The following is the second installment of a series of exclusive HomePage News reports on the industry education program at the Innovation Theater during The Inspired Home Show 2022. The Innovation Theater is the McCormick Place Lakeside Lobby Room E350.
Is Your Microwave Listening? Privacy and Other Legal Issues in Smart Home
Michael Graif, Partner in the law firm of Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris & Popco PC, in the Inspired Home Show Innovation Theater presentation Is Your Microwave Listening? Privacy and Other Legal Issues in Smart Home, said there are some general things companies getting into smart home need to understand if they are going to sell received data from said devices to other parties: don’t lie about or omit what you are going to do with the data, and include everything you are going to do with the data in your privacy statement. Not being transparent has cost companies money, including Vizio, which had to settle with the United States Federal Trade Commission on practices that ran afoul of the laws it enforces. The inclusion of information about selling and other use of data rarely affects sales of devices. Almost no one reads the privacy statements, Graif pointed out
There are other details, California law, effectively necessary for companies anywhere in the United States to obey if they are going to sell in the state, insists you have an opt-out of data sales that consumers can tap when they get their products, nothing can be directed to kids 13 and under, and most health information can’t be shared due to specific laws dealing with the medical sector.
However, he notes that smart home products have a great future. If they address the security and legal requirements, companies will get amazing data. Companies can apply that to their own product development, but Graif points out that they also can go out, research and find firms that can help them monetize that data. The data streaming from smart home devices that control water use are sought by water utilities who will pay for the information, in one example he cited. Done right, smart home devices can drive multiple revenue streams.
How Micro Fulfillment Enables Growth
There is a need for speed, said Corey Apirian, CEO and founder of Divinci Micro Fulfillment, at the Inspired Home Show Innovation Theater presentation How Micro Fulfillment Enables Growth.
Today, e-commerce is pursuing faster and faster delivery, but that means the need for not only faster distribution but more precise distribution, which micro fulfillment facilitates with AI and automation can provide.
Apirian (pictured above) said that the growth of online shopping has driven demand for faster and ultimately same-day delivery, something that’s beyond the capability of conventional distribution. Micro fulfillment facilitates same-day delivery by operating closer to customers and readily executing shorter-term and same-day delivery.
To make the challenge greater, consumers continue to live in denser congregations. Urbanization makes it difficult to locate conventional distribution centers where they are most needed because space is nonexistent, too expensive and/or may raise opposition among local populations and governments.
Last-mile delivery costs already are among the biggest challenges facing e-commerce operators. Although expenses are involved in micro fulfillment, in the end, the local, technologically supported operations save companies that use their money and ensure delivery is correctly executed. Micro fulfillment is a way forward and a way past the challenges associated with the demand for faster delivery.
Essential Elements: Design, Decor and Consumer Insights for 2022 and Beyond
Home styles were a focus of the Inspired Home Show Innovation Theater presentation Essential Elements: Design, Decor and Consumer Insights for 2022, where Max Wilker, style director, Dotdash Meredith – home of publications from Better Homes & Gardens to People – commented on trends that not only influence decor but also the housewares items consumers chose.
One he identified as Refined Farmhouse. The farmhouse style has been around awhile and included several iterations, from the rustic to beachy, but Refined Farmhouse has a more modern style with cleaner lines and stylish simplicity. It shares a common feature of most emerging home design styles as it’s relaxed and comfortable. Characteristics include light and medium-toned woods, shiplap walls, industrial or barn-inspired lighting, shaker cabinets and apron-front sinks, a neutral color palette with saturated, high-contrast tones partnered with black accents and pops of color used sparingly.
Coastal Casual likes natural light, nubby textures, and a bright, airy sensibility. Characteristics include light bleached and white-washed woods, natural, textured materials such as rattans and jutes, textural rugs in tans, blues and shades of white, deep seating furniture for relaxation, soft, touchable fabrics such as cotton, linen and boucle, and colors including creamy white, watery blues and shades of tan with accents in navy, yellow and coral and pink.
New Traditional includes classic furniture looks with contemporary accessories, with bold print fabrics working in, and allowing consumers to pair favorite furniture and decor pieces with new and trendier styles. Characteristics include furniture with classic lines and minimal ornamentation, a mix of wood stains, layering of fabrics such as velvet and those with embroidered details, floral wallpapers, gold and brass in muted finishes, lighting and accessories.
Organic Modern blends simplicity and nature literally and figuratively, with plants de rigor, and textures layered over a contemporary base of clean lines in a simple and comfortable configuration. Characteristics of Organic Modern are sleek upholstered furniture and mellow leathers in brown, natural and light wood furniture and accessories, reclaimed and handmade accessories, accessories in organic shapes that seem handmade, textures pillows, rugs, bedding and curtain panels, rattan and bamboo furniture pieces and lighting, and, in color terms, whites, creams, beiges and soft grays accented by naturally bold shades of blue and green.
Merchandising and Messaging in an Omnichannel World
In the Innovation Theater presentation Merchandising and Messaging in an Omnichannel World, Leigh Ann Schwarzkopf, founder and principal of Project Partners Network said that, in a world where research is constant, data is critical but that marketers have to pay attention to the emotional element of the messaging if they really want to make a connection and build relationships with consumers.
Schwarzkopf said that today, finding sources of data is important. She recommended checking out websites of major market research firms not only for the statistical information but to read social and cultural sources that aid in the understanding of how consumers are thinking and what they are feeling.
Schwarzkopf recommends looking across demographic, psychographic and life stage research as well as any other relevant sources to determine what concerns consumers a company wants to reach and also what inspires them.
She also suggested watching competitors, looking at who they are in the broadest sense, in other words not only direct competitors but those who are getting consumers to spend in other sectors, as in the give and take between housewares and food service. Also, companies should look at what competitors are doing to engage consumers, what they do that is admirable, what lessons can be learned from them and who are the innovators in a given business sector. And it doesn’t hurt to look at what innovators are doing in other fields as well.
In doing research, she said companies should stay in contact with social media as it is becoming a bigger factor in shopping and consumer trends.
And, speaking of trends, watch what’s happening in adjacent markets. Keep in mind the explosion of s’mores-related products throughout the food industry already has prompted the creation of an array of s’mores-related tools in the housewares industry, she pointed out.
No Regrets? Pandemic-Driven Impulse Purchase and Consumer Usage Post-Lockdown
Peter Greene, practice director and general manager at market research firm Numerator, speaking at The Inspired Home Show Innovation Theater session No Regrets? Pandemic Driven Purchases and Consumer Usage Post Lockdown, said a lot of data generated during the COVID-19 pandemic has had positive implications for the home business if companies use it to target the consumer demographics that have just begun purchasing in the sector.
He pointed out that a Numerator research findings from the pandemic have particular bearing for the future of the housewares industry. He said 42% of shoppers who purchased during the second and third quarter of 2020 had not purchased in the sector during the prior year. All told, 6% of new category shoppers were Gen Z, 28% were Millennials, 36% were Gen Xers and 30% were Baby Boomers.
Those younger consumers, he noted, are the future of the housewares business.
Greene said that, as the pandemic starts to fade, the time has come to consider how to convert new buyers into loyal category buyers. Consumers developed new habits in the pandemic and he said many of those are proving sticky. Whether it’s consumers who have developed new cooking skills in the kitchen or who have taken advantage of their yards and decks to become grill masters, retailers and vendors should be looking to shore up their relationships with new purchasers.
And Greene notes, keep in mind that a higher proportion than might be expected of those purchasers were men.
