The Lure Of Shopping

American Demographics, July 1, 2002

As our world goes more cyber, consumers will feel the need to surround themselves with things that will bring them back to reality. This will manifest itself in many different areas of our lives, from how we dress to how we decorate our homes, how we play and how we entertain ourselves.

As we turn away from buying things and focus more of our spending on experiences, nature travel and history travel will grow. What connects us with the real world more than nature? What grounds us in our cultural reality better than history? History travel, especially travel focused on Civil War sites, is already a booming business and destined to grow. History travel will encompass Colonial America, Revolutionary War sites, western expansion and native cultural attractions as well. Foreign travel will take consumers overseas to the homelands where their ancestors originated.

Grounding through nature will express itself in the garden. Outdoor living space will grow, with consumers building elaborate garden getaways where they can shut out the modern world and enjoy the sounds, smells and sights of nature. We will populate our gardens with birds, turtles, frogs, toads, peaceful snakes, squirrels, bats and even other furry mammals that will connect us better to the real world.

With an emphasis on reality, our home decorating focus will expand to include all five senses. While color and style (i.e., sight) may always dominate our home decor, consumers are broadening their focus to texture (i.e., touch), background music or sounds of running water in indoor fountains (i.e., hearing) and home fragrances (i.e., smell). The sense of taste is indulged in our kitchens, now the center and focus of the home.

As we stimulate our senses through the things with which we surround ourselves, we will pay particular attention to the feel of fabrics in our upholstered furniture, rugs, pillows, throws, bed linens, curtains, towels, and kitchen and dining linens. Shoppers have always been "touchy-feely" when buying these products, but in the future they will become even more so.

Our taste in home furnishings, including the colors we use to decorate and the art we choose for our walls, will also become more soothing, more natural and more beautiful. Our taste in color will not fade into pastel nothingness. Rather, we will look for stronger, bolder colors that appear in nature. Think of the bright, bold colors found in a spring garden filled with tulips, daffodils and other flowers. Moreover, we will combine colors not to contrast, but to complement.

In the home of the future, sound will play a more central role. Music that is created to stimulate a mood or a feeling will grow in demand as consumers enhance their homes with new entertainment systems that give the effect of surround sound. Designers will figure out ways to bring the sounds of nature into our homes, from simple tabletop fountains that recycle tap water to other, more complex, fountain designs. Expect architectural design to incorporate a Spanish influence by introducing inner courtyards with natural fountains. Silence itself may become a new luxury and status symbol, with architects incorporating more sound-blocking features in new homes.