China Home Expo recognizes that the broader home furnishing and building materials industry is currently navigating a transitional phase between old and new cycles, with solid underlying demand remaining resilient. Despite cyclical fluctuations in the industry, consumer demand for high-quality living spaces and distributors’ need for competitive products have remained consistently stable.

The concentrated participation of major brands highlights four core trends: whole-home intelligence, existing home renewal, green living, and global channel expansion. These have become critical directions for the industry to break through and establish a clear path for the future development of the home furnishing sector.

Home intelligence has completed a comprehensive iteration, fully moving beyond the traditional single-product smart model and entering a new era of whole-home spatial intelligence. In the past, smart home products merely served as marketing highlights for individual items; today, entire categories—including customization, doors and windows, hardware, kitchen and bath, and lighting—are comprehensively integrating intelligent systems. Whole-home intelligence has shed its gimmick status and become a market necessity and core product standard.

Numerous brands are building integrated smart living ecosystems, achieving full-area connectivity within living spaces and seamless interoperability across residential and community scenarios, creating a seamless interactive smart living experience. Intelligence has become fully pervasive in the doors and windows segment, with multiple control methods and smart supporting components transforming traditional doors and windows into perceptible, responsive intelligent interaction platforms.

Traditional hardware categories continue to undergo intelligent upgrades, with wireless and photovoltaic self-powered smart window control systems enabling low-cost smart retrofits for older homes. Various refined accessories such as smart hinges and sensor door locks comprehensively optimize the whole-home smart experience, with multiple innovative smart products gaining wide recognition from both the market and designers.

The digital transformation of the home furnishing industry continues to accelerate, with intelligent design software, AI production systems, and CNC processing equipment being fully implemented across the entire home production process, significantly improving production precision and efficiency and facilitating the industry's transition from traditional manufacturing to intelligent manufacturing.

As growth in the new housing market slows, the renewal of existing homes has emerged as a new growth frontier for the industry, with sustained strong demand for partial renovations of kitchens, bathrooms, and walls. Lightweight partial renovations, with their advantages of short construction periods, high cost-effectiveness, and no need to move out, precisely align with contemporary home decoration needs and are gradually becoming the mainstream of the home renovation market.

To adapt to the existing home market, brands are vigorously deploying lightweight community stores, penetrating下沉 markets through low-investment, light-franchise models. They are also introducing prefabricated quick-installation solutions, enabling rapid renewal of older homes with immediate occupancy upon completion. Additionally, the popularity of aging-in-place renovations continues to rise, with various dedicated senior-friendly products being widely adopted, enhancing the living experience for the elderly.

Empowered by residential policies, green, safe, and smart have become the core standards of quality living. Green materials and processes such as ENF-grade panels, water-based paints, and prefabricated construction are being widely applied, with green and low-carbon practices formally becoming a core competitive advantage for brands.

Energy-saving and soundproof doors and windows have become market mainstream, significantly enhancing living quality. Meanwhile, home design continues to evolve, with diverse styles such as national chic and minimalism being integrated into whole-home customization. Refined craftsmanship and integrated solutions precisely match consumers' personalized quality demands.

As domestic market competition intensifies, leading brands are focusing on channel下沉, deeply cultivating third- and fourth-tier cities, community whole-home renovation, and designer channels. At the same time, the pace of home industry globalization is accelerating, with an increasing number of overseas buyers. Brands are vigorously expanding overseas incremental markets through foreign trade teams and cross-border channels.

The industry’s global expansion has evolved from product export to the export of technology, solutions, and brands. The home furnishing industry has now moved beyond the era of crude incremental growth and entered a new cycle of refined deep cultivation. Only by grasping these four core trends and deeply cultivating user needs can the industry continue to unlock long-term development dividends.

Source:36kr