Paradoxes and the Kitchen & Bath Industry

What are the hottest consumer trends today? Home cooking or eating out? Giant McMansions or downsizing? High-tech shower systems or simple soaking tubs?

The answer to all these questions is yes…and yes. Such is the paradox of understanding today’s consumer.

For every trend, there is a counter trend – and both are equally valid. This new duality marks a significant change in consumer behavior from just a decade ago, when easily identifiable, overarching trends dominated the marketplace.

So writes experienced trend watcher Robyn Waters in her new book, The Hummer and the Mini. Waters, who spoke at this year’s Kitchen/Bath Industry Show in Las Vegas, is the former v.p. of trend, design and product development at mega-retailer Target.

“What’s the next big thing? There is no one trend anymore,” she explains. Instead there are many different ‘next big things.’
“Now we need to look at opposites to spot what’s really going on with consumers. We need to think in terms of paradoxes and be willing to embrace contradictions,” she says.

Contradictions

So, what kind of contradictions are defining consumers in the kitchen and bath market today? Consider the growing number of kitchens with Ikea cabinets and luxury professional-style appliances. Or the women who buy organic foods to stay healthy, yet undergo injections of Botox, a poisonous substance, to acquire a more youthful appearance.

“It is the challenge of each marketer to wrestle with his or her own paradoxes – to ponder what matters most to the specific target audience,” she advises.

This means you, as a kitchen and bath dealer or designer, have to understand your customers on a deeper level today, getting to know them better, and delving more into their psyches. You’ll need to understand their philosophies, values and points of view, not just the size of their family, their tastes and how they use their kitchens or baths.

Waters identifies several paradoxes that are relevant for our industry today.

Old is New Again. “Nostalgia is not just for the elderly anymore,” Waters observes. “Everyone – from kids through baby boomers – has a new-found fondness for ‘the good old days.’”

The key to doing nostalgia successfully, however, is not to copy the old, but to reinterpret it for today.

This yin and yang between the old and the new especially applies to consumers’ homes, where they want modern appliances or electronics but the feel – although not the literal recreation – of a kitchen from another time. Think of a Turbo-Chef oven with retro styling but high-speed technology.

This so-called “memory marketing” is a powerful way to reach kitchen and bath consumers. “Our homes often belong…to another era,” Waters notes.

The “old is new” precept also explains why country kitchens exist in highrises, and suburbanites want industrial, loft-like kitchens. Cabinetry for concealing refrigerators and televisions, china cabinets and unfitted furniture all provide a touch of nostalgia. So can accessories and the food you use to style your showroom.

For that reason, when styling your showroom, you should consider including retro small appliances and linens, or nostalgic sodas and candy such as Bit-o-Honey bars, Coke in bottles, Kraft macaroni and cheese and Twinkies in a chrome pantry.

You can also add traditional faucets, sinks or hardware to contemporary displays.

What are you tearing out today? Pay attention…it will resurface in a few years…or key elements of it will.

Metal cabinets? 1980s laminate? In today’s climate, the old adage, “here today, gone tomorrow,” might be better revised to say, “Here yesterday, gone today, back tomorrow.”

Mass Customization. Tivos, iPods and custom ring tones are all examples Waters cites of the paradox of mass customization. In our industry, semi-custom cabinetry is the epitome of mass customization. That’s because, to a consumer, it’s often how you put the room together that makes it custom.