Long-term megatrends such as sustainability and wellness were predictably visible at the Inspired Home Show, with rising messaging for durability, recyclability and energy saving. Of more immediate interest (and shouting loudly at this event) were three lifestyle trends directly impacting growth opportunities and product choices in 2024. The Elevating the Experience trend was behind Riedel's "best in show" award, and visibly gains momentum in dining and hosting 2024 innovation.
The appeal of experiences catering for personal tastes spiked in our latest survey data, manifesting in a trend called Elevating the Experience
Source: Euromonitor International
There is also rising competition for space in the kitchen, whilst diet choices rapidly adapt to work, economic, and anti-meat social pressures.
Elevating the Experience
Part of this trend covers recreating the restaurant experience at home. Studying Euromonitor International’s consumer foodservice data for US restaurant performance, whilst total demand recovered by 2023, sitting and eating-in at restaurants lost over 30% in underlying demand versus 2019, reflecting a dramatic fall in appeal, while the Euromonitor Voice of the Consumer: Lifestyles Survey has 84% of respondents stating restaurant food tastes better.
It was takeaway and delivery that rescued the sector; restaurant food is popular again, but dining at home remains strong, mixing home-cooked and restaurant food consumption. Air fryers with food quality and flavour recovery are on the rise, and there is a rising premiumisation trend for high gloss and ceramic coatings in dinnerware, cutlery and serving products, decorating both table and room.
The strongest manifestation is in glassware, embodied in Riedel’s “best in show” innovation of “The Key to Wine” tasting kit. This facilitates a dinner host curating a wine tasting experience for guests, creating some theatre and turning this into a form of dinner party entertainment.
There is considerable effort going into cooking theatre, with kitchen designs on the rise turning cooking into a guest observed and participatory art form. Elevating the Experience carries that thinking to serving and tasting skills, in this case educating on how grape and glass need to match for the best taste experience, providing a lived sales argument for why investing in premium glassware is worthwhile.
Competition for both countertop and cupboard space continues to rise
Analysing food preparation appliance sales data for the US (removing price increases) and comparing 2023 versus 2019, light fryers were 55% up beyond pre-pandemic demand, rice cookers were 40% up, while bread makers were 30% up.
With changes in cooking habits, US homes purchased new food preparation appliances, many of which sit on countertops, ramping up storage pressures in the kitchen
Source: Euromonitor International
There is widespread space pressure building in furniture, appliance and cookware marketing, and new launches.
For furniture, this covers integrated storage with some efforts in space saving and flexible messaging. In cookware, this is focused on stackable and nested designs, with detachable and foldable handles, and folding pot lids.
At the show, Joseph Joseph showed new Space Cookware products with folding handles, while Made by Gather launched the Fits-anywhere range in Bella Kitchenware - a set of food preparation appliances with design stories around folding or nesting parts and slim designs.
Diets in the US adapt rapidly to veganism and rising cost of protein
There is a clear link between what consumers regularly cook and what equipment they need in the kitchen: rapidly changing diets, with veganism larger than vegetarianism for the first time, have direct knock-on effects.
The big movement is a 2024 spike in veganism, particularly among millennials and Gen Z in the US, with 12% of the population now claiming to be vegan or vegetarian
Source: Euromonitor International
Households that stop consuming meat or fish hardly need to replace or invest in filleting or steak knives, duplicate cutting boards, specialised spatulas, meat tongs, skillets or any of the specialised utensils, cookware, and cutlery linked to their old diet.
A growing use of plant-based ingredients creates more burnt-on residue, helping sales arguments for non-stick cookware, although it should be noted that this audience is highly motivated by wellness and pays greater attention to PFAS-Free messaging. The rise of veganism also implies a growing household target for premium glass and Tritan in food storage due to flavour transfer and staining, as vegan recipes use more turmeric.
Consumers feeling the pinch from food inflation make greater efforts to find cheap sources of protein, leading homes away from fish and seafood, and more towards meat and eggs, in particular.
Hybrid work pressure combines with this economic pressure to create a special need for a healthy, cheap and fast-cooking breakfast option. Eggs, combined with microwaves and air fryers along with supporting utensils, are visibly winning the most from this in 2024.
For our latest insights across the home and garden industry, please read our recently published reports on Where Consumers Shop for Home and Garden, and Competitor Strategies in Home and Garden.