Backyarding: Where the cool fires burn
Sooo cool. Love what you’ve done with your backyard space. Nice fire bowl. Hey, is that mug of hot cocoa for me?... With marshmallows?... Let’s go!
There’s a trend happening at your customers’ homes. Backyarding. Heard of it? Sure, you have.
Yarding, it’s sometimes shortened to, or yardscaping, if you’re not, as The Dude quipped, into the whole brevity thing.
Fixing up a backyard has been going on for as long as people first sprawled out to the suburbs. Lately though, it’s been more about bringing new choices and more options to the homeowners personalized backyard paradise.
Your hardware store customers’ “friendly confines” have gotten spruced up, honed, let’s say accelerated, to fit into today’s current super-efficient consciousness, pushed by pandemic times.
More of your hardware customers are at home working and spending family time together, not only indoors but outdoors in —where else — their backyards.
This has blown up the ideas and options to make the backyard over into an outdoor grilleria, a playland, a vegetable garden, a workspace, and a glorious retreat full of options and dreams realized —all of it, sometime altogether — and hardware finds its place, perfectly fitting with the backyarding movement.
So what trends are hot right now that hardware store owners need to pay attention to? HBSD talked with Laura Byrne-Harris, senior director, merchandising & marketing at Kansas City-based Westlake Ace Hardware all about trends, traits and more to best serve today’s backyarder.
“Customer interest in the outdoor living category has been growing steadily for several years. With the COVID-related lockdowns of 2020, the category grew significantly as consumers found themselves at home more,” Byrne-Harris related.
As such, she noted, they reallocated portions of their personal budgets from travel to the products they could use at home to create beautiful, multi-functional outdoor spaces where they could work, play, relax, and entertain.
“The backyarding trend carried over into 2021, and we don’t see any signs of it declining.”
Her company, Westlake Hardware, owns and operates 151 stores in 12 states, including California, Illinois, Iowa, North Carolina and Washington. Generations have shopped at the 116-year-old hardware. Westlake has been part of the Ace Hardware Cooperative since 1959, and a wholly owned Ace subsidiary since 2012, Byrne-Harris mentioned.
This yarding trend is rekindled partly by homeowners’ desire to create a dream space back there. But how do hardware stores ‘find a spot at the fire bowl’ so to speak to best support their customers?
Messaging is important today, and no truer phrase describes connecting with hardware’s backyarding customers. Reaching customers can take the form of many channels.
Byrne-Harris noted: “Westlake Ace has promoted the backyarding trend by employing several marketing channels, including print advertising, local market media relations, and social media to reach consumers.”
They have focused their marketing efforts on outdoor living products such as BBQ grills, outdoor lighting, live goods, and accessories.
As people return to more in-person activities at stores, she noted, “interactive demos and sampling events will play a big role in customer outreach at our 151 neighborhood locations.
“BBQ grills, accessories, sauces, and rubs will play a big part in these events as well as the chance for consumers to see new services in action, such as the laser-guided Resharp knife sharpening program.”
FIRE UP THE DREAM
At a hardware store, backyarders can fire up their dreams, finding ideas and products to fit their yard.
As families spent more time at home in the past year, Byrne-Harris pointed out, and rediscovered the hidden joys and peaceful retreats just a few paces beyond their patio doors, they crafted purposeful outdoor spaces that reflect how they live their lives.
“From BBQ to lighting to accessories like patio furniture, fire pits, and live goods, they’re always delighted by the array of products they can find at our stores,” said the senior director. “More importantly, when we help them, it sparks a conversation that often leads to fun and creative ideas for their backyards.”
The backyarding trend affects how items are merchandised, how and where they reside in-store.
Her hardware store, she noted, continues to devote more space to categories that lead the backyarding trend, typically at the front of store to encourage aspirational browsing. Westlake continues to expand assortments with products that provide families with innovative ways to entertain and enjoy their backyard space.
For instance, Byrne-Harris said, “store additions include the Ooni pizza oven, a tabletop oven that allows you to cook made-to-order pizzas in under 90 seconds right on your patio, creating a fun food component for your entertaining.
“We also added the stylish Solo Stove (pictured at top), the newest fire pit option for your backyard that allows friends and neighbors to gather around the fire and enjoy the heat without the smoke of a traditional fire pit.”
Both these items have feature displays in the store to help a customer envision how they might look in their backyard. That’s a key aspect to accentuate hot ideas for the backyarder wanting options.
She explained that Westlake lives the Ace Helpful Promise mantra every day, providing friendly and helpful advice so customers get their projects done right.
“The recent backyarding trend has created some additional fun opportunities for our store associates to work with customers,” she related, “to share their own outdoor experience, and help shoppers realize their vision for a perfect backyard.”
TRENDS GO ‘YARD’
Where trends are concerned, there have been both positives and challenges along the garden path.
Consumers are eager to add to their backyard kitchens, and the number of consumers who now have multiple grills and cooking platforms on their patio has really exploded.
Byrne-Harris observed, “They are no longer content to limit themselves to just a gas grill for the quick cook but are adding pellet grills, flattop griddles and many more items to increase the opportunities for outdoor cooking.”
Additionally, she remarked, the hardware store believes the extra time spent at home in the past two years has sparked an entirely new generation of gardeners, who found joy and a passion in getting their hands dirty and personalizing their outdoor space.
“We believe these consumers will continue to nurture this passion,” she said, “even as the world returns to its former fast-paced reality.”
That leads us to the question: Is the backyarding trend more than a fad?
“I think it’s here to stay. Though 2020 was a challenging year, it afforded people the opportunity to reconnect with their families and those closest to them. That carried over into the backyard,” the director stated.
“Through a little bit of effort and the right products, they rediscovered the hidden joys and peaceful retreats just a few paces beyond their patio doors.”
What tips can Westlake share with other hardware store owners reading right now who want to join in and serve backyarder nation with ideas and items?
“Don’t be afraid to embrace it, but also make sure you have a meaningful assortment in any brand you decide to carry,” Byrne-Harris declared.
“It’s not just the grill sale, it’s the repeat fuel, accessory, sauce, and rub sales that makes the BBQ category really inviting.”