Understanding Durability Globally

Like many furniture retail brands, durability was our client’s number one priority. They wanted to stick around for the long term, evolving alongside their shoppers and meeting their needs every step of the way. The only problem was, our client didn’t have a clear understanding of the needs, values, expectations, and cultural trends that shaped people’s decisions. Our client also lacked intel on how to assemble these factors in a way that easily applied to the brands, products, and services people choose in retail and adjacent categories, across varying markets. So, our job was to explore people’s lifestyles and shopping habits so that our client could build durable brand solutions for the future.

We started with a global audit and synthesis of knowledge with the core team across market. Here we began to root ourselves in what we already knew about people’s behaviors, routines, and attitudes, to inform our hypothesis session with key stakeholders. We then tested current whitespace opportunities in IDI’s among 25 participants in each market. We asked a series of questions related to the role durability played in their lives, including how it feels and looks at each lifestage. To illuminate further, we visited star participants in their homes, asking them more about their favorite brands, products, and services. We later held a story building workshop to identify insights and implications for the brand.

Our client’s development team received the knowledge they needed to shape new solutions (within products & services and retail, around durability), which set them up for success for the next 2-3 years. We tackled big questions around expected life span, value for money and extended life cycle. We also identified opportunities where they could win - in terms of what people expect from their products and how our client can fill the gaps.

Presented by The Sound