The Brand Radar: Why licensing can be a recipe for success in homewares

Exclusively is a tradeshow that is organised on behalf of the members of the British Home Enhancement Trade association, better known as BHETA.

Held at London’s Business Design Centre, it is billed as the UK’s ‘premier showcase of housewares, tabletop and small electrical brands’ and is very much part of the homewares industry’s calendar.

The show is targeted at retail buyers, trade press and influencers. The latter audience is worth noting in the context of tradeshows and brand marketing – it seems social media influencers are increasingly important in helping brands achieve ‘cut through’, particularly among harder to reach consumer audiences.

Exclusively is a very well presented and curated show that provides a good insight into the industry, new opportunities and trends. Beyond the exhibitors’ own efforts, it was good to see the show organisers delivering content such as a Trend Showcase area and Recommended Product Design On-Trend features.

The show organisers worked with trend forecasters Scarlet Opus to identify products that represent key consumer and design trends for the industry. It’s interesting to see tradeshows working harder to deliver additional content. It makes shows like Exclusively more of a hub for the industry sector they serve and helps exhibitors shine a light on their products.

“The homewares industry is taking a measured and considered approach to licensing.”

Brand licensing featured throughout the show and it’s clear to see that a number of manufacturers value licensing as a way of differentiating themselves from their competitors.

One stand-out licensing feature was delivered by the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Working with their homewares licensing partner Pure Table Top, Kew had a dedicated space at the show to present a number of their licensed ranges alongside Pure Table Top’s products. Featured products included tea collections from Ahmad Tea, preserves from The Cherry Tree and bedding from Small World Textiles.

The reasoning behind this showcase approach is very much thinking of retail buyers and retailers. Increasingly, retailers in certain sectors ­– such as department stores, gift shops and garden centres – are looking to buy into brands across categories. Presenting a ready to go range of products at a tradeshow should help buyers in their decision-making and show them how products can be ranged together. Buyers can be shown display options and can explore different product options. It’s a very practically minded approach for a brand owner to take and also fits into the fact that consumers seem more engaged with brands as ‘lifestyle’ choices these days.

Another brand licensing theme at Exclusively were ranges developed in association with personality brands. There were a number of examples of ranges of these kind. Prestige were showcasing their Nadiya Loves range – a collection that recently won an award at the BELLAs and seems to be gathering more momentum.

Prestige worked closely with Nadiya to develop this range and to incorporate Nadiya’s suggestions into their product development process. For example, focusing on a cookware range that is stackable, reflecting the fact that some consumers have limited storage space in their kitchen. Developing this line of thinking, one set of pans in the range uses one universal lid that fits all pans in the set. This authentic approach to NPD seems to be paying off.

It was also interesting to see that Dame Mary Berry attended the show to support her licensee Captivate. Captivate’ s Mary Berry At Home range features kitchen gadgets, bakeware and utensils. The range builds on a couple of other lines that Dame Mary has developed with Captivate. Rather like Nadiya’s hands on involvement with the development of her range, the fact that Dame Mary Berry attended the show underpins her connection to the products and her licensing programme.

Consumers and retailers are much savvier these days when it comes to personality driven ranges and need to be persuaded about the thought process behind a range. Here, of course, an expert licensee can assist a celebrity in their development plans, helping them to identify genuine market gaps and opportunities.

“Consumers and retailers are much savvier these days when it comes to personality driven ranges.”

A few years ago, there were numerous examples of celebrity-based ranges in the homewares sector that floundered early on in their journey – most often because the products that were developed were not sufficiently different from other ranges. Put simply, there didn’t seem to be any depth to the licensing relationship. Thankfully the industry has learned lessons from this experience and ranges are being developed in a much more authentic way.

Captivate also work with designer Yvonne Allen, demonstrating their commitment to licensing and their awareness that there is a place in the market for designer developed ranges. Designers can work with manufacturers to create specific collections to cater for particular parts of the market – and to tap into design trends.

Emma Bridgewater is a designer and design-led brand that continues to have success in the category, not least as her ranges are coordinated by manufacturers like Russell Hobbs to allow consumers to kit out their kitchens in a unified way.

Another way that manufacturers are using celebrity brands is to develop product ranges in specific market categories based around the celebrity’s particular skill set and knowledge. This approach allows for a targeted approach to product development and market segmentation. A good example of this is wine expert Olly Smith’s range of glassware.

As noted earlier, influencers are playing a bigger role in the marketing of products and are being used by manufacturers to help sell their ranges on platforms like Instagram and TikTok. But rights are also flowing into the market the other way, with influencers becoming brands and manufacturers tapping up influencers to develop ranges collaboratively.

The Eurosonic Group recently announced their licensing partnership with author and blogger Jane Dunn. Her baking blog, Jane’s Patisserie, is considered one of the most successful around. The Jane’s Patisserie Collection was launched at Exclusively and covers bakeware, kitchen utensils and baking accessories. There is a lot of emphasis on using bright colours and on trend styling in the range.

Jane Dunn was at Exclusively to promote her range. It’s an enterprising way for Eurosonic to leverage the online world and a recognition that brands can arrive from different directions these days. Interestingly, Jane mentioned that she saw the development of a product range as “a natural next step in helping people at all levels bake”. This reinforces the role that licensing and licensed products can have for IP owners in bringing their brand alive. It will be interesting to see how this licensed range develops and succeeds in the market; a key hurdle to overcome will be retail buyer awareness and acceptance of the brand.

Meyer – the owners of the Prestige brand who are working with Nadiya – used Exclusively to launch a Disney cookware and bakeware range. Inspired by Disney’s 100th Anniversary, Meyer’s range includes a high end range of copper pans marketed under the Ruffoni brand. This range is made in Italy and is hand crafted premium copper cookware. The range features signature items which include iconic Disney characters such as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck.

This is an example of a licensed range that is really being pitched into the high-end market in part as a lifestyle range for specific retailers, but also a way for Ruffoni to shine a light on the quality of their products. The Disney 100th Anniversary has been a coordinated campaign across categories and retail tiers. Being part of such an all-encompassing licensing programme gives Meyer the potential to develop new retail conversations, open fresh PR channels and remind consumers about their credentials. The Ruffoni range is of course a functional one, but it’s also a design-driven collection that will appeal to people for its decorative qualities as much as its function.

Character licensing featured at Exclusively in other, more traditional, ways as well. Long-term licensee DNC had a strong presence at the show and their licensed portfolio includes Disney, Marvel, Star Wars, Paw Patrol and Jurassic World. DNC developed their business through licensing and are one of the go-to companies in the ‘on the go’ product categories, which includes items like insulated lunch bags.

Within the children’s and family market, licensing still plays a significant role and this was demonstrated across a number of categories at Exclusively. Fackelmann were promoting a range of Shaun the Sheep storage products, whilst PME Cake featured a range of Harry Potter baking accessories. These were nicely presented on retail friendly display units – it is good to see exhibitors taking this step to show retailers how products can work in situ at retail.

Another interesting example of licensing was DKB Toys’ Pokémon range, which includes a waffle market. DKB have recognised that there are new and emerging opportunities in the fan culture market as consumers interested in brands like Pokémon includes older fans – and specialist pop culture retailers such as Menkind , Truffleshuffle and HMV are looking for different types of products to sell.

E-commerce is also influencing product development as manufacturers are finding new routes to market via e-commerce companies who are increasingly efficient at reaching specific consumer groups.

It was also good to see the Tupperware brand at the show. Brands Untapped debated the future of the brand recently after reports that it was under pressure. Talking to the Tupperware team, it seems they have ambitious plans for the brand. One approach they have taken is using bright and contemporary colourways for their products – a good example of how a design refresh can help kickstart a heritage brand.

Exclusively was a great window on the world of homewares. Based on the products and companies showcased, it seems that brand licensing is a key ingredient in the homewares recipe. But equally it seems that the homewares industry is taking a much more measured and considered approach to licensing; one built around long-term brand building rather than short term opportunism.