Looking for a lifestyle

The 69th National Hardware Show in Las Vegas, USA, at the start of May attracted over 30 000 visitors. More than 2 500 exhibitors were reported to be present, including around 500 new exhibitors. The total exhibitor figure a year ago was put at roughly 2 700.
For buyer convenience, exhibitors were classed in the following categories: Building Products; Farm and Ranch, Hardware and Tools, Homewares, Paint and Accessories, Lawn, Garden and Outdoor Living, Storage and Organisation, Plumbing and Electrical. Exhibitors included veteran small and big brands as well as some 500 new vendors. A new feature at this year’s show was the product segment “Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Recovery”.
The supporting programme for the fair covered topics including female customers, young customers who have grown up with apps and social networks, and the demands that homeowners now make on retailers. Because hardlines retailers are so dependent upon homeowners for DIY tasks, one session was devoted to a discussion of today’s homeowners, who are vastly different than in earlier decades. Panellists stressed they were looking for a lifestyle when making a home purchase and noted how much they value customer engagement at the retail level.

“A lot of retailers, wholesalers and distributors still have a traditional view of who’s buying homes today, but the profile of the traditional home buyer is changing,” according to Jaime Koch, managing editor of Hardware Retailing and the panel moderator. “Homeowners are very dynamic and very different in today’s environment – they’re flippers, investors and family members purchasing together.” According to the National Association of Realtors, 16 per cent of U. S. home buyers are single females, who value an inviting store atmosphere and retailer proactivity in informing them about what’s going on in the home improvement industry. In the “Millennial Homebuying Preferences” keynote presentation, Jill Waage, editorial director for home content for Better Homes & Gardens, a major consumer magazine, said millennials are coming to market armed with knowledge and a sense of personal style aesthetic, but they still need retailers to give them guidance through the process. They are also tech-savvy and ready to purchase when…