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News.....................................2 Ad Index.............................22 Cont. on page 10 Create Community, Never Bore Your Customers BY LORRIE BAUMANN The young people who are in their late teens and early 20s grew up in a world in which material things were cheap and consumers' choices became limitless. Now they're less likely to value either, according to Michael Dart, a Partner in the Consumer/Retail Practice at A.T. Kearney, a global consulting firm. He spoke to housewares executives during CHESS, the International Housewares' Association's annual gathering for a Chief Housewares Executive SuperSession. That has led young people to value abstract qualities like meaning and connection over physical objects, and it's why the mass market is on its way out, according to Dart. Businesses that sur vive will be those that form meaning and connection to their brands within the minds, hearts and spirits of their consumers, he said. " With the BY LORRIE BAUMANN This year's holiday shopping season between Thanksgiving and Christmas is six days shorter than last year's, but although fears of economic recession are floating through the American market, retail growth is solid but slowing, said Dana Telsey, Retail Guru, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Research Officer for Telsey Advisory Group. "Retail growth figures are slowing, but consumer confidence and employment numbers are still strong," she said. "It's still solid – we still have a very stable consumer, but we want to watch those growth rates because it may be slowing." With Bed Bath & Beyond faltering and Pier One and JC Penney in real trouble, some housewares manufacturers will be looking at specialty housewares Cont. on page 12 Competition in Home Goods Market Spurs Reinvention www.kitchenwarenews.com KITCHENWARE NEWS & Housewares Review Seasonings and Garden Kits for Enjoying the Outdoors See page 8 Clean, Creative Play for Restless Eaters See page 3 Vol. 25 • Issue 6 November 2019 • $7.00

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