The exhibit floor at Chicago’s McCormick Place took center stage during the return of The Inspired Home Show earlier this month.
While the industry re-connected inside the exhibit halls, valuable connections took place on other stages at McCormick Place. A full schedule of in-person educational and keynote sessions enlightened attendees with guidance for a home and housewares future shaped to a great extent by the previous two years of accelerated change.
HomePage News was on hand to provide daily coverage of the keynotes inside McCormick South Grand Ballroom and presentations inside the show’s Innovation Theater in the McCormick Lakeside lobby.
A diverse collection of expert presenters provided insights and inspiration covering a wide range of timely home and housewares business topics. Detailed recaps of the keynotes and Innovation Theaters session are available on the special Inspired Home Show section on HomePageNews.com, which will also post recordings of the sessions in the coming weeks.
Here is a sample of sound bites and other salient observations from the Inspired Home Show educational program:
- Food52 co-founder and CEO Amanda Hesser, in her keynote session, said “Made by us, made with you” is a cornerstone for building the company and its own brand of kitchen and dining wares. “We’re here with you, we’re listening, but we’re also educating, surprising and entertaining you,” Hesser said. “We are that dynamic friend in your life.”
- The NPD Group’s Joe Derochowski, spotlighted during the IHA Market Watch keynote the opportunity for the industry to address mental wellness needs. After a two-year pandemic, “We’re sick and tired of being sick and tired,” he said.
- Springboard Futures’ Tom Mirabile, in the IHA Market Watch session, said “time” remains a chief consumer driver. “This is all about keeping what you love in your life and eliminating friction,” he said. “For so many of us, time is friction.”
- Pantone’s Lee Eiseman, in her home color forecast keynote, pointed TV, movie and computer screens as revealing windows into color trends. “Forecasters must always look at the entertainment industry for emerging trends,” she said. “This is now more important than ever, as people spend more time at home viewing films and streaming video on their large screens.”
- Springboard Futures’ Mirabile, in a keynote on the evolving consumer value equation, cited “Endemic Urgency.” “Everything’s an emergency now,” Mirabile said, noting pandemic-level services have become expected as the baseline, and the value of in-stock items is elevated. “Consumers are tired of the supply chain issue,” he added. “It doesn’t matter to them that it’s still an issue (for the industry).”
- Project Partners Network’s Leigh Ann Schwarzkopf, in the consumer value equation keynote, cautioned companies not to generalize that younger generations don’t care about brand, “The striking thing (the research shows) is that brand matters to all generations,” she said.
- Jordan Brannon of Coalition Technologies and Jenna Galardi of BigCommerce agreed e-commerce is still a fractured marketplace, and opportunities remain for rapid expansion.
- Brad Moncla of Eastman discussed the emergence of molecular recycling that does more to reconstitute and reinstate material than the typical mechanical recycling.
- Retailer and designer Wolfgang Gruschwitz — an IHA Global Innovation Awards (gia) judge — discussed the potential for stores to increase transactions and cultivate long-term customer engagement through repurchasing previously sold products, providing repairs and helping customers recycle items.
- Boogie Board’s Hunter Morris, speaking about updated analog experiences in a digital world, noted the return of vinyl records with improved sound systems and electric brewers that use loose tea or ground coffee instead of pods as examples of enhanced analog technology that can invite consumers who crave a feeling of personal engagement.
- Michael Graif, a partner in the law firm of Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris & Popco PC, speaking on smart home privacy issues, advised companies considering selling data received from smart home devices to other parties to be fully transparent and include all plans for such data in privacy statements.
- Corey Apirian of DaVinci Micro Fulfillment said last-mile delivery costs already are among the biggest challenges facing e-commerce operators. He said such local, technologically supported micro-fulfillment operations save companies money in the long run by ensuring delivery is correctly executed.
- Max Wilker, style director at Dotdash Meredith (which publishes such titles as Better Homes & Gardens) heralded, among many emergent home styles, the refined return of the farmhouse motif in a more modern vein with cleaner lines and stylish simplicity to suit relaxed and comfortable home design considerations.
- Project Partner Network’s Schwarzkopf, in her Innovation Theater session, urged marketers in an era of advanced data and analytics not to lose sight of the emotional element of messaging to make connections and build relationships with consumers.
- Peter Greene of market research firm Numerator, said much of the data generated during the COVID-19 pandemic has lasting positive implications for the home business if companies use it to target consumers that have just begun purchasing in the sector.
- Thomas Cook of global supply chain consultant Blue Tiger said companies seeking more cost-effective supply chain operations should consider participating in favorable programs established by the United States government, including the Maquiladora initiative in Mexico, foreign trade zones and bonded warehouses.
- Beau Oyler of Enlisted Design and John LeBaron of Pattern highlighted next-generation e-commerce capabilities, such as search word marketing, that can be enhanced by AI and machine learning to make them more efficient and cost-effective.
- RFID Sherpas’ Marshall Kay said RFID inventory management, as exemplified by Walmart’s widespread application, is becoming a critical technology in retail, embraced thoroughly by the apparel business and expanding rapidly in the home sector.
- Scott Allen of FitForCommerce said omnichannel success requires more sophisticated strategies, noting home retailers generally lag other sectors in the use of popups and highlighting the potential for video to be better integrated online and in stores.
