CES serves as a major showcase for a variety of new technologies, products and services – and the ones that offer real value to inflation-ravaged consumers likely will get attention, according to a consumer technology expert.
“Value is something that we’ve really seen consumers focus in on in 2024, and part of value is getting the most out of the products that you purchase,” Paul Gagnon, vice president and industry advisor, consumer technology at market research and technology company Circana, said in this interview with Lisa Granatstein, editorial director of Beet.TV.
“I’m really interested to see if there are manufacturers who can really deliver value through utility, especially lots of different use cases,” he said. “I’m looking for manufacturers who are giving consumers either new form factors, new ways of using existing product categories, perhaps in more flexible ways.”
Many consumers are worried about their spending power, especially those whose incomes didn’t keep up with a cumulative inflation rate of 20% from 2020 to 2024. These concerns affect their decisions on whether to spend on the latest gadgets.
“Consumers have felt generally pretty negative about the economy in our survey work that we do this year, and it’s affected their decision making, the types of products that they purchase,” Gagnon said.
Circana has seen what is known as the “trade-down effect” in which consumers buy more affordable products in a given category. This behavior is likely to continue in 2025.
“We do expect to see a return to growth for consumer electronics in 2025, but it’ll be very dependent on the ability for manufacturers and retailers to offer products that deliver strong value,” Gagnon said. “Hopefully, manufacturers can pick up on that in 2025 and deliver that value that consumers are looking for.”
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