Experts Challenge Participants at the Inspired Home Show® 2026 to Experiment with AI to Stay Competitive and Increase Revenue
CHICAGO, IL (March 10, 2026) – The housewares industry can solve some of its most complex business issues from margin pressure to unpredictable, rapidly-evolving consumer behavior using artificial intelligence, according to Udayan Bose, founder and CEO of NetElixir, an AI-first digital agency for global e-commerce brands. Bose joined Aaron Conant, co-founder of the commerce technology networking platform BWG Connect for a keynote discussion, “The Future of AI: Your Business Depends on it Today,” at The Inspired Home Show 2026 today.
Hosted by the International Housewares Association (IHA), the Show is being held March 10-12 at Chicago’s McCormick Place. While not open to the public, The Inspired Home Show® brings together more than 2,000 unique brands with attendees from 115 countries for product discovery, trendspotting and networking.
While many consumers have already experienced AI through GPT tools and the large language models used in everyday searches, Bose said businesses have only begun to explore AI’s potential.
“It’s time to move from using AI to save time on simple tasks to using it for predictive analytics that drive business growth,” Bose said. For the housewares industry in particular, where companies manage thousands of SKUs and face intense margin pressure, AI can help uncover new revenue opportunities.
“There’s lots of money hidden in those dead SKUs, and AI can help unlock that revenue,” Bose said.
He cited an example of a company that used AI-driven experimentation to revive 1,100 SKUs, see 39 percent total growth in orders, and generate $1 million in incremental revenue in just three months.
Companies can leverage predictive analytics – a type of performance AI – to identify which customers are most likely to make a purchase, which ones are at risk of churning, and where marketing and promotional efforts should be focused.
From SEO to GEO
Artificial intelligence is also changing how consumers discover brands online, Conant said.
It’s not about SEO anymore—e-commerce companies need to be concerned about Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) now. “This means you need to change how you structure the backend of your website and how you do social,” said Conant. “You have to be focused on GEO. If you don’t, your brand won’t be included in AI searches.”
AI search is providing richer results for consumers, with AI looking beyond what they are looking for and anticipating their needs with more choices, said Bose.
AI Enhances, Not Replaces, Human Judgement
Both Conant and Bose think the fear of AI replacing everyone’s job is misguided.
Bose said the technology is more likely to augment human roles rather than replace them. The real value of AI, he said, lies in how organizations reinvest the time automation creates. By reducing manual work, AI allows teams to focus on higher-level thinking, creativity and strategy.
“AI should be the starting point, not the end goal,” Bose said. “The opportunity for business leaders is to take the time saved and apply it to time for human judgment—the creativity, intuition and strategic thinking that AI cannot replicate.”
Four Principles for AI Adoption
Bose shared four principles that can help guide companies as they start to improve workflows and grow revenue:
- AI is like electricity: The applications you build define impact. It is power that you apply to the problems you want to solve.
- Work backwards from outcomes: Start with the workflows, not the technology.
- Keep humans in the loop: Humans with AI will beat both AI alone and humans alone.
- Start small, experiment fast: Treat AI adoption as a series of experiments.
When looking to improve workflows, Bose encouraged businesses to question long-standing processes. He said, “Ask yourself, do you still need those 38 steps, or can you do it in 14? Leave your pride behind and look at that process you’ve been using for 19 years and see how you might be able to improve it.”
He added that successful experimentation often comes from diverse teams working together to solve problems.
“This is a time when hierarchies don’t matter,” Bose said. “Bring together a small, multigenerational group to tackle one problem. Encourage people to speak up and create psychological safety. If you don’t adapt, you won’t survive.”
Bose closed with a simple message for business leaders navigating the rapidly-evolving AI landscape.
“Start today. The right time is now. Start with one problem. Use AI to figure out the problem. And work back from there. Experimentation is the way of the future,” he said.
A video recording of the session will be posted on the Show’s website at TheInspiredHomeShow.com/education/#keynotes. The Inspired Home Show, IHA’s global home + housewares marketplace, is being held March 10-12 at Chicago’s McCormick Place and features exhibitors and buyers from around the globe. For more information about the 2026 Show, visit TheInspiredHomeShow.com. To search for new products at the Show, visit Connect 365, the Show’s online directory.
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The International Housewares Association (IHA) is the 87-year-old voice of the home and housewares industry, dedicated to bringing buyers and sellers together. IHA hosts the world’s premier exposition of products for the home, The Inspired Home Show, in Chicago every March. Each year, the Show brings together more than 2,000 unique brands and hundreds of thousands of products with both global and domestic buyers; U.S.-based attendees alone represent more than 100,000 retail locations and over $64 billion in buying power. The not-for-profit, full-service Association also offers member companies a wide range of services including industry and government advocacy; export assistance; trend reports; executive management peer groups; group buying discounts; and an independent news and information platform, HomePageNews.com.
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