Meet the Next Wave of Homeowners

Trend stories in the mass media might make it sound as though half the members of the Millennial generation are still living in their parents’ basements — and thus largely nonstarters as potential shoppers at hardware stores and home centers.In fact, most are defying that myth and many are becoming homeowners, says Lionel Knight, senior vice president of planning at Upshot Inc., who will present a session on “Connecting With the Next Generation of Homeowners” along with colleague Neil Helsper, Upshot’s creative director, at the Path to Purchase Expo on Sept. 21 in Rosemont, IL.The presenters will amalgamate data drawn from organizations like the National Association of Realtors, The Futures Company, Bank of America and Harvard University to map “the size of the prize, as it were,” when it comes to Millennial hardware and home center shopper potential, Knight says. “We’ve done a lot of homework.” The Upshot team will discuss Millennials’ attitudes toward buying a home, which are markedly different from other generations in several key respects.For starters, perhaps because so many of them have delayed making their first purchase, Millennials seem noticeably less interested in starter homes. “We’ve heard a lot of, ‘I want a place to raise my family.’ That’s certainly interesting,” Knight says.Another myth in the media and the industry is that Millennials all want to live in city centers like the West Loop in Chicago, or Manhattan. “There’s an element to that, but most of them are very happy with the suburbs,” he says. “ It’s not necessarily their parents’ suburb … it’s maybe not totally suburban, it has a town center, has some interesting restaurants and good gyms and so on.”Perhaps unsurprisingly, technology is top of mind for Millennial homeowners. “Technology plays a big role, both in how they actually search for their homes, and what they want in their homes,” he says, including such “smart home” features as apps that control locks, cameras and thermostats.Upshot has culled research from Coldwell Banker, CNBC and other sources that shows 43% of 18- to 34-year-olds own smart-home technology, 72% of Millenial homewoners would pay $1,500 or more for smart home products and 44% would pay $3,000 or more. (See below.)Millennials are quite keen on what their space looks like and want it to reflect their personalities, Knight says. “They’re very willing to do home improvement so they can express their own style, whether it's something as simple as repainting a room, or whether it's a bigger deal and perhaps putting in original features,” he says. “One of the themes of our presentation is that they really don’t want it to look like a home out of a catalog.” But they might very well shop at catalog-driven stores like West Elm to put their pieces of personal touches together, he adds.The typical home improvement retail space isn’t necessarily organized around these priorities and desires, Knight says, and the Expo presentation will share principles that can help make the both the retail space and the larger path-to-purchase more Millennial-friendly and relevant. They also will show renditions that will provide creative ideas of what a store or a department might look like.“They certainly will not be definitive. They will be our opinions,” he says. “But they will be based on all the analysis we’ve done, which will be quite stimulating to people even if they send the CEO of Lowe’s screaming from the room. We work with retailers in lawn and garden, we worked with Scotts Miracle-Gro, doing all their shopper work," including a project that will help connect the brand to Millenials. “We understand all these practicalities.”The upshot of the presentation will be ideas aimed at laying a smoother, more seamlessly connected path to purchase, Knight says. “Some of those retailers might have some cool things on their websites in terms of how-to, but then it doesn’t really flow through into the retail experience,” he says. “They have some tips in-store, but nothing inspirational. We feel they have various parts in place, but they could be strung together much more effectively so that Millennials kind of flow down and you don’t abruptly switch from inspiration to practicality.”Many retailers in the home center and hardware space are beginning to move in this direction, adds Kristie Ritchie, vice president of new business and communications, so the presentation will be more aimed at CPG companies, “to inspire the brand that I can actually do stuff to help the retailer.”

Meet the Next Wave of Homeowners

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