Many trends on display at housewares show
Consumers are searching for the creature comforts of home-retro-style designs, casual-themed home decor, and relaxation and spa-therapy personal care appliances - as an escape from their everyday routines, according to trends and products on display at the 2001 International Housewares Show at McCormick Place in Chicago in January.
For years, the casual living trend has been driving sales of housewares and home furnishings products and that trend shows no sign of diminishing. With consumers spending more time indoors, they are also spending more money on home furnishings and housewares. Yet, while many consumers are making their homes a haven, they are not willing to sacrifice convenience to achieve that casual lifestyle.
According to consumer research compiled by Riedel Marketing Group, Americans are eating at home more now than they did two years ago. However, while Americans are eating at home more, that doesn’t necessarily translate into more cooking at home. To save time and make life simpler, consumers are relying on investment cooking - cooking a variety of dishes at one time and freezing some for later use.
The need for convenient products is not limited to the kitchen. Americans want their homes to be clean but they want to spend as little time as possible doing housecleaning chores.
For years, Baby Boomers have been the primary purchaser of housewares products. However, Generation X and Generation Y- those consumers aged 18 to 34 - are begSming to make their mark on the housewares industry with their purchasing power and diversity in tastes.
Once again, the booming economy, coupled with the casual living trends, prompted many consumers to invest time and money in their home. Statistics show housing entered the 21st century on a high note, breaking records for home sales, homeownership rates and the value of residential construction, according to the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard
University.
Following is an overview of new products and trends seen at the 2001 International Housewares Show (for more information visit www.housewares.org):
- Versatile cookware that functions as bakeware, serveware and dinnerware is becoming increasingly popular as the casual entertaining trend continues.
- As outdoor grilling becomes a year-round trend, manufacturers are introducing better-quality accessories such as barbecue tools with rosewood handles and nonstick heads.
- Hand-painted glassware and stemware continues to be the dominant trend in casual tabletop assortments while crackle glass and "craza" techniques
- where colored glass is pulled through the piece - are also featured.
- Decorative photo frames that can also be used as clocks, pen holders, paper clip holders, storage boxes and CD boxes are the latest trends in home and home-office decor.
- Trend: multi-dimensional cooking appliances that combine radiant, conduction and convection technologies to make cooking faster and easier.
- Massage and magnetic therapy products will continue to rise as alternative and complementary pain relief methods.
- The desire for healthier living will prompt more consumers to demand next-generation blood pressure monitors, such as wristwatch units.
- Fashion-forward storage and organization products for the kitchen, bath and garage will continue to be popular, particularly bright colors and bright metals, such as chrome, as well as fight wood and fabric combinations.
- Trend: ready-to-assemble (RTA) furniture featuring multiple components that can be configured in multiple ways.
- Higher-quality futons featuring European looks, such as steel and wood combinations, will also be highlighted.
- Outdoor camping equipment and accessories, such as nonelectric barbecue lighters and cookware, are expected to be popular.
Useability more important than speed to Web site appeal
Research from San Francisco-based Modalis Research Technologies, Inc. examining the 130 most-visited Web sites in the U.S., Germany, France, Sweden, and the U.K. indicates that site usability ratings are more important than speed or other technical performance measures in generating overall appeal.
The study examines sites by evaluating the user’s experience according to seven recognized industry standards (usability components): intuitive navigation, functional design, efficiency in dealing with different levels of user expertise, minimalist design, robust error management, help and documentation functions, and accurate system feedback to the visitor. Each site’s technical performance was also evaluated using measurements of download times, browser compatibility, number of broken links, and number of HTML errors.
The results confirm that unless there is excessive technical failure, users perceive and remember the technical aspects of a Web site based on their success in using the site, not the site’s actual performance. These findings confirm that a strong link exists between site usability and overall appeal and almost no link between technical metrics and appeal.
“Concentrating simply on fast page loads and other ‘hard’ measurements at the expense of a superior user experience appears to be counter-productive,” says Bill MacElroy, president, Modalis.
Seven of the sites that are found in the top 10 for usability ratings are also found in the top 10 for overall appeal. The 10 sites with the best usability rating scores are: Amazon.com; Gator.com; Napster.com; Excite.com; Google.com; Homestead.com; Yahoo.com; CDNow.com; Disney.com; Mapquest.com. Yahoo.com is the only site that appears on top 10 list for the three categories; overall appeal, usability rating and technical performance.
Watch TV, surf the Web
Individuals with Internet access report, on average, spending 3.8 hours a week both watching television and being online. For many of those individuals, the information they are seeking when both online and watching TV revolves around the program they are watching.
Six percent of Internet-enabled individuals who viewed Survivor, for example, report that they went to the CBS Web site to get information about the show at some time while they were watching it. For both NBC’s Olympics coverage and ABC’s Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, 8 percent of Web-connected viewers indicate that they have been on the program Web site while watching. For CBS’s Big Brother, 16 percent of Internet-enabled viewers report going to the show Web site for information while they were watching the program being broadcast.
These findings - from a new study jointly conducted by Burke, Inc., Cincinnati, and NFO Interactive, Greenwich, Conn. - suggest that program advertisers can increase their exposure to audiences by also looking for sponsorship opportunities on program Web sites. The study, "Connecting With Viewers: TV Programs and Their Web Sites," surveyed 8,605 NFO Interactive panelists to discover more about the evolving relationship between television and the Intemet.
Adults surveyed via the Intemet from October 9 to October 25 were first asked which of 315 programs on 27 broadcast and cable TV programs they had personally watched in the three months prior to being surveyed. Viewers of programs were then asked if they had ever gone to the network Web site for that program and, if so, whether they had gone to the Web site for program informarion during or after their viewing. Viewers of each network were also asked if they had ever decided to watch a program as a result of visiting that network’s Web site.
"Some have suggested that the Intemet is killing TV," says Cary Nadel, Burke vice president. "The fmdings from this study, however, show that Intemet use not only coexists with TV viewing, it can encourage and enhance the viewing experience."
There is a strong relationship between television viewership and online activity. The more someone uses one media, the more that individual uses the other. (See Exhibit A.) This information helps the television networks, advertisers, and advertising agencies plan coordinated media campaigns that can take advantage of greater reach and frequency when both forms of media are used.
The growth of high-speed access to the Intemet might, however, change the dynamics of the relationship between TV viewing and Intemet use. Sixteen percent of survey respondents reported having high-speed Intemet access, and their average weekly TV viewing time was 15.9 hours, compared to 17.4hours of weekly TV viewing, on average, for individuals with dial-up access. Those with high-speed Intemet access do, however report spending an average of 5.0 hours per week both being online and watching television, compared to 3.7 hours per week for those with dial-up access.
"If networks use their Web sites creatively, however, they should be able to migrate content back and forth between television and the Internet," says Tim Washer, vice president of media and telecorn practice for NFO Interactive. "This should enable them to better serve broadband users. It might also help networks better serve program sponsors by opening up additional advertising opportuniries for them on the Intemet."
Thirty-two percent of study respondents indicated that they had spent less time watching television than usual in the month prior to taking the survey, while 52 percent said they had spent the same amount of time as usual and 17 percent said they had spent more time watching TV than usual. Those who said they had been spending less time watching TV were asked to select from a list of other activities to indicate what they had been doing instead of watching TV. Most of those who indicated watching less TV did not mention being online, and less than 2 percent of all individuals surveyed mentioned being online exclusively as the activity they were engaging in instead of watching television.
Amazon.com top holiday e-tailer
New York-based Nielsen//NetRatings has announced the top e-tailers of the 2000 holiday shopping season. Amazon.com and Toys R Us led all etailers at a record-breaking 123 million shopping visits since the start of the season (see Table 1).
At its peak, the Nielsen//NetRatings Holiday E-Commerce Index, which measures home and work shopping Ixips to representative e-commerce sites in eight product categories, grew 78 percent during the season. In the week ending December 24, the index declined 31 percent as shoppers moved their purchases offiine.
"The 2000 holiday season will best be remembered for the onslaught of brick-and-mortar stores. In total, established offiine brands account for 11 of the top 15 holiday e-tailers," says Sean Kaldor, vice president of eCommerce at NetRatings. "Strong brand awareness, millions of loyal customers, and proven retailing savvy led to the success of brick-and-mortars this year."
Amazon.com and Toys R Us, together through their alliance, dominated Nielsen//NetRatings’ Top 15 Holiday Season E-tailers, with more than five times as many shopping trips as their next closest competitor. The largest brick-and-mortar retailer is Dell, followed very closely by Barnes & Noble at No. 4. Recovering from a slow start after the launch of its revamped Web site, Walmart.com secured the No. 6 spot with 18 million shopping trips.
As in the offiine world, department stores led shopping activity online as well. More than half of the top 15 etailers are virtual department stores, meaning they sell products from a wide range of categories.
"Online shopping this season mirrored the trend for traditional retailers as the popularity of virtual department stores dominated other product categories," says Kaldor. "Web consumers favored the huge selections and the time-savings offered by virtual department stores, as they flocked to sites such as Amazon.com, Bluelight.com, Buy.com, JCPenney.com, Sears.com, Target.com, Ubid.com, and Walmart.com throughout the season."
Although small in traffic by comparison, the fastest-growing product category is specialty gifts, which rocketed 264 percent at the peak of the holidays. Toys and games, an annual favorite of the holiday season, jumped 138 percent while the apparel category followed closely behind at a growth rate of 130 percent.
Firms get low grades in high-tech from internal salespeople
America’s corporations are getting low grades in high-tech from their own salespeople for not fully integrating sales force automarion (SFA) systems service to customers. This is despite the fact that the technologies to do so are available, or already in place in many cases, according to an independent study commissioned by Freedom Technology Media Group (FTMG), parent company of destinationCRM.com and CRM Magazine.
The study on SFA acceptance and practices in the U.S. was conducted for FTMG by the Institute for the Study of Business Markets at Penn State University. Some 787 sales representatives who work in a variety of manufacturing, services, trade, finance and information industries around the country, were surveyed.
SFA is considered an umbrella term for software and systems designed to support individual field sales representatives. These systems help a company’s sales force keep better track of important relationships, sales opportunities, inventory and other vital informarion to help better serve prospects and clients. Other system features include: online order taking and fulfillment, contact tracking and product availability, and other tools that improve efficiency throughout a sales cycle.
Just in the past few years, moves by business to fully automate their sales systems have become a major component of CRM - customer relationship management. CRM is one of the fastest-growing segments of new economy planning and e-commerce development today, as e-businesses, click-and-mortar hybrids and traditional companies rush to integrate a wide range of customer solutions and Internet efficiencies within virtually every industry.
As CRM initiatives take center stage now in every aspect of the business world, the market for CRM products and services is expected to grow to $90 billion by the year 2003.
Among some key findings of FrMG’s SFA study are:
- While 60 percent of the respondents felt SFA systems available were helpful for their job performance, only 14 percent were clearly satisfied by the level of training received from their corporate employers - so they could better use the systems.
- Even more telling, while a seemingly high 63 percent of all respondents indicated that they were accessing their SFA system daily, almost 33 percent felt they were not able to fully use its capabilities, or that they had completely integrated the system tools within their total sales process.
- This is contrasted with more than 80 percent of those responding who believed that using their SFA system was not a voluntary act. Consequently, the study postulates that many of America’s salespeople may just be logging on due to mandatory policies. Researchers feel U.S. salespeople have not yet taken off and turned into automated uber-sales reps- with state-of-the-art tools at their fingertips.
The study raises an important question: Will companies lose prospects and threaten customer relationships if they do not take heed of these concerns and quickly get up to speed on SFA? "Every executive or manager involved in the sales process should be very concerned about these survey results," says Matt Purdue, editor, destinationCRM.com. "They are being pressured to improve their customer relationships using the latest technologies, but these results clearly show that technology alone will not make salespeople more effective. Companies must be vigilant in serviing and supporting their salespeople, not just customers."
Seniors who reach prescription benefit caps more likely to leave Medicare HMOs
Reaching prescription benefit caps, or spending limits, may lead some seniors to drop out of their Medicare HMOs. This relationship was confirmed by a study conducted by Express Scripts Inc., a pharmacy benefit manager. A synopsis of the study by lead author Emily R. Cox and her colleagues at Express Scripts was. pubfished in the November 22129 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Changes in Health Care Financing and Organization (HCFO) Initiative provided funding for the project.
The study confirmed and expanded upon previous research suggesting a link between exhaustion of prescription benefits and disenrollment from Medicare HMOs. Data used for the Express Scripts study covered two years, 1997 and 1998 - double the time period previously studied. The longer time period reinforces the validity of the conclusion that reaching prescription drug caps increases the likelihood of disenrollment. In addition, researchers evaluated the rate of re-enrollment in 1998 among those who disenrolled from their plans in 1997.
Over the two-year study period, the three Medicare HMO plans evaluated varied in cap amount and administration of cap. In 1997, plans A, B and C capped benefits at $600, $1,000 and $1,500, respectively, and all were administered on a quarterly basis. Quarterly administered caps allow members to utilize one-fourth of their annual benefit per quarter. In 1998, all three plans capped benefits at $1,000, with plans A and C administering their caps on a quarterly basis and plan B administering its cap annually.
"We wanted to determine whether people who reach spending caps for prescription drugs are more likely to leave their health plans than those who do not reach their spending caps," says Cox. "What we found is that the relative risk of disenrollment is two to three times greater for those whose annual prescription drug costs exceed the coverage limits of their plan. This finding held true, no matter how the plan was administered."
The research team notes that other factors, such as dissatisfaction with physician networks, may have entered into the decision of some beneficiaries to leave their Medicare HMOs. However, the numbers suggest that prescription benefit caps do play a role in beneficiary behavior. For example, in 1997, the plan with the lowest cap had the highest disenrollment rate, approximately 19.3 percent. This same plan increased its annual cap by $400 in 1998 and subsequently experienced the highest rate of re-enrollment - 21 percent of those who had dropped the plan in the previous year.
The study did not confirm whether beneficiaries, after dropping out of one plan, then enrolled in another plan with a prescription benefit. The team believes it is reasonable to assume, however, that beneficiaries with high prescription drug costs will seek alternatives providing prescription coverage, such as other Medicare HMOs, if available.
Currently, beneficiaries in Medicare HMO plans are able to enroll and disenroll on a monthly basis. Starting in 2002, however, beneficiaries’ flexibility to switch plans will be curtailed. Once enrolled in a Medicare HMO, a beneficiary will be allowed to change plans only within the first six months of the year. Then, in 2003, this period will be reduced to the first three months of the year. As a result, beneficiaries with high prescription expenditures will lose an option to obtain additional prescription coverage at the time it is needed. For beneficiaries who reach cap after the first six months in 2002, or after the first three months thereafter, the only alternatives will be to remain in the health plan or return to fee-for-service Medicare. In either situation, those individuals will have to pay the full cost of their medications out of pocket.
These findings are important in light of previous research conducted by Cox and her colleagues at the University of Arizona showing that beneficiaries who exhaust their capped prescription benefits are more likely to discontinue medications or take less than the prescribed amount. Such behaviors place these individuals at increased risk for morbidity and mortality.
Cox suggests that the study’s findings hold important implications for the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA), the federal agency that administers the Medicare program, as well as for private Medicare HMO plans currently providing capped prescription benefits.
"As we move forward with a Medicare prescription drug benefit, we need to understand how beneficiaries’ behaviors will be affected by cost-management strategies such as benefit limits and apply that knowledge in designing the progam. The same holds true for plan administrators who currently provide prescription benefits to seniors," says Cox.
Cox also points out that, while current enrollment flexibility enables many seniors who exhaust their prescription cap to maintain coverage, switching plans may carry adverse consequences for both HMOs and beneficiaries. "Switching can be costly from an administrative point of view," she says. "But even more consequential is that switching plans may mean a beneficiary has to change doctors or medications. That discontinuity potentially compromises quality of care."
As older Americans approach the age of eligibility for Medicare benefits, says Cox, they need to be aware of the cost of pharmaceuticals and weigh any prescription drug benefit caps in making decisions about health care coverage. "If a person is relatively healthy when selecting a plan, it’s easy to discount the importance of prescription drug coverage. But if that same person later develops a chronic disease, the financial importance of the prescription benefit is likely to become very apparent very quickly."