Blinds - The Forgotten Category of Home Improvement?

Over the last 12 months the Home Improvement industry has experienced a dramatic increase in interest in our homes & gardens as we all became far too aware of the issues and problems surrounding our everyday environment. Not enough space to both home school and work, too little storage for new-found hobbies, lack of privacy with everyone at home all day or noticing shabby decor that had long been forgotten – huge opportunities for retailers and suppliers involved right across the Home Improvement and Home Enhancement markets.

Without doubt general retail has been hit hard and many businesses have struggled, or even folded, during the pandemic, with consumers shifting from in-store purchasing to online ordering. Nevertheless, the UK market has seen a ray of hope with an encouraging uplift in home and garden related projects as homeowners try to create solutions – whether refurbishing a kitchen, redecorating the lounge, planting a vegetable plot, or creating an office space, homes up and down the country have been undergoing makeovers.

Recent research from 4C Associates highlighted that this trend for investment in our homes and gardens is likely to continue. In their report ‘Life after Lockdown’ the company studied post-Covid buying attitudes in the UK, exploring how consumers feel about re-entering the economy and what lasting changes retailers can expect, covering five generations, from various demographics and areas.

The key takeout from the report was that more than 50% of consumers planned on spending more on both Home Décor and Outdoor Living in 2021.

You can access the report here.

With lockdown having been lifted, I am once again out visiting Home Improvement stores, spending hours looking at new store concepts, new ranges, comparing products, reviewing pricing and researching. I’d go as far as to say that these stores are my second home. However, over the years there is one category that I have simply failed to get my head around, a category that feels so unloved and forgotten, that remains dull, lost and uninspiring.  In many retailers, it’s surrounded by shelves full of inspiration, colour and ideas and yet a visit to this category is like a walk back in time.

The category that sadly fails to deliver on its full potential, in my opinion, is Window Coverings, predominantly window blinds and in my view, the image below says it all.

When confronted with Blinds and Window Covering products and ranges available from all the leading Home retailers there appears little clarity or differentiation between product type. It’s not easy to identify the features and benefits of the various products, it’s virtually impossible to visualise the end-result, inspiration is often totally lacking and consumers are far from being tempted to pick up products as the merchandising is overwhelming. 

Dunelm, John Lewis, B&Q and The Range work the hardest and do a relatively decent job with their blinds and curtains but it’s not overly inspiring. Other major retailers including Homebase, Next, B&M and Wilkinson seem to treat the category as a second-class citizen while Wickes chooses to pretty much avoid the Window Covering category altogether.

As a result, consumers flock to online retailers such as Blinds2go, Blindsdirect and Hillary’s, all of whom offer wider and better ranges, made to measure options, easy to use configurators and more of a personal service. Without doubt, their ranges are vast, however online retailers simply cannot offer the instore experience so loved and valued by consumers.

Interestingly, research both during and post lockdown has consistently shown that the majority of consumers prefer to browse and buy in-store for home improvement and home enhancement products. Here’s an extract from the report. 

Let’s take a moment to reflect on what makes a successful category. At a broad level, the objectives of category management are simple: improve navigation and the customer experience, remove duplication and complexity, drive efficiencies for businesses and deliver quality products and services that generate increased sales and profits. On paper it sounds easy, however, managing a successful retail category is far harder to achieve. 

GfK tells us that Blinds and curtains really matter to UK homeowners and that in their terms, the Window Dressings market is worth an estimated £1.5bn. Of that, Ready-made blinds are worth around £76m and Made to Measure blinds £487m. It’s one of the many categories that has enjoyed a renaissance during lockdown, as consumers (often inspired by what they’ve seen online) invested in the redecoration of one room after another.

It’s an interesting observation that many of us have rooms with multiple windows, which means if the product offer and solution is right, the basket spend for window coverings would easily dwarf the investment in paint and accessories.

So why is it so difficult to get this category right at the point of purchase? Why do consumers find it so confusing? Why does it lack a bespoke offering? What could the potential be and what value could the category deliver if retailers and suppliers worked together to get it right?

At the Global DIY Summit in Dublin in 2019 I first met a company that is confident of bringing innovative window covering solutions to the UK market. Trendiy is a well-known brand in the Netherlands and France for over 30 years and a leading authority across Europe specialising in the development, manufacturing, and distribution of window decoration to DIY, home improvement and home enhancement stores as well as to online retailers.

I believe this is an exciting and timely opportunity for Trendiy to make its mark. The UK Window Covering category clearly needs a champion – could Trendiy be the one to take the lead?

Founded in 1971 and part of B&C International, Trendiy has a turnover of more than €100million per year, distributes to 14 countries, and has 825 employees. Manufacturing products in-house in Poland and at partners’ production facilities in both Europe and Asia, with headquarters in Netherlands and offices in Belgium, France, Spain, Italy, Poland, and Taiwan, Trendiy has extensive international presence and now, at last, the UK looks to be firmly within its sights.

What makes them so successful in many other European markets? Could their approach work here in the UK and, more importantly, would it appeal to UK consumers?

I asked Paul van Renselaar, their Business Development Manager - “Trendiy prides itself on customer intimacy, through its tailor-made approach, store presentations and exemplary customer service. We invest in long-term partnerships with our customers, and we provide tailored advice for each customer and translate their consumers’ needs and wishes, their company vision and their specific market positioning into successful assortments, tools, and services.’

Paul continues ‘Of equal importance is consumer insight with the focus on on-trend collections and product innovation. It starts with a deep understanding of the end consumer. We work hard at obtaining extensive market, shopper and consumer data and follow the constant changing consumers' behaviour. These valuable insights are the base for our category vision, innovations, product collections and our omnichannel approach which is unique in the window covering category and has a proven track-record in The Netherlands and other European companies. Sharing these insights with our customers gives us added value which is important to be successful in our rapidly changing market.’ 

These images below are from Karwei one of the leading Home Improvement and Lifestyle retailers in the Netherlands.

What I’m particularly struck by and where I feel Trendiy really can make a difference and reinvigorate the category here in the UK is its in-store presence and the complete consumer support package on offer. With well-designed, well-thought-through shop-in-shop display solutions, product demos, collection books and stand-alone configurators in hundreds of stores, a mobile configurator, consumer sample service and series of online tutorials, shoppers have all they need to make their final purchase simple and easy.

Trendiy have completely transformed the Window Coverings category at some of the largest retailers across mainland Europe and here's another example from Leen Bakker, a Dutch Home Furnishings retailer.

I feel we could finally be on the verge of seeing an exciting new Window Coverings experience, from a category that can add significant value to the market and incremental sales and profit to the retailers willing to make the change. Let’s hope the category does not remain forgotten for long……

For further information or to find out more about their plans for the UK, contact Angela Young today at Angela.Young@insightretail.co.uk

or visit their website - Trendiy Website

Steve Collinge is an international speaker, influencer, retail commentator and is Managing Director of Insight Retail Group Ltd and executive editor of Insight DIY. You can follow Steve on LinkedIn here on Twitter here and contact him via DM on LinkedIn.