Purchase Intent Stays Strong Across Housewares Categories

When looking at consumer purchase intent by category in the coming months, most categories tracked in the survey indicate a combined “very likely/somewhat likely” to-purchase score at or above 50%. This underscores home and housewares as a key general merchandise producer at retail, one that has historically been resistant to economic lulls and uncertainty.

Notably, the only categories with “very likely” purchase intent ratings above 30% in this year’s survey are personal care, cleaning tools and home health care, perhaps underscoring the elevated role of wellness as a lifestyle priority driving purchase intent of myriad personal and household products.

Replacement Still Leads, but Innovation and Aesthetics Gain Ground

When it comes to purchase motivation, replacement remains the leading driver across nearly all categories, most ranging from 30% to 50%. Categories like kitchen electrics and home environment also show strong upgrade interest (24%), pointing to innovation as a key purchase trigger. Tabletop categories, along with cookware, outdoor living, and home storage and organization, show elevated aesthetic appeal, with 11–13% of shoppers motivated by home design.

Shoppers Put More Trust in Reviews and Peers

Online product reviews remain the dominant influence across nearly all housewares categories, with kitchen electrics (27%) and home environment (26%) leading consumers’ reliance on digital feedback. Consumer ratings sources also play a significant role, particularly in home health care, floor care electrics and home environment (at 16%), while friends and family recommendations continue to rank as a trusted input across categories, at 15-19%. Manufacturer websites and retailer inserts show less impact overall. Packaging tends to play a modest yet consistent role, peaking at 12% in dinnerware and drinkware. This pattern reflects consumer preference for friends and family recommendations and performance insights over advertising when navigating purchase decisions.

High-Tech Housewares Spur Online Research and Purchase

Online research and purchase behavior vary by category, reflecting differences in product complexity and consumer confidence. Categories like kitchen electrics, floor care electrics and home environment show the strongest digital engagement, with high rates of both online research and willingness to buy from traditional or online-only websites. In contrast, more tactile or style-driven categories such as flatware, drinkware and cleaning tools see higher shares of consumers who skip online research altogether.

Mass Merchants Dominate Online and In-Store as Off-Price Remains In-Person Favorite

With many traditional channels coming in with the same channel-preference percentages for in-person and online shopping, this year’s survey confirms the normalization of omnichannel retailing when it comes to how consumers define their shopping outlet choices. For example, mass merchants, by far and probably to the surprise of few, lead the preference rankings with 37% of respondents picking that channel for in-store purchases and 40% picking it for online purchases (the slightly higher online percentage likely comes from consumers including Amazon among the mass merchant options). It is also notable that the department store channel, whose challenges may be as mainstream as ever, was selected by just 6% of consumers for in-person purchases and 5% for online purchases.

The relatively low, 7% in-store and online purchase likelihood results for home specialty stores might reveal a consumer base responding to the absence of Bed Bath & Beyond stores over the past couple of years and, as of yet, unaware of plans for the return of stores under that label. Off-price stores, meanwhile, show slightly higher purchase likelihood for in-person purchasing compared to online purchasing, confirming a channel whose value to consumers continues to be driven by the in-store“treasure hunt” experience.

Charts above reflect average values across all product categories. View category-specific details.

The home baking renaissance has continued with a lift from the at-home entertaining revival. With that, shoppers tend to approach bakeware purchases with clear intent.

Kitchen tools are among the top five in overall purchase intent, with 61% of consumers indicating plans to buy across a diverse range of basic and specialty items within the next year.

Dinnerware, another category that has benefited from an increase in at-home entertaining, stands out for its aesthetic appeal, with 13% of consumers citing a desire to match home design, the highest rate across all categories.

Kitchen electrics continue to stand out as a high-consideration, research-intensive category driven by both planned replacement cycles and evolving consumer expectations.

A wide range of hair care, beauty and grooming appliances are in this year’s purchase plans, as consumers continue to embrace the convenience and economy of at-home personal care, bolstered in recent years by performance advances for improved ease of use, versatility and customization.

With the age-old task of keeping the home clean elevated to a zealous lifestyle priority in recent years, consumers have embraced introductions of general-use and specialty cleaning tools promising easier use and increased performance.

While inflation and economic uncertainty might have tempered soaring post-pandemic travel and tourism growth, the demand for new travel goods remains strong.

Home health care appliance development and marketing have evolved in recent years to project a more holistic wellness orientation for all generations compared to what previously had been a more clinical purpose and tone.