Six insights should provide food-for-thought in thinking about how best to market to the home shopper. Most of them will not be surprising.

1. Social media is more integral to shopping for youth.
2. Older shoppers follow the money prior to placing orders.
3. Older shoppers appreciate the product details more.
4. Younger shoppers gravitate to new features and tools like video, livestreaming and augmented reality.
5. Younger shoppers will take advantage of add-on services like assembly and design.
6. Same-day delivery resonates with younger audiences, as do curbside options.

Younger shoppers (18-54) are in the accumulation stage, so they are more aggressive in activities around researching and purchasing for the their homes, as opposed to their older counterparts.

Younger shoppers make home upgrades

Purchasing new furniture sees a 28% gap. Meanwhile, buying office furniture or related products follows with a slightly lower 24% gap.

General home upgrades also were on tap for younger shoppers (20% gap). Gathering ideas via social media also saw greater interest among the young (25% gap) and researching ways to enhance one’s home also was youth-oriented (18% gap).

Features that lead to buying are all about price. There’s a 16% gender gap seen in free shipping as a condition to drive conversion. Other promotions also were a factor from a female-to-male perspective (32% vs. 18%, or a 14% gap). The right price also came into play with a 10% gap. Free return shipping followed close behind with a 9% gap.

Getting shoppers to place an order varies by gender. Interestingly, males are more concerned with the overall site experience (56% vs. 45%) and appreciate a personalized site based on their past behavior (19% vs. 11%).

When asked which website attributes or conditions are most likely to lead to placing an order on a home goods retail website or app, money matters more to older shoppers. The gap in free shipping to drive conversion was highest across all sectors at 33%. The right price was also a significant factor for this segment, seeing a 30% gap. The older shoppers also find product selection integral to making purchases.

Younger shoppers find a personalized site more likely to drive purchasing (15% gap) and appreciate retailers where imagery is ample, especially in the home setting (12% gap).

Females find customer ratings and reviews more important. There’s an 18% gender gap (60% vs. 42%) in the role of ratings and reviews.

Stick to the basics – the fundamentals

Older shoppers appear to have greater interest in many of the fundamentals. The greatest age gap is in access to prices (31%). The ability to zoom in on product details also resonates with this older base (28% gap). Having the ability to compare products is also seen as valuable (20% gap). Most interesting for me is that they also value accurate delivery windows regarding arrivals (12% gap).

In contrast, younger shoppers gravitate to features and tools that involve their peers, with age gaps for uploaded photos (20%), videos (13%), livestreaming (11%) and room design tools (13%).

Merchandising also seems to matter with top sellers (12% gap) and trending products (11%) in favor.

Online shoppers were asked about their likelihood of taking advantage of add-on services when buying home goods online. Males versus females (33% vs. 13%) were very likely to value these services. They also seemed to resonate with younger shoppers where the age gap of 28% was significant. One explanation may be greater purchasing among these segments and the use of these tools that came of age as they were entering their formative buying years.

From a service perspective, males also booked online for product assembly (13% vs. 4%, or a 9% gap) and used services like Home Advisor or Task Rabbit for help (14% vs. 4%, a 10% gap). It is interesting to see that males are more likely than women to book virtual appointments with store associates (11% gap), to book appointments for in-store design services (8% gap) or for in-home services (8% gap).

Younger shoppers favored the smartphone, with a 34% gap. The young enjoy engaging with Pinterest (25% gap) and home/garden television (21% gap) as well as blogs (16% gap). Once again, their interest in tools and technology was seen with augmented reality (18% gap), customization (15 gap) and 3D room planners.

Males appear to be more active in taking advantage of design services to select products (19% vs. 5%, a 14% gap). They also contract more often to have products hauled away. (17% vs. 8%, a 9% gap). They also more often sign up for white glove service (12% vs. 5%, a 7% gap) and embrace in store pickup (32% vs. 24%, an 8% gap) while placing orders for same-day delivery (24% vs. 16%, a 8% gap).

When it comes to age, younger shoppers were more aggressive from a delivery point of view. Such gaps included placing an online order for same-day delivery (20%), ordering online for curbside pickup (17%), and signing up for white glove service (14%). They more often will take advantage of design services to select products (19%) and embrace technology using augmented reality or 3D tools to visualize pieces of furniture in a room (13%).

The younger consumer is hungry for technology and social media and enjoys using these tools to make better home purchases online. Using smartphones to gather information or make a purchase finds the greatest gap among older and younger shoppers (34%). Watching TV or looking at rooms on home and garden TV at 21% was a wide gap as well. Pinterest and other forms of social media were used more by these younger shoppers (25% gap), while blogs also serve to gather design ideas (16% gap). Using augmented reality to see how products might look in a room had an 18% age gap. Meanwhile, taking advantage of 3D room planners had a 15% gap. Customization has also seen greater traction among the youth (15% gap).

The physical store has a role to play

Men seek out brand experiences (24% vs. 13%) and enjoy getting advice from in-store experiences (21% vs. 12%). On the flip side, females like to see products in person (66% vs. 53%). And they prefer not to pay for shipping (48% vs. 32%).

Older shoppers like to see the products in person with a 37% gap. Though the numbers are much lower, the younger segments enjoy seeing how the products are displayed/merchandised in stores. Money talks, as older buyers appreciate in-store sales or promotions (21% gap). They also don’t want to pay for shipping (20% gap).

There are interesting findings in gender behavior, but it is age that sees the greatest gaps in how shoppers approach home goods buying. Gathering information, making product selections and embracing distinct features and tools drives their purchasing.

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