Residential Lifestyles & Technology

Re-Conceptualizing the American Home

One of the most pervasive disruptions produced by the Great Recession is the way it is forcing us to reconceive “the home.” As Millennials displace Baby Boomers ─ the generation whose love affair with the big home scaled our residential environment ─ we can expect a variety of culture-driven changes in the way Americans shape their domiciles to fit 21st century living and 21st century economics. Just a little further into the future, the confluence of new technologies, resource management approaches, and business models will produce fundamental changes in how homes are constructed, improved and maintained, with greater emphasis on off-site fabrication, integrated technology, and sustainability.

New Challenges, New Questions, and A New Rate of Change

The shift of the home from investment to managed risk and the imminent emergence of fundamentally different home construction paradigms raise provocative questions for the industries that will shape American “lifestyles and domiciles” in this century.


Click here for an interview by NAXION’s George Leon with architect Stephen Kieran of the award-winning firm, KieranTimberlake, on The Home of the Future.

Depth of Experience and Breadth of Offerings

Competing effectively on this new residential frontier can be especially challenging for a sector long accustomed to incremental rates of change. What’s required is the ability to spot trends and the agility to adjust the business model based on a dynamic understanding of the values and decision processes of all participants in the ecosystem.

NAXION is exceptionally well-positioned to guide confident decisions in this space based on our comprehensive portfolio of service offerings and our deep knowledge of the sector. Our Residential Lifestyles & Technology Practice has expertise in virtually every type of product and service found in the home, including: 

  • Construction materials and services
  • Furnishings, fixtures, treatments and other home improvement products
  • Residential and Commercial Security & Automation
  • Energy management
  • Home repair, remodeling and maintenance services

The scope of our assignments extends broadly across a range of strategic objectives, from early trend-spotting to innovation, from forecasting to monitoring brand health, and from channel strategy to customer engagement.

  • Culture and Market Trends:  We help companies in all corners of the industry achieve success by spotting and interpreting the cultural trends that will shape future home environments and the choices people make. Integration of multiple data sources, including social media and targeted surveys, helps our clients see both the big market picture and the customer-level decision processes that shape it.
  • Innovation Insights:  We apply a broad repertoire of techniques, including robust choice modeling, to find alignment between those emerging trends and the innovation opportunities presented by new materials and technologies.
  • Panoramic Forecasting:  We take an integrative, 360-view of customers, suppliers, trade professionals and retailers to predict market outcomes and revenue opportunities, using powerful predictive techniques from the firm’s Farsight® suite of modeling services.

Some of our recent successes include:

  • A new consumer segmentation framework for the Home Improvement Research Institute
  • A comprehensive consumer DIY segmentation and portfolio strategy for a major manufacturer of home furnishings
  • Realignment of a cabinet portfolio and branding strategy based on identification of emerging consumer and contractor needs
  • Product development, pricing, and launch strategy guidance for the manufacturer of advanced-technology plumbing fixtures
  • A comprehensive program for tracking trends in consumer, contractor and channel partner requirements for manufacturers of hardware, plumbing, cabinetry, architectural coatings, windows and tools
  • Portfolio realignment for providing of contractor services to encompass new construction and remodeling
  • Guidance for North American market-entry strategy for a European construction materials manufacturer with a highly innovative portfolio