As you may have guessed from recent posts we’re intrigued by the funeral business.
It’s a £2 billion market with 600k new joiners every year.
Baby boomers will be the customers over the next 20 years or so, and from the research we commissioned in 2023, seem unlikely to 'go gentle into that good night' when their time comes, probably preferring to 'rage, rage against the dying of the light'!
Reviewing the latest 2024 SunLife Cost of Dying report, it continues to present insights, without stopping to join the dots or mull over what they might be telling the traditional funeral director about the future of their businesses.
If I were a funeral director working in a traditional firm and seeing trends where prices for traditional products are rising, to around 7 times the cost of new products, where the new products don’t have to be purchased through my business, and sales of these new products have risen by over 600% in 4 years to now account for 20% of the market, and, the final straw, the ONS telling me Christianity is in decline, I would be actively seeking thoughts on how to pivot my business and protect my income streams going forward!
What is more, the insight from this SunLife Report is based on talking to 1500 funeral organisers (as in family) in the last 4 years…about 700 in the last 12 months…
An awful lot has happened in the last 4 years, not least the impact of COVID which sadly brought on many premature deaths, but the fact remains the SunLife insights have been provided by people organising funerals for those unlikely to have been born Baby Boomers, and doesn't represent what the customers of the future might be thinking. Funeral directors need helpful consumer insights.
As experts in understanding how Baby Boomers think, feel and want to be spoken to, we reckon the stats for the funeral directors are only going to get worse and so went one better, and just before last Christmas, asked some 70 future customers of the funeral sector, all Baby Boomers, what they have to say about the manner of their departure, not how they dealt with someone else's.
Anyway, as a super positive end to the week, here’s a titbit taken from the video of their responses:
The full video is viewable here and also worth a watch.
We’ve now spent the last 9 months fretting over the demise of tradition and the rise of direct cremation and commoditisation. And based on what we've seen and now heard we’ve some optimism and answers to share with funeral directors, addressing questions such as :
How can you strike up a conversation with people on the subject of death that’s not just about a ‘plan’?
What different products and services could and should you be providing?
How do you ‘pivot’ with integrity and honesty, from death, religion and disposal to the more enjoyable celebration of life?
How might you refocus a business model where costs and fees are eroding rapidly, to become more entrepreneurial, imaginative and profitable?
So if you, or anyone you know in this business, want to plan ahead, just call us and we’ll meet for a cuppa and share some titbits of our own.