New research has revealed that 71% of UK homeowners wouldn’t know where to start if they wanted to complete a bathroom refurbishment.
The survey of 1,100 consumers by DigitalBridge found that only 5% of people would feel ‘extremely confident’ about how to go about beginning the process of refitting their bathroom.
By contrast, more than half (57%) of homeowners said they would feel very unsure, and 14% stated they would have no idea whatsoever where to begin. Of these, 64% believed that this uncertainty would delay them even starting a project.
Renovation uncertainty was most common among those aged 55 to 64 and least common among 25 to 34-year-olds. Almost 19% of the older age bracket admitted they would have no clue about how to go about having a new bathroom fitted. This figure dropped to 12% among the millennial generation.
A further three-quarters (74%) of people had very little or no idea about how much a new bathroom would cost to purchase and fit.
DigitalBridge chief executive David Levine said: “These figures suggest that bathroom retailers are potentially missing out on millions in sales due to general lack of consumer awareness around how to implement a renovation. Younger consumers appear to be more knowledgeable about the renovation process than their older counterparts.” He put this down to a greater tendency for the younger age group to use online search and digital tools to inform their thinking.
“There is evidently some work to do around educating homeowners on how straightforward the process can be.” He said: “Providing them with relevant channels for design, purchase and fit-out can be an invaluable way to reduce the purchasing cycle, build brand loyalty and ultimately grow sales.”