In the midst of the pandemic, Williams-Sonoma has stood out as a company, its stock price reaching a new all-time high in January 2021, despite many businesses declining. Paired with its strength in e-commerce, the company’s ongoing success is due in large part to consumers staying at home more than ever before. Still, the company faces potential headwinds as the shift to online shopping impacts home furnishing sales and rivals like online furniture retailer Wayfair increase their market share. As a retailer known for its brick-and-mortar locations, can the brand keep up its success?
Tag Archives: Consumer Products
Smartphones: Samsung’s ‘2021 Galaxy S21 5G’ (Video)
During Samsung’s January 2021 Unpacked event, the company unveiled its line of S21 phones, including the S21, the S21 Plus and the S21 Ultra.
Consumers: ‘CES 2021’ – World’s Biggest Tech Show, Jan 10-14 (Video)
As CES goes online for the first time, we preview the most-anticipated products and trends (and what’s missing) at the world’s biggest tech show.
Top Innovations: Xiaomi Unveils “Mi TV LUX”, World’s First Transparent TV For Mass Consumer Market
Beijing, CHINA, Aug 11, 2020: Mi TV LUX Transparent Edition is the world’s first mass-produced transparent TV. With an edge-to-edge transparent self-luminous display transmitting images that seem to be suspended in the air, this TV ushers in a new way to consume visual content previously only seen in science fiction films.
Mi TV LUX Transparent Edition offers a perfect combination of cutting-edge display technology and exquisite industrial design. For Xiaomi, it is also a major exploration of future TV forms. When Mi TV LUX Transparent Edition is turned off, it looks like a mere glass display. The pictures it displays seem to be floating in the air, merging the virtual and the real to bring an unprecedented visual experience.
Unlike traditional TVs that come with a back panel, Mi TV LUX Transparent Edition creatively embeds all the processing units in its base stand, preserving the compact shape of the screen and in the meantime brings about countless technical challenges.
Health & Design: The New “Touchless Products” To Limit Spread Of Germs
The importance of touchless bathroom and kitchen products during the coronavirus pandemic is highlighted in this video interview with Patrick Speck from Grohe, as part of the brands takeover of Virtual Design Festival Today.
Speck is the the vice president of design consumer experience for the EMENA region of Japanese water technology brand Lixil, which is the parent company of bathroom and kitchen brand Grohe. Speck told Dezeen that following the coronavirus pandemic, the brand has seen an increased demand for products that limit the spread of germs and diseases.
“With the increased demand for hygiene we’re having right now, we know that to minimise the risk of spreading germs and also cross contamination, we need to reduce contact with any surface as much as we can,” Speck explained in the video. According to Speck, the solution could be touchless products such as faucets and toilets that rely on sensor technology.
Read more on Dezeen: http://www.dezeen.com/vdf
Trends: Consumer Technology Highlights Of CES 2020 (Video)
At CES 2020, companies built their brands, launched products and formed partnerships. Exhibitors large and small showed how CES transcends the traditional tech industry. CES showed that technology is changing our lives for the better.
Technology: Ikea Is “Picking Winners, Setting Trends” In Smart Home Market (The Verge Video)
For seven years, Ikea has treated the smart home as a hobby. That’s changing now that Björn Block’s Home Smart division has been promoted to the same importance as Living Room, Bedroom, and all the other Ikea businesses that have come to define the company.
Ikea faces the challenge of teaming up with Google, Amazon, Apple, and other tech giants while also battling them for primacy in the home.
Read the full feature here: http://bit.ly/38VyVH9
Latest Surveys: 2019 List Of Fastest-Growing Brands For Baby Boomers, Many Shared With Millennials
From a Morning Consult survey:
To read full report: https://morningconsult.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Morning-Consult_Fastest-Growing-Brands-2019-Report_FINAL.pdf
Trends In Food: Rising Number Of Consumers Eat Salty Snacks For Lunch, Dinner (Even Breakfast)
From an Innova Market Insights online release:
According to a report from Innova Market Insights, snacking has already become an all-day habit in the States. While 46% of consumers eat salty snacks between-meals in the afternoon and 37% in the evening, more consumers are also replacing traditional meals with quicker bites. The numbers of consumers who are consuming salty snacks at lunchtime (23%), dinner (17%) and even breakfast (8%) are on the increase.
“Enjoyment is still a very strong driver behind snacks purchase,” says Lu Ann Williams, Head of Innovation at Innova Market Insights. “When asked why they buy salty snacks, 40% of Americans named taste and a further 22% said it was to treat or reward themselves, so innovators need to balance nutrition and taste to ensure that salty snacks remain competitive for all snacking occasions.”
To read more: https://www.innovamarketinsights.com/americans-want-snackable-nutrition/
Beverage Podcasts: As Beer Sales Slow, Coors And Budweiser Up Attacks Against Each Other (WSJ)
A 2019 Super Bowl ad kicked off a showdown between the maker of Bud Light and the maker of Coors Light. WSJ’s Jennifer Maloney explains how that standoff has led to accusations of corporate espionage, two lawsuits and questions about the future of the beer industry.
Boomers Daily 