This week we take a look at the effect first-time homebuyers have on retail and all things trending in the retail industry in 2021.

WHAT’S IN THIS WEEKS EDITION, YOU ASK?

  • First-time homebuyers and retail industry
  • How to use the changes in retail to your advantage
  • The new world of social commerce
  • Dos Marcos mattress podcast discusses how to stay relevant and how to gut check whether you’re falling behind.
  • Turn your foot traffic into more sales with a 90-day free trial of Doorcounts 3.0.

And, here’s what’s in next week’s edition: February in review

FOOT TRAFFIC INDEX

Here’s a look at last week’s foot traffic compared to the same time last year.

DC FEATURE OF THE WEEK

This is where each week we highlight a feature within Doorcounts. This week’s feature is:

Sales statistics (Day)

Seeing an overall view about how your stores are doing throughout the week or month is great, but sometimes you need to take a deep dive into a specific day.

 
The Sales Statistic by Day tab shows you every metric for each of your stores in a sheet that can be exported in multiple formats such as CSV or PDF.
 
For someone who loves digging into the data, the Sales Statistic by Day tab is a great tool for comparing specific days.

TRY DOORCOUNTS 3.0 90 DAYS FREE!
…and cure YOUR traffic blindness! 

Get your 90-day free trial today and start turning your foot traffic into more sales, with no obligation.  And if you already have Doorcounts, get an upgrade.

FOOT TRAFFIC TRENDS

Industry insights so you can convert your foot traffic into more sales.

Learning from the past

Many trends that emerged in 2020 due to the pandemic are going to be here to stay for a while to come — and this could be a good thing for retailers.
 
One of the more obvious trends was the shift to working for home for many people around the world. 4.7 million Americans already worked from home before the pandemic in 2019, and now a survey from Global Workplace analytics finds that 56% of the US workforce has a job that allows working from home.
 
While 56% of the workforce is in a position to work from home, only around 24% are still working from home in 2021.
 
For retailers in the furniture, mattress, and appliance industry, this is a very promising trend.

First-time homebuyers

A major influence of the furniture, mattress, and appliance industries is the housing market.
 
If people aren’t buying new houses, there isn’t a major rush for new furniture and appliances — although we have seen a decent rush from the increase of people working from home.
 
In 2020, there were 1.86 million first-time buyers who bought a home which resulted in a 9% increase in first-time buyers since 2019.
 
Although first-time homebuyers are not usually ones to get new or expensive furniture, with 24% of the workforce still working from home, people started looking for bigger homes in 2020.
 
In 2020, single-family home sales rose 6.3% while condominium sales decreased by 0.3%.

This week on Dos Marcos

This week our friends at Dos Marcos explain ways to stay relevant and how to gut check whether you’re falling behind.

Social commerce

Although shopping online isn’t anything new, the idea of shopping directly from a social platform without having to go to a third-party website is still relatively new.
 
Last year Shopify partnered with Tok-Tok as a way for people to order a product directly from Tok-Tok without having to leave the app.
 
The partnership allows Shopify merchants to create shareable content that turns their products into In-Feed video ads that will appear throughout the platform.
 
Similarly, Facebook released Shops in 2020,which adds an amazon-like marketplace to the biggest social media platform.
 
As the pandemic continues and social media continues to grow, the global social commerce market is estimated to increase at a soaring rate of 31.4%.

Brick and mortar tools

Although some of the digital and social commerce can be useful for the appliance, furniture, and mattress stores, there really is no replacing the brick and mortar stores.
 
There are now smart tools you can you to find the brick and mortar location that is best for your store.
 
Sometimes a building will just speak to you, but other times you really need to look at the data to see if the location makes sense for your company.
 
A great place to compare locations is Google Trends which allows you to search which areas produce more searches or compare terms by geographic location.

NOTEWORTHY NEWS

Go big or go home: Corsicana Mattress to build a 376,000-square-foot facility in their hometown.
 
Growth: The Covid vaccine triggers the fastest economic growth in over two decades.
 
Appliance global report: See how 2020 played out in the Household Appliances Global Market Report for 2021.
 
Future of durables: As consumers have already gorged themselves on durable goods such as TVs and furniture, see which items are on consumer lists.

RANDOM IRRELEVANCE

Get out while you can: Social distancing has resulted in the world’s largest snow maze nearly doubling in size.
 
Autonomous store: The world’s biggest camera-operated autonomous store has opened in Shanghai.
 
Mitten Bernie: Bernie Sanders’ mittens propelled $1.9M in Etsy sales last month.
 
Albino deer: A New Jersey man’s doorbell camera records a visit from a rare albino deer.