€™s out there.

How long did you shop for the product before you made your most recent furniture purchase?

We live in a ramped-up world. Consumers, especially younger consumers, have become accustomed to a world of convenience€”fast foods, the speed of technology, the rapid pace of travel. Making quick decisions based upon the expectation of large number of choices is the norm to today€™s furniture consumer. While they have spent additional time pre-shopping via the Internet, newspaper ads, etc., more than 75 percent of consumers only shop a month or less before making the furniture purchase.

If we look back to research Impact Consulting did in 1994, we see the results of the changing times. This earlier consumer spent more time in the shopping process.

Fifty-two percent spent a month or less shopping before the purchase; 26 percent spent one to three months; 11.2 percent spent three to six months, and 10.5 percent spent six months or more shopping for furniture.۬۬Check one or more of the following that helped you decide to purchase this product from this particular retailer.

To no one€™s surprise, Style/Design is the leading factor in the consumer€™s decision to purchase furniture at a specific retailer. If she doesn€™t like how it looks, she won€™t buy the product. Therefore, the fact that the highest percentage of consumers (37.9 percent) gave this reason is no revelation to us. We also note that the second most mentioned influencer was Price (23.3 percent)€”another given.

The third was Product Availability (18.1 percent). No waiting around for this consumer. Remember, she has shopped the Internet and has seen that amazing selection of available products. She lives in that world of immediate gratification.

Therefore, she does not want to wait to get into her home that fabulous sofa she has told all her friends about.

As most retailers are aware, a vast majority of consumers are not limiting their shopping to one retailer. They are in the market and they shop multiple stores. Here€™s that statistic: The fewest consumers (only 5.5 percent) said they shopped only one store. You can€™t count on Mary Jones to always be your customer. She may give you first look, but you can bet she€™s shopping the marketplace. Make sure her shopping experience at your store will bring her back when she€™s ready to buy.

Without a doubt, consumers have very definite opinions about the furniture shopping process. Your task as a retailer is to identify, based upon the demographics of your marketing area, the consumer most likely to purchase from your store (your primary consumer) and to consider any barriers that consumer has to shopping for or buying furniture.

Equally important are identifying those external and internal motivators that will drive her to regard you as a retailer to shop and pinpointing the most effective methods you can use to get her into your store. Finally (and this may be the most important task), you must give her a shopping experience that will keep her coming back. HFB