Farther ALONG the X Axis

American Demographics, May 1, 2004

GEN X-CLUDED

Although Gen Xers are buying homes and spending money to decorate and renovate them, companies still ignore them, focusing instead on the larger demographic groups - Baby Boomers and Gen Y, says Bridge Works' Lancaster. However, some furniture retailers, such as Williams-Sonoma's Pottery Barn and Crate and Barrel, target Gen Xers who want to mix and match different styles. Lancaster says that Ethan Allen is now attracting Gen Xers with its new TV ads. Williams-Sonoma plans to target more Gen Xers, when it starts a more aggressive rollout of its newer furniture concepts, West Elm. The company's furniture designs are edgier and its prices are lower than those found in Pottery Barn, says Joan Storms, a retail analyst at Wedbush Morgan Securities in Los Angeles. "They think this will be their biggest brand, period," she says.

Magazine publishers, too, are reaching out to younger readers who are interested in home design, but who may not have the money to buy top-end products featured in Architectural Digest or Elle Decor. Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia - prior to Stewart's legal woes - reportedly began exploring a home-decorating magazine for younger women. Conde Nast Publications plans to launch a magazine for home furnishings shoppers next year similar to its fashion shopping magazines, Lucky for women and Cargo for men.

American Media Inc., the publisher of Star, National Enquirer and Men's Fitness, plans to introduce a shelter magazine in September for people in their 20s and 30s who don't have as much money to spend on furniture, appliances and home decorations, but want their home to be stylish. "This generation is buying homes," says Sara Ruffin, editor of the as yet unnamed magazine. "They're getting into the real estate market and they know they can make money if they fix up their houses and have them appreciate in value." Gen Xers think of home decor more as fashion. They may buy an expensive antique dresser or a Sub Zero refrigerator, but they'll also buy a funky red sofa at Ikea that they won't mind getting rid of when they're tired of it. "It's like buying a pair of high heels that you don't like," Ruffin says.

CUSTOMER OF TOMORROW

Most shelter magazines are geared toward women, even though Gen X men are more involved in home decisions than Boomer men. They are apt to get involved in picking out the china pattern or buying a sofa. "When you walk into a Boomer home, everything is an expression of her tastes," says PortiCo's Gibbons Barry. "You don't get the feeling that a Gen Xer's home is a reflection of the woman, but of the couple. And it's even a reflection of the kids, if they have any."

A House Beautiful survey conducted in 2003 with WSL Strategic Retail in New York City found that younger women were much more likely to say that their spouse was involved in home decorating. Forty-seven percent of the respondents age 24 to 34 said their spouse was involved, compared with 41 percent for those 35 to 44 and 40 percent for those 45 to 54.