Homebase CEO Damian McGloughlin: ‘Experience is the key to relevance’

The Covid-19 pandemic has brought about significant – and likely long-lasting – shifts in how people want to shop and how they feel about going out to the shops.

Safety is understandably now the number one factor for shoppers when deciding whether to visit any store. Customers must be assured that their health is a retailer’s top priority and we can expect to see people continue to vote with their feet here. 

This new safety-conscious shopper also comes into the store with a completely different mindset and expectation for the shopping experience.

The keyword here is ‘experience’ – when consumers can order products to their door at the click of a button, a physical store must offer something over and above the items it sells.

Having made the trip to a physical store, customers are looking to be engaged, inspired and even entertained. They must be able to see, do or access something they can’t online. 

We know that many people get their initial ideas for home and garden updates or transformation projects from social media, which has a huge impact on how they then want to shop.

This new safety-conscious shopper comes into the store with a completely different mindset and expectation for the shopping experience

Customers are expecting to see products in situ, along with suggestions for which paint colours will go best with what furniture, and whole room sets to help them envisage how the look could fit in their own home.

This trend has been building for several years, but has been heightened by the pandemic, as people spend more time online browsing for inspiration and planning room ideas that fit with their lifestyle.

Our new ‘get the look’ room sets, and ’storage and home’ shop-within-a-shop layouts are good examples of how we are making it easy for customers to visualise how products and designs might look in their own home. 

In the last year, we’ve been trying out innovative new store formats that also focus heavily on inspiration, for example, our newly launched Decorate by Homebase stores.

These stores feature dedicated ‘creativity spaces’ that allow customers to work with our team to try different colours next to one another, as well as mapping out what their new living room or bedroom might look like.

Likewise, our new Bathstore and Kitchens by Homebase showroom in Guildford – which opened in October – is equipped with technology such as 3D-visualisation software, to help customers get really hands on in creating their dream rooms.

Green thinking

According to Kantar’s Covid-19 barometer, 51% of people think environmental issues remain important through the disruption Covid-19 has brought, while an additional 22% think they are more critical than ever.

We know from our own research that three quarters of people are eager to make their homes more energy efficient, yet many struggle to know where to start.

With our customer passions and priorities in mind, we are so proud of the recent launch of our green aisle, which puts a range of our most environmentally friendly and energy-efficient products all in one place.

Retailers have had to adapt to an extraordinary amount of change in the past few months, both operationally and in light of how customers want to shop

The pandemic has prompted everyone to consider their own personal impact on the environment and we believe we have a role, and a responsibility, to help make it easier for people to shop in line with these values.  

Retailers have had to adapt to an extraordinary amount of change in the past few months, both operationally and in light of how customers want to shop.

To rise to these challenges, retailers must not let the pandemic become a distraction, but keep a laser focus on the customer, and be ready to act on this insight with the bravery and ambition to make bold changes.