The Trade & DIY category is notoriously competitive, especially in today’s climate, where the rising cost of living is seeing budgets squeezed and household projects put on hold. An easy win is a race to the bottom on price, but this means consumers will jump from store to store with no loyalty. The challenge, therefore, was to help ScrewFix communicate ‘good value’ to their customers beyond price.
We combined cultural analysis (what “value” means in UK culture today vs. the past), semiotics analysis (Semiotic cues of “value” in DIY & Trade retailers, in everything from store design to advertising) and a complex quantitative survey with trade and DIY customers (capturing their brand perceptions, functional needs and future desires).
The project resulted in a bespoke value hierarchy for ScrewFix, containing detailed recommendations on how to signify functional and emotional value across all touchpoints, in a truly distinctive way vs. competitors.