The Homeware Category
The Homeware Category consists of wares which are used across the house, primarily in the kitchen and dining spaces. Women are the prime mover of homeware and this category consists of;
- Dining
- Kitchen
- Home Decor
- Furnishings
Home as a Unit
source: housebeautiful.com
Typical Family Unit
- Nuclear families form a bulk of the household units in developed economies
- Larger families tend to be in lesser developed ones
- Nuclear families have the need, intent and purchasing power for home ware
Women as the Prime Mover
Whoever bears the family name is usually listed as the head of the household. Stereotypically, an adult male is often automatically considered to be the head of the family even when a woman is economically and otherwise responsible for that family.
A man may build and decorate a beautiful house, but it remains for a woman to make a home of it for him. It is the personality of the mistress that the home expresses. Men are forever guests in our homes, no matter how much happiness they may find there
Elsie de Wolfe in the book “The House in Good Taste-1913
Women’s Annual Consumer Spending in Select Regions and Countries (2019)
| Region/Country | Annual Consumer Spending in 2019 in USD Billion |
|---|---|
| Asia | USD 13.4 trillion |
| Australia | USD 300.8 billion |
| Canada | USD 456.6 billion |
| Europe | EUR 4.8 trillion |
| France | EUR 496.2 billion |
| Germany | EUR 694.5 billion |
| India | USD 2.6 trillion |
| Japan | USD 1.3 trillion |
| United Kingdom | GBP 501.7 billion |
| United States | USD 6.4 trillion |
Globally, Women Performed an Estimated USD 31.8 Trillion in Consumer Spending in 2019
catalyst.org
Impact of Homewear on identity
In all societies, women are the prime carers of children, the elderly, and the ill, and do most of the domestic tasks. Women in developing countries are estimated to do between two-thirds and three-quarters of the domestic work.
As they modernise rather than looking at home chores as grunt work, they have started taking pride and linking it to their personal identity.
With the event of the pandemic, homes have become not only multifunctional for every family member but also the space to spend days in the end.
Shopping for the home hence not only takes away the guilt of shopping but also makes the homemaker house proud!
People want to express themselves through their kitchens. Today, the dream of an open living kitchen designed for social use is universal
Jesper Brodin, global head of kitchens at IKEA
Category Growth and Influencers
As women have started working, it brings a double-barrelled change into homes;
- Double income means more discretionary spending capacity available with the woman of the house
- Social exposure makes them conscious of their identity and hence they look at opportunities to project themselves through their homes
This has spawned a plethora of influencers like good living magazines, television show all pushing living aspirations upwards. The market is poised to grow at a CAGR of 5.3% post the pandemic as work and study from home become a more acceptable norm.
With the addition of social media channels especially Pinterest boards, women have taken home design roles on to themselves. The kitchen, dining and other rooms have stories to tell and hence these categories have seen immense growth across both developed and developing nations.
The Buying Journey – Micro-moment Shopping
The classical AIDA buying behaviour model has been dramatically disturbed by the advent of information on the handphone.
Shopping through micro-moments by the customer who is always “on” through their personal devices is the new norm. People are browsing their phones at every opportune downtime and there are these short 3-minute captures in which a product can register itself in the mind of the consumer.
Consumers are now making purchases across many different platforms, and merchants must be prepared to engage with them anytime and anywhere, especially as buying habits shift from goods to services.
While 71 percent of respondents told us they shop in micro-moments, there is a burgeoning subset, more than one in three, who do so at least weekly. In other words, they’re shopping “in the background” while doing other tasks and nearly two-thirds of those who shop in micro-moments require flexibility for their orders to be fulfilled.
Source: Author using Icogram Instagram Influencers
Startups
Made In, used its family legacy of supplying kitchen wares to start a direct-to-consumer brand. It had been providing high-quality wares to hotels to hotels and top-rated restaurants. In 2016, Chip and Jake, Co-foundered, Made In to sell high-quality kitchen kits, cookware, and knives directly to consumers at affordable costs.
Kitchen material says that its ultimate goal is to equip home kitchens with the tools needed to create a memorable, shared food experience. They have created a new category of elegant kitchenware designed and curated for modern home cooks. The design focussed on industrial style with innovative features and world-class materials to create a healthy balance of form and function. Their industrial-grade products can take lots of heat, and their designs ensure that time and space are optimally used.
Snowe produces high-quality Portuguese porcelain dinnerware and Italian glass drinkware yet simple. You can mix, match, and save on everything you use to eat and drink when you Build Your Own Table. Their products are long-lasting as they are not designed as fast fashion products.
Year and Day sells elegant and minimalist, which looks at styling as an extension of the home. By studying dining ware at homes, they have designed various shapes, yet eliminating those which are never used, to let the homeowner mix and match colour, shapes and sizes. They help the buyer Build a Complete Set effortlessly, which can last years and days, reflecting the style of the home.
Our Place is a cute based homeware maker. The founders are immigrants who like to cook and share food with new communities. The founders always wanted to work with sustainable materials and female artisans.
They believe that there is a power in home-cooking as it is at the root of connection, love, identity, culture, and belonging. They invest in products made from thoughtful and responsible materials. The glasses are made from a portion of recycled glass and natural sand and are also naturally dyed. Always Pan products are made from a portion of recycled materials as well. The packaging is 100% free of plastics, is fully recyclable and biodegradable, and is innovatively designed to eliminate the need for a shipper box.
East Fork designs, manufactures and sells durable ceramic dishware in Asheville, North Carolina. They make pots with dynamic, iron-rich clays dug from the American South East and coloured with glazes formulated and mixed in-house. Their expertise in making dyed, machine washable ceramic ware makes them not unique but local and natural.
Food 52 started as a curator of great things that allow you to cook and eat thoughtfully.
In 2013 they launched a shop to bring like-minded makers and artisans together to include the home goods and crafts that support joyful living. They now manufacture some of these and simultaneously outsource many from artisans.
Huckberry is a very man focussed adventure store which also sells dining and cookware. Huckberry started by actively working with the best-emerging brands from around the world to bring an edited and exclusive selection of the best men’s gear along with an original story for the next adventure. In their virtual shop, they sell costly and high-end chef knives and all the necessary devices to make cooking adventurous for men. They operate with the tag “Where men should shop online….only at Huckberry”
My Take
Women, both due to cultural influences and instinctive mothering, tend to look at homes with pride. Homes reflect their owner’s identity, and hence women solve their need for shopping and home pride by shopping for home goods that not just delivers on their needs but also reflects their taste and perceived status in life. That is why it is noted that the best cutlery and furnishings come out for use when guests are expected at home.
The pandemic has added a new dimension to this already intrinsic need for self-projection. The need for a multifunctional home, with requirements beyond just stay and recreation, has generated new needs inside homes and hence homeware shopping will see a significant bounce back post-pandemic. Startups that excel in delivering these new needs inside homes while ensuring that the their perceived stature is maintained should see large growths.
For more extensive analysis and Market Intelligence reports feel free to approach us or visit our website: Venture Capital Market Intelligence Reports | VCBay.
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