Handy Signs BJ’s Wholesale; Goes ‘The Final Mile’ To Get Those Giant TVs Installed

Say you just plunked down $5,000 for a brand new 60-inch 4K television set. What is the likelihood that you’re going to go home and mount that monstrosity to the wall yourself?

Probably very, very slim, Oisin Hanrahan, CEO of home service provider platform Handy, said in a recent chat with PYMNTS, in the wake of his company’s most recent TV installation contract with BJ’s Wholesale Club, serving over 200 stores in 17 states.

“We really want to bring [installation service] to wherever customers are buying product,” Hanrahan said, noting Handy’s nationwide coverage to perform hundreds of different household tasks.

“People buying small TVs, 20, 25, 28 inch TVs, you see pretty low attach rates, like low to mid- single digits,” he said. “Then you go up to large TVs, you know, 50,55, 65 inches or more, the attach rate on those [getting professionally installed] is really high.”

The deal with BJ’s follows a similar retail contract with Lowe’s in December, Target the month before and  Walmart before that. It’s gotten to the point where Hanrahan said Handy can do next-day installs in most cities and two-day availability in most other places, through its army of on-call professionals.

“That makes it an incredibly valuable experience for the customer and one that’s pretty hard for anyone else to match,” he said.

Retailers And Customers Love It

“The way it works is we give a price to the retailer and different retailers approach it in different ways,” he said. Some pass the installation price directly through to the customer, some retailers think about it as a subsidy where they actually sell it to the customer for less than they paid for it, and other retailers eat the cost entirely and offer free or discounted installation and mounting as way perk to win business and reward the best customers.

“So it really is becoming an ever more important marketing tool and pricing tool in the retailers’ pocket that they never had before,” he said.

After eight years in business, Handy has the data to show that its installation partnerships not only improve the customer experience and satisfaction but also increase the conversion rate and basket size, while lowering the rate of returns.

“So all four of those things put together tell us that this is really valuable for the customer, and it’s really valuable to the retailer,” he said.

Retail Partnerships Good, App Inquiries Better

As much as the point-of-sale retail TV install business is solid and growing, Hanrahan said the Handy app’s geolocation is still the primary way people get in touch with the company, whether that’s to install TVs, video-doorbells or ceiling fans, or to hire a house cleaner, lawn care professional or plumber.

And once customers download the app to track where a service provider is and when they’re going to arrive, he said it’s not uncommon for them to revisit the app after the initial service is complete.

“TVs are important, furniture assembly is important, plumbing installation is important, electrical installation is important. There’s probably half a dozen services that are all critical,” he said.

In fact, since 2018 Handy has been a part of ANGI Homeservices, the parent company of Angie’s List and a dozen other home improvement platforms that connect roughly 220,000 professionals with individual homeowners.

“It’s all about helping customers take care of their homes,” he said. “If you think about every part of homeownership and home maintenance, it’s just really, really challenging.”