Virtual visualisation could prevent the home improvement industry from missing out on as much as £1bn lost to the “imagination gap”
UK consumers are looking to make home improvements this year, but many won't seal the deal because of the difficulty of imagining what renovations will look like in their own home, new research has found.
In the next 12 months, 56 per cent of UK consumers are planning to make some kind of home improvement purchase, DigitalBridge found in its survey.
A quarter of those consumers said they plan to spend between £500-£1,000.
Read more: Consumer spending growth was at its second highest since 2011 last month
However, a third of consumers said they have delayed a purchase because of the imagination gap, the inability to imagine new furniture, floor coverings or wallpaper in their own home. Another third said they decided against making home improvements because they were too worried about making the wrong decision.
Major renovations like new wallpaper or flooring as well as smaller purchases like furniture, curtains and lamps topped the list of upgrades consumers are planning this year.
DigitalBridge, a Manchester-based tech startup, creates virtual "try on" technology, something it said could help the home decor market from missing out on as much as £1bn a year lost to consumers who put off home improvement decisions.
Read more: How a London virtual reality start up went global
"Customers want to see how a product will look in their own home – both for style and to understand scale," said Christine Kasoulis, buying director for home in John Lewis. John Lewis recently invested in DigitalBridge's technology.
"There is a gap at this point in the customer journey at the moment and it is one that visualisation tools will fill in the near future, helping a considered purchase to feel less complex."