This year, the International Order of the Golden Rule (OGR) is focusing its podcast series on “The Changing Consumer,” — exploring consumer needs in deathcare and how they have shifted in recent years. How are consumers finding and choosing their funeral homes? What services are they looking for? Which aspects of the funeral are most important to them? The 2023 season investigates questions such as these to provide insight into modern consumers.  

In the February 26 episode, host Gregory McClary, owner of Chapel of the Chimes in Westland, MI, interviewed Barbara Kemmis, Executive Director of the Cremation Association of North America (CANA) in Wheeling, IL, on a variety of topics related to cremation and the rapidly increasing consumer preference towards it, compared to other deathcare options.  

“Cremation really is becoming the new tradition or the dominant form of disposition in the United States,” Kemmis said. “Enough consumers have been choosing cremation for long enough that now it is just what we do.” 

CANA, a trade association whose 3,500 members are mostly made up of cremation practitioners, recently conducted a consumer survey on cremation. The survey was designed to accomplish two goals: to quantify the number of cremated remains in households and to determine attitudes of consumers towards various methods of keeping remains in the home, such as urns, keepsakes, jewelry and more. According to Kemmis, nearly 60% of U.S. consumers are opting for cremation in 2023.  

The interview outlines more trends and findings from the CANA study and touches on other subjects, such as the differences between deathcare preference in the U.S. and Canada, the growing demand for pet cremations and which deathcare options might be on the rise in the coming years. 

To listen to the full episode with Barbara Kemmis, click here. The full season of The Changing Consumer is also available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and in the OGR Learning Library. For more information about the OGR Podcast Series or to revisit previous seasons of the podcast, visit the OGR podcast page. To read more about CANA’s survey findings on cremation, click here.