• Marie Kondo’s Netflix show appears to be actually influencing how Americans shop – and forcing them to tidy up their homes.
• In January 2019, sales of file storage supplies, shredders, and specialty labels all grew following the debut of the Netflix series “Tidying Up with Marie Kondo,” according to data from The NPD Group.
• “[R]etailers and brands have an opportunity to help the consumer take control of their ‘joy’ by helping them remove what is distracting, and enhance what promotes a mindful life,” said NPD industry analyst Leen Nsouli.

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Marie Kondo, tidiness expert extraordinaire, is forcing America to clean up its act.

In January 2019, sales of file storage supplies, shredders, and specialty labels were all up year-over-year following the debut of the Netflix series “Tidying Up with Marie Kondo.”

Dollar sales of filing and file storage supplies were up 3% while shredders grew 2%, according to data from The NPD Group. Meanwhile, unit sales of specialty labels grew 4% in January after dropping 4% in 2018.

“In a time when health, wellness, and mindfulness have become essential values to consumers’ daily operation, retailers and brands have an opportunity to help the consumer take control of their ‘joy’ by helping them remove what is distracting, and enhance what promotes a mindful life,” Leen Nsouli, an NPD industry analyst, said in a statement.

“Sometimes, we don’t realise just how many big bags of unnecessary stuff we have accumulated in our closets, homes, offices, and classrooms over the years,” Nsouli added.

Read more:
Marie Kondo’s interpreter reveals what it’s really like working on ‘Tidying Up’

The organising business isn’t the only category thriving in the age of Marie Kondo. Thrift stores across the US have seen a dramatic increase in donations, NPR reports.

Kondo established herself as an organisation guru with the publication of “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organising,” which landed her on Time’s 2015 “Top 100 Influential People” list. The Marie Kondo method is centered on identifying which objects “spark joy” – and then getting rid of the rest.

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