Homebase

How analysing why people bought birdseed led to £20M growth in kitchens

Homebase had a simple problem that was difficult to solve – how could they predict when a customer was about to start a large home project to maximise share of wallet?

Two agencies had already tried to solve this problem and failed. They didn’t understand the business problem and were failing to ensure that a solution exists. In the typical Realise Unlimited way, we went back to first principles and found some surprising outcomes. We discovered that if a customer only bought a packet of birdseed, they were also likely to buy a kitchen or a bathroom. In fact, we found about 160 baskets that only held one item showing the same correlation. The big question was, why?

Two overlays helped give us clarity. The first was the understanding that Homebase was a destination store – people do not go to a store on a retail park just to buy birdseed, they are doing something else in store. The second is the value of the purchase – kitchens and bathrooms are expensive so there is a long consideration period. After customers had finished browsing, they were picking up sundries as the exited the store – simple!

We set up triggered white mail with a 10% or 15% offer and the impact was impressive…

Results