Home appliance marketing strategies—consumers value performance over premium features

Memorial Day is approaching and with it the kickoff of the summer sale season. Consumers will pack into malls and crawl the web looking for just the right deals, especially on expensive household appliances. With that in mind, the Harris Poll gauged Americans’ views of big-ticket items that they buy when discounts hit. Americans carefully consider washers, dryers, refrigerators and ovens because the products are expensive and should last for some time. It’s no longer the simple question it used to be. Between the Internet of Things and the dizzying variety of other bells and whistles available on appliances, customer choice extends well beyond basic issues such as size and color. Do you want to be able to check your refrigerator temperature on your phone or start your dryer before you get home? Options abound. And yet they don’t necessarily attract most Americans. More than 4 in 5 Americans (85%) told us that they are satisfied with appliance features while nearly three-quarters (74%) said that they don’t care about extras so long as core functions work properly. A majority (57%) preferred to remove features rather than add them. The old adage still holds: Keep it simple, stupid. Check out the latest Ad Age events and award programs That said, while these percentages of Americans at least somewhat agree with the above statements, few strongly agree—indicating perhaps that there may be opportunities for marketers to increase the appeal of premium features. Here are three other insights we gleaned about Americans and appliances: Pragmatism drives shopping decisions Consumers take a very pragmatic view of appliances, prizing features that help save money and improve reliability. So, when we asked Americans about the features they most want, energy optimization was the answer we heard the most, with 47% of U.S. adults citing it. Having an extended warranty, which would help maximize a product’s lifespan, was the second-biggest choice, with 43% selecting it. Enhanced maintenance options were a distant third, with 31% choosing them, though that too reflects practicality. Conversely, perks such as feature personalization (18%) and design personalization (16%) ranked lower on consumers’ lists. Americans take the same approach when it comes to the premium features for which they say they would pay a bit more. While people are generally open to premium features, they hesitate to pay more for them. For example, among those who express an interest in extended warrantees, only 30% would be willing to pay a premium for them. A similar pattern can be seen with other features including energy optimization (24%), enhanced maintenance (19%), design personalization (10%) and feature personalization (9%). That said, discounts available during major sales periods could help sell consumers. Younger shoppers are more indulgent Younger shoppers are most interested in upgrading dreary appliances. Gen Zers, for example, is willing to pay more for multifunctionality (26%)—more so than for energy optimization, design personalization and enhanced maintenance, all tied with 20%. And while energy optimization tops Gen Z’s priority list with 38%, that is well below the general population’s 47%. Ditto an extended warranty—while it was a top-three must-have for both Gen Z (34%) and millennials (36%), they were less enthusiastic than the 43% of the general population. Baby boomers, on the other hand, were the only generation to give majority support to energy optimization (56%) and extended warrantees (50%). And when it came to items for which they would pay a premium, “none of the above” was second on boomers’ list. Compared with older generations, younger consumers are more often interested in "indulgent" upgrades—design and feature personalization and premium functions—while older generations are more often interested in pragmatic upgrades. Privacy is an appliance issue now The internet has been around long enough that most people understand privacy to be an issue. The digital age has enabled wondrous accomplishments great and small from smart phones to being able to remotely catalog the contents of your refrigerator. But these perks come with a cost in personal information beyond the dollars you plunk down for them. Check out the latest Ad Age events and award programs Our survey captured a wariness in many Americans around these issues. Roughly one in two Americans (53%) said that they do not want to live in a smart house where appliances and other devices are internet-enabled and controlled remotely. Having grown up with this kind of technology, younger generations are far more enthusiastic about the prospect of smart living, with roughly 3 in 5 Gen Zers (61%) and millennials (60%) desiring it. Baby boomers, on the other hand, want no part of it, with only 29% desiring such a domicile and 71% opposing it. Even being digital natives doesn’t prevent Americans from a healthy wariness around privacy issues. Nearly three-quarters of Americans (72%) said that adding digital or internet-enabled features that cannot be removed or deactivated would constitute an invasion of privacy—a view held among the younger generations with 74% of Gen Z agreeing and 67% of millennials doing so. The bottom line is that in marketing your appliances, don’t overthink or overload them. Make sure they do the core work and everything else will take care of itself. Sign up for Ad Age newsletters From influencer marketing to agencies, get the latest news and analysis delivered to your inbox Click here

Home appliance marketing strategies—consumers value performance over premium features

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