New consumer research from Curion, a leading consumer insights and product testing firm, says there is a widening disconnect between where the appliance industry is placing its biggest innovation bets and what consumers actually buy on. While manufacturers continue to invest heavily in smart, connected, and feature-rich products, consumers overwhelmingly make purchase decisions based on long-term reliability and value — and they rank smart features near the very bottom of what matters, it said.
“The contrast is hard to miss. In a Curion poll of 5,610 U.S. consumers, long-term reliability (45%) and price/value (27%) together accounted for nearly three of every four purchase decisions. Smart features, by comparison, were the primary driver for just 2.7% of consumers — ranking 8th out of 11 options, behind brand trust, energy efficiency, ease of use, and even warranty and service support. More consumers chose “none of the above” (2.9%) than chose smart features at all,” explained Curion.
“The most striking finding cuts against a core industry assumption: that younger, digitally native consumers will drive smart-appliance adoption. In fact, they don’t. Consumers aged 18–34 chose smart features at just 3.0% — statistically indistinguishable from the 1.9% of those 65 and older. The generation that grew up on smartphones and connected everything wants it in their appliances at essentially the same near-zero rate as their grandparents.”
When forced to name a single primary driver, those same younger consumers chose reliability (51%) and price/value (25%) — the same priorities as every other age group, said the report.
Notably, “fear of complexity” ranked dead last (0.9%) among barriers to upgrading — not because complexity isn’t a concern, but because many consumers appear to have already dismissed complicated products from consideration entirely, said the report.
Energy efficiency, another major industry talking point, was named by only 3.0% of consumers as their primary driver, further suggesting that for all the messaging around sustainability and efficiency ratings, the feature functions as table stakes rather than a reason to buy, it added.
“The innovation narrative and the consumer reality are running in opposite directions,” said Tomás Gilbert, director of strategic market insights, Curion. “Brands are spending enormous R&D dollars on features consumers didn’t ask for and, in some cases, actively don’t want — while the things that actually earn a purchase and a repurchase, durability, value, and human support, get treated as afterthoughts. The lesson isn’t that consumers reject technology. It’s that a feature only matters if it does a real job better than what they already own. When it doesn’t, it reads as one more thing that can break.”
“This is where the homework matters,” added Keren Novack, president of Curion. “Before a brand brings a product to market, it has to know what need it fills and whether that’s genuinely worth a consumer replacing what’s already in their home. The brands that win the next chapter of this category won’t be the ones with the smartest appliances. They’ll be the ones consumers feel most confident bringing through the door.”
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