“Home” has always provided us with warmth, comfort, and refuge. But with social distancing and quarantining becoming a new way of life, homes are becoming the epicenters of consumer behavior.
Whether you’re marketing to consumers, businesses, opinion leaders, industry professionals, or government agencies,the people who make up these audiences are spending much more of their time at home. Marketers should keep these ten trends in mind when developing their plans and tactics.
Home for Work
This one almost goes without saying, and it’s not going away anytime soon. Google announced it will keep employees working remotely through July 2021. REI just built an elaborate HQ, but will now be selling it. And most other organizations are considering at least partial increases in WFH time for employees when possible.
Home for Learning
The education system—from pre-school to higher ed—may undergo a massive shift in how it teaches students. There’s a lot of uncertainty, but one thing is clear: more kids will be able to learn remotely than ever before, meaning more homes will become their own “centers of learning” for families.
Home for Protection
Now more than ever, people’s homes are their “safe space”—protecting families from the risks associated with exposure outside the home. Look for consumers to keep finding ways to make their homes more safe and secure.
Home for Socializing
The pandemic has amplified the value of socializing virtually with family and friends—often ones who are thousands of miles away—without having to see them in person. This will undoubtedly impact people’s exposure to marketing channels and purchase opportunities.
Home for Shopping
For the first six months of 2020, Amazon reported North American sales of $101.56 billion—an increase of 36.4% from the prior year. The shift from physical retail to eCommerce has been rapidly accelerated by COVID-19, with record growth in online orders for everything from food to prescriptions to groceries to household products.
Home for Creativity
Spend five minutes on TikTok or Instagram and you’ll see an abundance of “at home” creativity on display. From choreographed dance moves to athletic trick shots to imaginative home decoration —people are seeing their homes as new stages or canvases for creativity.
Home for Entertainment
With the live event and movie industries in flux, consumers and content creators alike are embracing the power of home entertainment—including an increase in digital movie premieres and virtual music concerts (not to mention all that time we’re spending on Netflix...).
Home for Healthcare
A new study showed that 42% of U.S. adults have used telehealth services since the beginning of the pandemic. And, like education, the U.S. healthcare system may never be the same due to the increased availability and adoption of (often less expensive) virtual services.
Home for Fitness
With gyms across the world closed due to social distancing requirements, adoption of digital at-home fitness services has skyrocketed. Peloton recently estimated an 89% year-over-year revenue increase. If consumers can find much of the value of a gym membership in at-home services at a fraction of the cost, how many will continue to work out from home for the foreseeable future?
Home for Escape
With health officials encouraging people to stay home as much as possible, traditional get-aways have been limited. The popularity of wellness vacations is being replaced by a rise in digital and at-home wellness experiences such as Headspace (90% week-over-week growth in March) and Calm (3.9 million downloads in April alone).
Home is Where the Heart Is… and Now A Lot More.
We would be remiss to ignore the devastating impact the pandemic is having on those who struggle to maintain a home. Increasing evictions and homelessness are societal problems we will need to address as a world and a nation. But for us marketers, it’s imperative to understand how the evolution of home will impact behavior across a wide range of consumers, citizens, and professionals.
