HomeTrend Forecast
Important Trends, Relevant news, Useful Tools and Interesting Facts
about the World of Housewares and Home Goods Marketing
From A.J. Riedel, Sr. Partner, Riedel Marketing Group

IMPORTANT TREND

New Environmentally-Friendly Products that Caught the Attention of HomeTrend Influentials
at the International Home + Housewares Show

The environmental or A green movement is the hot topic of 2007 and 2008. I' ve seen more coverage by the consumer and business press in the past year than I have ever seen before. I also noticed a huge increase in the number of manufacturers who introduced green products at this year’s International Home + Housewares Show compared to previous years. This year’s show also featured green products in a much broader variety of product categories.

For three years now, I have brought a group of HomeTrend Influentials (HIPsters) to the Housewares Show to get a consumer perspective on the new products being introduced at the show. I ask the HIPsters to walk the show and then report in to me on the new products they see that they especially like. This year, since going green is one of the hottest trends of the year, I had the HIPsters focus specifically on the eco-friendly/environmentally-friendly/green products that caught their eye.

While the HIPsters saw many other products that were being positioned as green or environmentally-friendly, the ones noted here are the ones that the HIPsters were especially interested in.

One new product line that really got the HIPsters excited was the Perf Go Green line of biodegradable trash and garbage bags. The HIPsters were especially excited because not only are the Perf Go Green bags biodegradable but they are also comparably priced to the non-biodegradable versions that are on the market now. With many green products, the HIPsters feel that they have to make a choice between doing the right thing environmentally and saving money. Because the Perf Go Green products are not much more expensive than the non-biodegradable alternatives, the HIPsters feel that they wouldn’t have to choose between being environmentally correct and being cost-conscious.

here were several products that the HIPsters saw at the show that they especially liked because they could use them instead of the disposable products they are currently using (and feeling somewhat guilty about using because they are adding to the landfill problem).