5 Tips to Grow 2022 Garden and Home Improvement Product Sales with Millennial Males

Millennials have been an important demographic for consumer packaged goods for many years. But did you know Millennials are among the fastest-growing demographics in home improvement and lawn and garden segments? 

From a gardening and home improvement product perspective, millennials represent a major customer segment that will number 76 million by 2036 according to Pew Research Center. Millennials account for 43% of all home purchases and 22% of all homes sold according to the National Association of Realtors.  

At Axiom, we’ve been researching Millennial males since 2018. We have interviewed or surveyed more than 2,500 Millennial males in North America and have observed the following (Download our surveys for more detailed findings):

• Millennial males are highly active in DIY projects and highly confident in their DIY abilities.
• Millennial males use two primary sources to learn about new home and garden products – television/video sources and retailer staff.
• Millennial males are exquisitely focused on increasing the value of their homes by purchasing things that they “want for their homes and yard.”
• Millennial males will be spending more time and money on outdoor projects in 2022.
• Millennial males value their time.

So how can you increase sales with Millennial males? 

• Positioning – Position your product to fit the underserved needs of Millennial males. If you haven’t focused on these needs, it’s time to do some homework using interviews, surveys, or store visits.      
• Place – Determine if Millennial males are shopping your channel partners. Ask them to provide a listing of marketing and sales initiatives that target Millennial males.  Ask them to provide details on foot traffic and social media and website metrics.  Don’t forget e-commerce channels. 
• Process – Create a customer journey map for Millennial males by channel. Identify points in the decision process where you can educate, create third-party endorsements and referrals that are relevant. 
• People – Focus on input from your Millennial team members. Ask them to critique positioning, feature and benefits mix, product claims, and more.  Charge them with developing customer briefs and creating segmentation models for Millennial males.   
• Profitability – Identify the SKUs which are most desirable to Millennial males and rank the SKUs by profitability.  Develop and enhance channel partner EDI reporting systems that allow you to monitor sales on a 24-7 basis, particularly during the busy spring and fall sales seasons.  Provide channel partners with better and more insightful analysis of the POS data they share as it relates to key customer segments like Millennial males.  Connect the dots about how it enables you as a manufacturer to help them grow their sales and category profitability among Millennial males. 

For more information, click on the following Axiom Insights Surveys on Home Improvement and Gardening we have recently released.

Top Outdoor Projects for 2022

Gardening Growing More in 2022

Millennial Home Improvement in 2021

For more information, contact Mike Reiber at mreiber@axiomcom.com.