Housewares suppliers at the Dallas Total Home & Gift Market said they are preparing for a spike in orders ahead of the fourth quarter as retail customers that have been managing tight inventories seeks to fill up on key items for the holiday season.
“Instead of ordering when there are three or four of an item left on the shelf, they are waiting until there is one,” Daniel Oehy, president of DKB Household USA and Swissmar, said in a general reference about how many retailers are trying to control inventory levels.
Oehy said vendors need a precise understanding of their most productive items when managing customer expectations. He said he expects a wave of pre-holiday orders for top-selling SKUs he described as “A” and “B” products.
“I treat new products as ‘A” products,’ Oehy added, noting that many retailers, despite their cautious ordering practices, are still aiming to stock promising new products.
Steve Curtis, national sales manager of Oggi California, said his company has aligned its domestic inventory this summer to be deeper in what he called “key items.” “We’re expecting a good fall,” Curtis said. “We’re seeing it with orders now. We have inventory on key items to support later orders.”
Independent housewares retailers at the Dallas Total Home & Gift Market agreed new items could be instrumental in overcoming what has been a challenging first half marked by soft demand and more price-sensitive consumer shopping.
Tony Curtis-Wellings, owner of Faraday’s Kitchen Store in Austin, TX, noted while his store’s year-to-date revenues are down around 15%, consistent with many retailers, the store’s traffic is off by just 1%. “It’s not a traffic problem,” Curtis-Wellings said. “We have to close the gap with new products and innovation.”
Charles Nelson, owner of Toque Blanche in Santa Cruz, CA,, said he didn’t expect to sustain the steep revenue gains by his store during the cooking product demand surge of the pandemic. “I’m 10% down from last year but still way ahead of pre-pandemic levels,” Nelson said.
Donella Dopslauf-Cernosek, owner of Le Petit Gourmet Shoppe in LaGrange, TX, said in-store cooking classes have been an effective counter to a challenging overall selling environment by helping to drive traffic and sales of kitchenware items featured during the classes.
(Pictured above: Gourmet Kitchenworks was at the Dallas Total Home & Gift Market to preview the new Eco-OK cookware from Italy’s TVS. The collection is made from recycled and recyclable materials and features a nonstick cooking surface finished with a GMO-free plant-based coating.)
