It has been a dynamic first month for the home and housewares industry in what is shaping up as a turning-point year for the business.
Activity was busy and optimistic at the winter gift and home trade shows in Dallas, Atlanta and Las Vegas. Abundant turnout by independent retailers at showcase events by GC Buying Group and HTI Buying Group during the Atlanta Market was seen by many as a harbinger of a productive Inspired Home Show to come March 4-7 in Chicago.
It is also a sign that industry trade shows, after easing back in 2022, are positioned to be even more vital this year in their full-fledged return. After a roller coaster ride the past three years that mitigated new product output, it’s prime time for suppliers to release new products and ideas as retailers clear inventory excess and recommit to curating fresh, differentiated solutions to renew the category’s growth potential.
Inflation and other market pressures linger. However, this lifestyle-aligned industry has overcome such hurdles before, often thriving during difficult economic times as a provider of necessary household basics, helpful innovations and affordable indulgences.
Many are bound this week to Frankfurt, Germany for Ambiente, which returns as a key global housewares trade exhibit since it was among the last big trade shows before everything shut down in March 2020. Ambiente visitors will encounter a new format co-located with Messe Frankfurt’s Creativeworld and Christmasworld, with housewares moving back to its former hubs in Halls 8 and 9.
It has been reported that some key European brands that decided not to exhibit at Ambiente this year are setting up meeting places in nearby hotels and other offsite locations in Frankfurt, looking to divert some of the show’s buyer attendance away from the show floor. It’s a disservice to exhibitors and an especially problematic practice at a time when trade show organizers are working diligently and creatively to reestablish their integral place on B2B marketing schedules. In-person trade shows were missed during the pandemic. Trade shows are proving themselves again as inimitable, face-to-face marketplaces needed for retailers and other interested constituents to discover products and plan business.
Non-exhibitors started popping up around Chicago’s McCormick Place during housewares shows several years before the pandemic paused most industry show activity. Now, following a successful, albeit smaller, return of The Inspired Home Show last March, comes word of offsite, non-exhibitor meeting locations in Chicago planned this March as the show begins to rebuild its scale and scope. These companies wouldn’t set up shop offsite if they thought key buyers wouldn’t be in town because of all of the exhibitors inside McCormick Place.
The International Housewares Association, operator of The Inspired Home Show, has worked actively for several years to discourage buyer support during the show for non-exhibitors camped away from the show floor. Derek Miller, IHA president and CEO, recently said, “The Inspired Home Show is created to benefit IHA exhibitors and the buying community. The IHA board of directors and staff spend countless hours planning the show, and our exhibitors provide the funding necessary to create our vibrant marketplace. It is important for the industry to recognize that product suppliers who are not exhibiting and visit Chicago during show days are attempting to benefit off the efforts of others — this practice is not good for the industry and should not be supported. We ask that the retail community refuse meeting requests from non-exhibiting companies and recommend that they exhibit at the show in the future. The industry is simply the strongest when we all work together.”
Vendors and retailers alike raved about how productive the return of The Inspired Home Show was in March 2022. Key national, regional, independent and international retail decision-makers came out in large numbers and reported they were delighted by the opportunity to scout the whole show effectively for products and suppliers. Wider retail attendance is expected at The Inspired Home Show 2023 in March. It’s an opportunity for retailers that can harness the same commitment to shopping the aisles of McCormick Place thoroughly as the show expands to present more resources, including a new Travel Gear + Luggage section in partnership with the Travel Goods Association.
Such commitment to the 1,600-plus exhibitors supporting the Inspired Home Show 2023 is difficult for retailers that leave McCormick Place during show days to meet with non-exhibitors. Those exhibitors are the reason so many home and housewares retailers will converge in Chicago in March for what should be major turning point for the business. The real show takes place inside McCormick Place. It’s worth the stay.
