Despite an uncomfortable autumn Budget for retailers, with the employer national insurance contribution and business rate hikes, there is a positive outlook for independent retailers in 2025.
In November, the Bank of England cut interest rates from 5% to 4.75%. This will stimulate more house moves, which will mean increased consumer spending on house repairs, renovations, and improvements. In December’s kbbreview magazine, the industry opinion is one of positivity for the new year. The Bathroom Manufacturers Association predict a healthy 3-4% growth in bathroom sales. It’s not just the bathroom industry, as sentiment across the whole of the KBB industry is strong. The homewares industry is also looking positive, with the BDO High Street Sales Tracker for homewares up 0.3% this week. Furthermore, Retail Week stated that homewares can expect an increase in value of 2.8% year-on-year for the golden quarter.
Housing market dynamics are crucial to the success of all retailers in 2025. So how is the property market faring? Well, great, actually! Transactions in 2024 from January to November were 6% higher than in 2023. Buyer confidence is high, following two interest rate cuts and expectation of further reductions. Demand volumes (which we measure as sales agreed) have increased by 17.9% compared to 2023 and we’re seeing this growth in demand across the whole of the UK and all property price brackets. This is fantastic news for the KBB and home improvement sector as growth in property transactions will continue well into 2025.
Let’s not forget Labour’s pledge to get Britain building again. They’ve announced they would reduce planning constraints to stimulate the building of more houses. So, we’ll likely see even more house moves – and more house moves mean more opportunities for kitchen and bathroom upgrades for those relocating to older properties.
According to Retail Week, “The GFK Consumer confidence index has risen slightly in November, as people move on from the budget.” All in all, it sounds very positive for the independent retail sector.
Tips for cost-effective yet powerful marketing in 2025
The evidence gathered during major recessions and market downturns has proven that when times are tough, companies should double their marketing investments. Why? A strong marketing strategy is essential for businesses to retain customers, stay visible, and position themselves for success when economic conditions improve. Here are some of our suggestions for marketing in 2025:
1. Personalisation is a must
Next year, you need to prioritise personalisation to better connect with your customers. People are looking for genuine and relatable brands so if you want to stand out, you have to get personal. When you understand your audience, it builds trust. To do this you need data.
Data is essential for understanding the customer's behaviour, preferences and history. You need to invest in the right tools to obtain the right data. This will help you create content that resonates with your audience and allows you to recommend a product or service at the right time.
Personalisation also grabs attention because it’s relevant. When you match customer behaviours and preferences, this type of targeted marketing increases customer engagement and loyalty.
Which channel excels in personalisation? Direct Mail. Whilst people are getting tiresome of email, direct mail continues to outperform other channels.
Ad fatigue and mistrust in digital platforms are rife. As such, brands are reverting back to traditional marketing. Digital is a crowded market and according to Kantar, there has been a decrease in social channels capturing attention from 43% to 31% from 2023 to 2024. You need to create a positive emotion and genuine connection with your brand. Direct mail can do just that – it’s a traditional yet highly effective channel.
According to JICMail, direct mail door drops have an ROI of £2.60 and consumers gave direct mail 62 seconds of attention on average in Q4 2023. In contrast, many digital ads are instantly forgotten about. Direct mail, on the other hand, is tangible, so it stands out. Emails and online ads can be ignored, but direct mail lands on your doormat and creates a physical connection with potential customers.
2. A local presence offline and local SEO online
As an independent retailer, it can feel as though you’re fighting a losing battle going up against the big national retailers. The good news is that plenty of people prefer to shop locally – and this trend is growing. Research from Tyl by NatWest found that 34% of people champion local businesses over larger counterparts, 49% shop with community in mind and 48% want to support local businesses.
Consumers like businesses that connect to their community, so community engagement such as supporting local causes or hosting events is essential. Create loyalty programs or discounts for local residents to encourage repeat business and build stronger community connections.
Online, you need to ensure you’re visible to potential customers. It’s essential that you focus on improving your local SEO to ensure local residents in your area find you online, not your competitors. Another way to stand out online is through mobile marketing. Effective ads displayed on smartphones will capture attention and drive engagement.
3. Keep it simple - pick what always works and performs well
We are flooded with information and people now have shorter attention spans, likely thanks to the epidemic of doomscrolling on social media. As a result, 2025, is all about simplified marketing.
Many SMEs feel overwhelmed, trying to do too much at once. This new approach to simplify is music to the ears of independent retailers. Instead of spreading your efforts thinly across every marketing channel and trend, businesses should focus on a few key strategies that deliver the best results.
Identify your most effective channels and then double down on those. Don’t overcomplicate your marketing strategy. Just do what works best with your limited time and budget.
By targeting home movers via direct mail and mobile brand campaigns, you ensure you will be at the top of mind when they are ready to purchase your products or services.
Targeting homemovers is a tried and tested lead generation method
The success of independent retailers is closely associated with the health of the housing market. If there are issues with housing affordability, big-ticket items can suffer. As we touched on, the housing market is looking in great shape as we head into the new year. Supply of properties newly listed for sale is the highest it has been in the last 6 years and demand (sales agreed) is up 18% year on year.
Targeting home movers is a no-brainer for the independent retailer. BuyerAlerts can help you do just that. A home mover lead generation platform, with BuyerAlerts, you can send direct mail out to those in the home moving journey, right when they’ll be considering purchasing your goods or services.
The customer of 2025 expects a more personalised experience, not a generic one. By using home mover data, you can target those in the process of moving. These home movers will need a variety of products and services – from furniture to home improvements. Target them right when they’re thinking of making these purchases.
Conclusion
It’s time to rethink your marketing strategies for 2025. Key trends to focus on include personalisation, local presence and simplified approaches. That’s where BuyerAlerts can help. We provide access to your ideal audience – the home mover – and can help you connect with them effectively. With insights into each home mover’s stage in the journey, we can create targeted direct mail campaigns to engage them at the right time. Additionally, our data allows you to refine your audience further, targeting by property value, type, and age, as well as occupier demographics such as age, social class, household income and more. You can even narrow down to details like the number of bedrooms or property features, ensuring your marketing reaches exactly the right people for your business. To give you an example, if you have a glazing business, we can tell you exactly which properties have double or single glazing. We also have planning permission data so we can tell a kitchen retailer who’s planning on a kitchen extension for instance. If you’re interested in finding out how BuyerAlerts works, give us a call. We are a retail marketing agency and home retail marketing analysis experts.