Page 34 - Lighting Magazine January 2019

2019 Forecast
HOW THESE STATS APPLY TO YOU
Now that you’ve got a pre y solid understanding of the business conditions and economics being forecast for 2019, how do you put your showroom in the best position for growth?
Pam Danziger of Unity Marketing, a recognized expert on doing business in the luxury market, shares her perspective on some strategies that lighting show- rooms can use to gain market share in the coming year.
Here are a few takeaways from our discussion with Danziger on things that lighting showrooms may want to consider when strategizing for 2019:
 For businesses such as lighting showrooms, the true age-de ned generations are more similar than di erent. Understanding and capturing the nancial demographic groups, however, is what will set your showroom on the right path for growth.
 One of the most-talked-about demographics in the luxury-buying world are the HENRYs (High Earners, Not Rich Yet), who rank among the 65 to 75 percentile group of income earners. They’re just one step below ultra-luxury buyers, so it’s critical that lighting show- rooms know how to draw them in the door, and then keep them.
 The prime home-buying period for most people is in their mid-40s. Earlier than that, they’re in the process of building their careers, and a er that they’re starting to downsize. That makes the HENRYs a very valuable group for lighting showrooms to target.
 Everyone who reaches the level of an ultra-luxury buyer earns their stripes rst as a HENRY. Showrooms that are able to build relationships with HENRYs at this stage of their lives will likely bene t from their increas- ing purchasing power in the years to come.
The forecast for the remodeling sector would not be complete without checking in with Metrostudy, the rm that maintains the nation’s most compre- hensive database of housing market information.
In its latest Residential Remodeling Index (RRI), Metrostudy combines several economic indicators that point to increased prosperity for the remodel- ing industry with an increase in both projects and jobs throughout 2019.
Showing a more modest forecast for remodeling, the Harvard University Joint Center for Housing Studies reports that annual growth in national home improvement and repair spending is expected to so en in 2019, according to their Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity (LIRA)*. The Harvard LIRA projects that year-over-year increases in residential remodeling expenditures will start to dri down- ward from a 7.7-percent high at end of 2018 to 6.6 percent by the third quarter of 2019.
Rising mortgage interest rates and at home sales activity around much of the country will pinch
PREFERRED HOME IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS BY GENERATION SOURCE: REALTOR.COM
Millennials
1. Install outdoor play equipment
2. Install childproo ng
3. Install backyard landscape
4. Update sprinkler systems for lawn and garden 5. Install front yard landscape
32 enLIGHTenment MagazIne | January 2019
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Baby Boomers
1. Install or repair gu ers
2. Repair shed, barn, or playhouse
3. Repair gazebo or freestanding porch 4. Asphalt sealing
5. Repair exterior trim
Generation X
1. Repari outdoor play equipment
2. Install oudoor play equipment
3. Add or remove holiday lighting
4. Build or install vinyl-lined swimming pool
5. Build or install above-ground swimming pool