2020 has turned out to be the year of COVID-19 which has gripped the world and changed the way ordinary life is lived. Cocooning seemed a wild notion introduced by futurists, but it seems much more plausible today then in the past with remote working environments now higly acceptable.
As families increasingly function within their walls or thier homes for a full range of daily activites and responsibilities such as school and work, while venturing out to shopping plaza‘s, grocery stores, and malls less and less. As remote working has taken a front and center stage with major corporations and tech Giants, the new norm appears to be a work from home model.
For major corporations and large businesses the work from home model can offer tremendous upside as overhead and operating costs are reduced considerably and the need for Office space declines.
What does it mean? As businesses adopt new strategies to combat COVID-19 and workers plug-in remotely from home, the home will become the ultimate sanctuary or cocoon to many. Technology has introduced applications of ease like Instacart, Uber eats, and Zoom to name a few. As these technologies are adopted in large scale populations of people will venture out less and less and less as services will deliver everything to their door.
People will tend to move further away from high cost urban centers to lower cost suburban areas that offer an overall lower cost of living. Migrating from high cost urban centers to lower cost suburban communities will in our opinion result in in an increase of disposable income and lead to greater spending for household related goods and services.
As pointed out in our earlier blog article post titles "Coronavirus Covid 19 survival guide for Amazon merchants" we assumed an upswing in home office purchasing. In addition to home offices, We expect and uptick in home decor, House hold appliances, bed, bath, and items related to garden and the outer perimeter of one’s home.
Product Trends for Sales & Returns:
- home decor
- House hold appliances
- bed
- bath
- garden
A key indicator of healthy sales is a strong return rate or strong return volume which is a direct expression of sales success. Throughout 2020 we have seen a tremendous growth in items and articles related to the home including textiles for the bedroom and bath such as bedsheets pillow covers and towels. In the home living space we’ve seen a considerable increase in the curtains, wall coverings, and wall prints and canvases or artwork.