Bob’s Discount Furniture is betting on reality TV to reach new audiences during industry slump
At a time when the home furnishings industry has been weathering a tough housing market, Bob’s Discount Furniture is leaning into an unlikely strategy: reality television.
The company debuted its six-episode reality series, “Till Décor Do Us Part,” on July 10, releasing episodes weekly across TikTok, YouTube and Meta. The show pits couples with drastically different design aesthetics against each other in a makeover challenge — each tasked with redesigning a room using Bob’s furniture, while their partner watches (and critiques) remotely. Every piece featured is shoppable via a dedicated landing page on Bob’s website.
“We wanted to communicate that we have incredible values, beautiful stores, a stylish assortment and we’re a really fun brand,” Steve Nesle, CMO at Bob’s Discount Furniture, told Modern Retail in an interview. “Necessity is the mother of invention. We’re always looking for innovative and authentic ways to reach new customers.”
The pivot to a modern, social-first reality series marks a notable departure from the company’s long-running ad campaigns, which feature a cartoon version of its namesake founder — “Bob” — touting everyday low prices. Founded in 1991, Bob’s has grown to nearly 200 stores across the U.S., with plans to open 20 more this year, Modern Retail previously reported. The privately held company doesn’t publicly disclose revenue. The company is currently led by CEO William Barton, a retail veteran formerly with California Closets.
Bob’s is betting that short-form video, especially on social media, is where its next generation of customers is already spending their time. There’s data to back this up: In June, streaming accounted for 46% of total television usage in the U.S., a 5.4% jump from May, according to Nielsen. Video consumption is also rising on social media platforms as major social networks like Instagram and Facebook ramp up their video-centric strategies to compete with TikTok. Video accounts for 60% of average time spent per day with social networks, up from 48% in 2021, according to eMarketer.
Early numbers suggest the new reality series is boosting Bob’s profile. Within one week of its launch, “Till Décor Do Us Part” generated 6.2 million views and over 30,000 likes across platforms, the company told Modern Retail. While Nesle declined to share exact conversion rates, he said the show’s success isn’t just about raw metrics.
“It’s about driving brand awareness, but more importantly, consideration,” he said. “Our primary KPIs are reach and engagement. The ultimate goal is to create content where your marketing dollar is only part of the distribution strategy.”
The launch of “Til Decor Do Us Part” comes at a critical moment for the furniture industry. Home purchases tend to be a crucial driver of furniture sales, and the current housing market slump means some brands have had to reassess their strategies. Pending home sales in the U.S. dropped 3.5% year-over-year during the four weeks ending July 6, marking the second biggest decline since early February, according to real estate company Redfin. At the same time, the median U.S. home sale price also hit a record $399,633, up 1% year-over-year.
Plus, the Trump administration’s far-reaching tariffs stand to take a bite out of furniture makers’ earnings. Much of newly manufactured furniture is made and imported from overseas via China or Southeast Asia and subject to steep tariffs. Beleaguered home goods retailers like At Home are even blaming tariffs for their financial woes in bankruptcy court.
Nesle declined to specify exactly how much the furniture retailer is exposed to tariffs, but acknowledged that “the macros aren’t favoring our industry.” Still, Bob’s is optimistic. As Nesle put it, “There are still a lot of people in the market for furniture.”
To reach them, Bob’s is taking its marketing efforts where younger audiences already are: short-form video content. “A 30-second spot is not as engaging as this kind of content for a lot of people,” Nesle said. “Home furnishings are a very visual pursuit. People want to see beautiful things and imagine them in their homes.”
Late last year, Bob’s conducted multi-pronged research to better understand its customer base. According to Nesle, the marketing team combined qualitative research with in-platform behavior tracking to pinpoint the types of content that resonate most with potential shoppers. “We did some research into various audiences that we target and attract,” Nesle said. “And the reality show format over-indexes.”
The result is a social-first content strategy designed to reach what Bob’s calls “hand raisers” — people in the market for furniture due to major life events like moving or growing their families. “First and foremost, it’s folks that are in the market for furniture and mattresses,” Nesle said. “Through various signals, we know they have a high propensity to shop at Bob’s.”
What Bob’s landed on is a series built around opposites-attract storytelling. “There’s something inherently true about couples coming together with opposing tastes and having to negotiate that is just compelling,” Nesle said. “We didn’t want to lean into reality shows that can be mean-spirited. We want to bring people together.”
Bob’s isn’t the only brand experimenting with shoppable entertainment and longform storytelling. Last holiday season, for instance, Walmart teamed up with Roku to release a shoppable Christmas movie, Business Insider reported at the time. (The retailer previously tested out social media romcom series, too.) It all points to how brands and retailers are looking beyond traditional advertising formats to both entertain and build deeper emotional connections with consumers.
Still, Bob’s bet on a shoppable reality series comes with risks.
On the one hand, social media platforms like TikTok are a natural fit for a retail-driven reality show like Bob’s, according to Melissa Minkow, director of retail strategy at CI&T. “TikTok has been so successful as a retail platform because of its orientation as an entertainment platform,” she said. As such, users may be “more receptive to shopping because they don’t feel like they’re being sold to. They don’t feel like it’s a scheme,” she said.
But brands and retailers like Bob’s walk a fine line when it comes to weaving entertainment with commerce. While Bob’s may have a compelling product and clever concept, the format itself carries inherent friction. “Reality TV is such a fun place, and I think putting brands at the forefront kind of takes away a little bit of that fun,” Minkow said.
As for what’s next, Nesle said the team is open to exploring follow-ups.
“What we do like about it is the shelf life — we’re building an IP that theoretically just gets easier and easier to build on, versus creating net new IPs all the time,” Nesle said. “My bias would be, if this works, keep throwing logs on the fire until it peters out or never does.”