Tech Consumer Insights

Trend - Furniture brands are utilizing 3D knitting solutions to create affordable, durable, and sustainable products. The 3D knitting machines function similarly to 3D printers, using fabrics instead of filaments. While still a niche product, 3D knit furniture is gaining traction for its uniqueness.

Insight - While the field of 3D printing continues to grow with innovations in speed, efficiency, and sustainability, as while as reductions in cost, 3D printed products are still often regarded as lesser than their counterparts by consumers. This is often due to both the types of filament used and consumers becoming aware of the affordability of 3D printing. In order to alleviate one of these complaints, brands are expanding the types of materials 3D printers can use, leading to 3D knitting machines.

Trend - Brands in the smart home space are releasing smart air conditioners designed to adapt to the needs of the residents. Some such air conditioners feature modes that monitor a user's body temperature and use AI algorithms to ensure their comfort, while others enable personalized app connectivity.

Insight - Some of the most common symptoms women experience in the perimenopausal and menopausal stages are hot flashes, or in some cases cold flashes. While these women often resort to traditional means of controlling body temperatures by using heated blankets or cooling pillows, the introduction of AI in the smart home space is making body temperature control more natural and intuitive. Brands are addressing the needs of these women with smart air conditioners that adjust based on body temperatures.

Trend - AI companies are launching platforms that focus on licensing and distributing content generated by artificial intelligence (AI) models. These platforms protect the users of such content, ensuring that the users do not have to worry about legal concerns surrounding the use of AI content.

Insight - As AI-generated content gains popularity in nearly every creative and professional field, consumers who use such content for commercial products, such as advertisements or entertainment media, are increasingly worrying about the gray area zone that AI content currently exists in. In order to appease these consumers and increase the popularity of using AI content in commercial use, companies are launching platforms that handle the legal licensing of such content databases.

Trend - Leadership teams are now utilizing automated tools to connect with employees and gain deeper insights into their emotional states. These AI systems enhance employee satisfaction by conducting surveys and providing targeted coaching, offering support that aligns with individual feelings and needs.

Insight - Management teams often manage large groups of employees while addressing individual challenges that can significantly impact company workflow and productivity. To effectively navigate this, automated tools are increasingly being used to gain insights into each employee's unique emotional state and overall job satisfaction. This approach enables managers to provide personalized support and address individual needs more effectively, ultimately enhancing employee satisfaction and retention.

Trend - Appliance companies are releasing countertop composters designed for the kitchen. These composters accept food waste and paper-based products, which they then transform into usable fertilizers. These feature tight seals to keep scents trapped, and removable components for easy maintenance.

Insight - Environmentally-conscious consumers are acutely aware of the amount of food waste they produce. Often, these consumers will opt for products with both eco-friendly ingredients and packaging. However, discarding such packaging and producing food waste are still inevitable in the kitchen. For consumers who would like to further reduce their environmental footprint in the kitchen, brands are creating countertop composters that enable these consumers to see their eco-friendly impact in real-time.

Trend - 3D printing brands are creating more unique 3D printers that either use a tool-switcher, or several concurrent tools, to print single projects that utilize more than one material. These multi-material printers are designed for more advanced printing jobs for personal or professional use.

Insight - 3D printing is one such field that has grown far larger than just being a hobby for most. Many consumers create businesses, or streamline their startups, by using 3D printers to save drastically on production costs. However, for more complex products, 3D printing was not always viable, leading to these businesses needing to source product components from traditional manufacturing facilities. However, 3D printing brands are now catering to these needs with multi-material and multi-tool printers.

Trend - Brands are creating packaging designs with smart solutions for consumers with visual impairments. These solutions include scannable codes or symbols that interact with smart applications to provide either easier-to-read or audio-based information, more effectively supporting shoppers.

Insight - Consumers with visual impairments often face struggles when shopping in-person. Whether faced with overstimulating aisles in the grocery store, or difficult to read labels with fine text on products, these consumers find it difficult to obtain comprehensive information on products, such as ingredients lists. In order to better support these consumers, packaging brands are partnering with technology companies to create smart labels that convey information in alternative, more accessible, ways.

Trend - Packaging brands are creating tech-based solutions for traceability. These enable consumers, and partnered businesses, to trace packaging back to its source. Often via scanning a QR code, NFC touchpoint, or blockchain ID, it is easy for any user to verify stated sustainability claims.

Insight - While many brands claim their packaging solutions are sustainable or recyclable, making claims such as "76% recycled aluminum,' there is no convenient way for the average consumer to verify most of these statements. While some packaging solutions, such as paper-based ones, are more clearly sustainable, some may be more difficult to ascertain. However, consumers who desire to live eco-friendly lifestyles would appreciate further assurance, leading to brands adding traceable packaging solutions.

Trend - Startups are launching AI tools that generate product descriptions for online retailers. These tools take into account cost, highlight features, and detailed information to generate attention-grabbing copy quickly. These tools are designed to save time and money for online storefront operators.

Insight - Retailers with storefronts are aware of the challenges associated with each aspect of the website. These challenges include paying either internal IT departments or third-parties to maintain the website, taking product photos, dealing with online fulfillment and post-service support, and more. These retailers are closely following the AI revolution for tools that alleviate one of these challenge categories. Brands are addressing one category with AI product description-generating tools.

Trend - Companies are increasingly utilizing artificial intelligence in the hiring process to streamline various aspects of recruitment. This can include everything from automating resume screening to identifying top candidates, allowing HR teams to focus on other relevant aspects of recruitment.

Insight - Hiring managers frequently face the daunting task of sifting through hundreds of resumes, a process that can easily lead to the risk of overlooking qualified candidates. To address this issue, new automation-based tools are emerging to assist recruiters in accurately evaluating each applicant and their qualifications. By adopting AI-driven solutions, businesses can more effectively manage the complexities of modern recruitment, improving employee retention and streamlining the hiring process.