In the past decade, the development of the home furnishing industry is highly related to the real estate cycle. Large-scale production, standardized products and dealer network constitute the main growth models. However, in 2026, with the real estate dividend fading, the industry growth logic is facing systematic adjustment. The performance of some listed home furnishing enterprises is under pressure, and profits are declining. In the regional market, there are some phenomena such as difficulties in the operation of decoration companies and tight capital chain of dealers. At the same time, technological iteration, demographic changes and upgrading of consumer demand are reshaping the market structure. Consumers' attention to environmental protection, aging, spatial segmentation and other scenarios continues to rise. The underlying logic of the industry is shifting from supply-side scale replication to demand-side scenario management, from one-time delivery to continuous service, from experience-driven to data-driven. AI is regarded as a key technical tool to promote this transformation, but its actual landing effect is different in different links.

1、the field of home improvement: AI improves efficiency, but it is difficult to solve the problem of offline construction and interest coordination.

The home improvement industry has the characteristics of long chain, many links and large variables. Problems in design, water and electricity, carpentry and installation may affect the final delivery quality. The downward cycle of real estate has further amplified the contradictions in the industry. Some decoration companies launched low-priced packages to maintain profits by reducing material costs and adding items later, which led to an increase in the complaint rate. According to the data of Anhui Consumer Protection Committee, in the third quarter of 2025, complaints about house decoration increased by 21.82% year-on-year, involving many links such as contract signing, construction and after-sales.

At present, the application of AI technology in the field of home improvement mainly focuses on clear and repeatable tasks, including automatic generation of renderings, style matching, budget arrangement, quotation review and construction node reminder. Some platforms try to improve efficiency through AI design, AI supervision and smart site scheduling. However, there is a big gap between the renderings generated by AI online and the actual construction offline. Variables such as wall flatness, pipeline direction, workers' cooperation, and property restrictions may cause the original plan to be impossible to implement at any time.

There are also challenges in the supply chain. Although the head platform has the ability of centralized purchasing, it is common for the brand headquarters to press the goods from the dealers, which leads to the dealers dumping the goods at low prices and the price system tends to be chaotic. AI can improve the efficiency of quotation, but it is difficult to change the basic pattern of supply chain.

More importantly, home improvement is a highly localized service industry. There are differences in construction technology and acceptance standards in different places, and a long-term and stable cooperative relationship has been formed between local decoration enterprises and construction teams. The whole process of AI supervision and intelligent construction site control may cause workers' resistance in actual implementation. Previously, when the real estate industry tried to test the smart construction site, it was blocked by the lack of cooperation of workers. In addition, the owner purchased "one-stop service+responsibility". When there are problems such as water leakage and delay, it is necessary for on-site personnel to deal with them quickly, rather than the standardized reply of AI customer service. Over-reliance on AI may weaken users' actual feelings about "service" and "responsibility".

2、smart items: from function superposition to value verification

Compared with the complexity of the whole chain transformation of home improvement, the commercialization of AI household items is faster. However, the increase in the number of single products does not mean that every product has passed the market verification.

Take the AI mattress as an example. Sleep problem is a common pain point, superimposed with the aging trend, and the market scale is large. According to the data of Toubao Research Institute, 65% people experience sleep problems once or twice a week, and the sleep disturbance rate of the elderly over 65 years old is as high as 73.7%. Brands such as Sleemon and DeRUCCI have entered this field. However, AI mattresses still belong to the category of "big market base and low permeability". Organization predicts that the sales penetration rate of smart mattresses with AI attributes will be less than 1% in 2025. In contrast, the penetration rate of smart door locks supporting voice assistants and AI big models has exceeded 40%.

The reasons for the difference between the two are: smart door locks correspond to property safety and are necessary expenses; AI mattresses are more comfortable, and are more likely to be classified as optional consumption in the context of rational consumption. The deeper problem is that the AI mattress has not yet formed a complete closed loop of value. It can record body movements and snoring, and remind users that they haven't slept well, but it can't answer why they haven't slept well, how to intervene and whether they can continue to improve. For users, it is difficult to support a high premium just knowing that they have not slept well. In addition, consumers can improve their sleep through lower-cost ways such as fitness and Chinese medicine conditioning, which makes the pricing of AI mattresses face greater challenges.

The same logic applies to smart sofas, smart seats and other categories. The superposition of zero gravity, massage, voice control and other functions does not mean that the value has been recognized by users. The core of consumers' concern is what specific pain points these functions solve and whether the solution is irreplaceable.

Therefore, AI household items are entering the stage of value screening. The focus of competition has shifted from "taking the lead in launching the function" to "whether the function can be transformed into the value that users can perceive, verify and pay sustainably".China Home Expo believes that AI household items need to move from functional superposition to value verification in order to win the long-term trust of consumers.

3、ecological competition: the interest game behind the interconnection of equipment

The application of AI home in the scene of providing for the aged is typical. The National Injury Monitoring Data Set shows that falling is the primary cause of accidental injuries among the elderly over 65 years old in China, and real-time monitoring and safety warning in the family environment are rigid requirements. With the development of technology, cameras and millimeter-wave radars have been able to identify falls. In the future, it is expected to form a closed-loop service of "elderly fall identification → early warning family members → docking community hospitals" to promote AI home from single product intelligence to collaborative care.

However, in the actual landing process, there are several main problems. First, ecological fragmentation. Different brands of equipment adopt their own communication protocols, which leads to poor cross-brand compatibility. Second, there is a paradox in aging design. The real challenge is not how many functions are added to the elderly, but whether the care ability can be naturally embedded in daily life without increasing the learning burden.China Home Expo also noted that ecological fragmentation and aging design are obstacles to collaborative care of smart homes at present.

The home furnishing industry in 2026 is in a period of profound structural adjustment. The real estate dividend has faded, the traditional growth model has failed, and the new logic has not been fully established. However, new kinetic energy such as trade-in, intelligent upgrading, and aging transformation is continuing to exert its strength. Although the application of AI in home improvement, single products and ecology faces challenges, these challenges just point out the next breakthrough direction of the industry-efficiency improvement can be more accurate, value verification can be more transparent, and ecological collaboration can be more open. With the technical iteration, standard unification and business model innovation, the integration of AI and home furnishing industry is moving from "concept exploration" to "substantial landing".