Proof of TikTok’s Viral Influence on Home Décor Trends
...and how it impacts consumer behaviour
If you sell furniture, accessories and home décor products, or your business focuses on interior design, it’s vital that you get on board the TikTok hype and learn about the trends that are taking over the internet. The platform has a huge impact on consumer behaviour, pushing them to go crazy for certain products and interior styles.
In fact, it currently has over 1 billion users worldwide (and growing).
Source
A common misconception about TikTok is that it is predominantly for younger people. However, only 25% of TikTok’s audience are children and teenagers between 10 and 19. According to a report on the demographics of TikTok’s US audience, 75.4% of users are over 20, with 21.7% of them being 30 – 39 years old.
Since the average age of the first-time homebuyer is 34, this actually makes TikTok an invaluable space to learn about the latest home trends from an audience that is likely to go on to buy trending products and ranges to decorate their own homes.
The Influence of TikTok Trends on Home Décor Consumers
To understand the trends that consumers are loving, we reviewed the best performing interior and home décor hashtags on TikTok from the last 12 months.
We compared these to Google search volume data before, during, and after the trend began trending. The result? A clear spike in search activity aligned with TikTok popularity.
We discovered that when a home décor trend starts to perform well on TikTok, it almost always results in higher Google search volumes.
Impressive Search Volume Increases
We saw that although Google search volumes tend to decrease once the TikTok viral hype is over, they almost always end up higher than they were before the trend started to pick up on TikTok.
1. Sunset Lamp
#sunsetlamp started trending on TikTok in April of 2021. They project a stunning sunset-like light, creating a cosy, warm atmosphere that is perfect for relaxing in. Part of their popular appeal is that they create a unique, impressive-looking backdrop for taking pictures and, of course, filming TikTok videos. They are relatively inexpensive, so it’s no surprise that they can be found in the bedrooms of every Gen Zer.
2. Cottagecore
The tag #cottagecore is another trend which became popular in April 2021. Cottagecore has a lot of similarities with country, or farmhouse interior styles. It’s more than just an interior style though, Cottagecore is more of a mish-mash of lifestyle and home décor. This trend is hallmarked by wooden furniture, cosy fabrics, and a lot of natural sunlight.
3. Japandi
#japandi first came on the radar in early 2021. An eclectic mix of Scandi and Japanese interior styles, Japandi is minimalism at its best. The Japanese concept of wabi-sabi (the appreciation and contentment of leading a simpler, slower life) seamlessly incorporates elements of functional Scandinavian design for a clean, welcoming look.
With the world becoming more aware of the climate crisis, environmentally conscious and simpler design styles like Japandi are naturally becoming much more popular – especially amongst the younger generations, who are taking to TikTok to show off their interpretations of the style.
Up & Coming Home Décor Trends
Whilst conducting our research, we came across several trends which were still on the up, with higher search volumes now than when they started trending. This contrasts with the above pattern of starting to die off after a while.
This report only offers a small insight into past and present trends, but more than anything, it showcases how valuable platforms like TikTok are when it comes to influencing the behaviours of consumers in the modern-day.
Method
Social monitoring tools were used to gather trending TikTok #s from the past 12 months alongside no. of views, dates they started to trend, and no. of videos under each hashtag.
Once this data was gathered, a keyword tracking tool was utilised to find out the search volumes for the keywords associated with these #s (e.g., #sunsetlamp = Sunset Lamp) from the month they began to trend on TikTok, the year before this, and the current monthly search volume (March 2022).
We used this data to form our conclusion that when a term trends on TikTok, it almost always results in higher Google search volumes.
