May 2nd, 2023, Janice Fernandes
Earlier this year TJX Companies, parent company of HomeGoods and other brands, announced that it closed the fiscal year on a high note. While its sales were lower than the previous two years, where consumers were more focused on purchases for their home, the company ended the year on a high with an increase in Q4. But what does our data tell us about the brand’s profile and the kind of shoppers who were driving this rise?
According to data from YouGov BrandIndex, a syndicated brand tracker which continuously collects data on thousands of brands around the globe, HomeGoods continued to see an overall uptick in purchase funnel metrics like Consideration, and in media metrics like Buzz and WOM exposure, from September 1, 2022, to March 31, 2023.
Over the course of the last several months, HomeGoods’ Buzz score, which tracks whether consumers have heard anything negative or positive about a brand, has seen an uptick. The brand saw its score dip a few times, but this metric went up to 14.4 percentage points on March 4, the highest in the past several months. Its Buzz score continues to be between 11.8 and 14.4 for the rest of the month.
The home furnishing brand, which opened three new stores earlier this year, saw its WOM Exposure also take an upward trend in the new year, reaching its peak of 11.5 percentage points around February 10. This indicates that a higher percentage of Americans were talking about HomeGoods over this period.
More WOM exposure perhaps translates to a higher Consideration score during the same period. The brand registers a steep increase in consumers considering its products from the beginning of the new year, going from 22.9 points on January 3 to 28.8 on February 13, and continues to stay in the same range for all of March.
Which consumers are engaging with the HomeGoods brand the most?
Data from BrandIndex identifies who is driving this interest in the brand based on their shopping habits, age and income.
There is a slight increase in Buzz scores among consumers whose preferred method of shopping is to click and collect. But no real uptick in Buzz among other shoppers.
Data indicates that click-and-collect consumers were talking about HomeGoods with their friends and family more since the new year, driving a steady upward trend in WOM exposure. While there was a slight dip in February, WOM exposure is on the rise again in March among these shoppers.
Consideration scores have been volatile among all shoppers over the past several months, but respondents who prefer shopping through the mediums of ‘click and collect’ and ‘see something in store and buy it in-store’ have shown a significant rise in consideration. However, the Consideration scores for shoppers who click and collect has fallen following the peak in mid-February – so there’s an opportunity here for the brand to address the drop in consideration and regain customers within this group.
Shoppers who see something in-store and buy it in-store continue their new year improvement streak all through March, possibly suggesting that HomeGoods consumers are back to the in-store shopping experience.
A look at age demographics reveals that until December 2022, 18-24-year-old Americans were most likely to have heard something positive or negative about HomeGoods, but the proportion dropped in the new year, going from 23.9% on December 17 to 5.3% on January 27. However, the metric is experiencing a bump with 18-24-year-olds closing at 20% on March 31, going back to pre-new year levels.
On the other hand, Buzz scores see a good improvement among 25-34-year-olds, with this group becoming most likely to have heard about HomeGoods in the new year. If we look at the Positive Buzz scores, then there’s good improvement only among 25-34-year-old consumers, while the rest of the groups register static scores. This increased Positive Buzz score could be connected to the improvement in Consideration among this age group.
Americans with a higher annual household income have been talking more about HomeGoods compared to consumers from other income groups. However, while they were the most likely to have heard something positive about the brand from December to January, the scores have dropped in the new year. In the last two months there is an uptick in the Positive Buzz scores among low-income consumers – going from 7% on February 3 to 14.2% on March 25. Only consumers in the medium income bracket register a somewhat constant Positive Buzz score during, which perhaps translates to a consistent Consideration score throughout the period.
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Methodology: YouGov BrandIndex collects data on thousands of brands every day. A brand’s Index score is based on an average of Impression, Value, Reputation, Recommend and Satisfaction scores, Consideration score is based on the question: “When you are in the market next to utilise a service, from which of the following would you consider using?”, and Current Customer score is based on the question: “Have you used a service from any of the following brands in the past three months?” Data from surveys of adults aged 18 years and above residing in Great Britain from November 17, 2022 and February 16, 2023. Figures are based on a four-week moving average.. Learn more about BrandIndex.
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