By David Gill

The addition of a half day to next year’s International Home + Housewares Show is prompting a general response from the industry that “change is good.”

The International Housewares Association, sponsor and manager of the show, said the 2012 International Home + Housewares Show will open at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 10, a response to retail requests. In previous years, the show had opened on Sunday morning.

“The show had been oriented toward mass merchants, but over the years we have broadened the base of retailers, especially among independent and international retailers,” said IHA President Phil Brandl in an interview with HFN. “We had begun to hear from the retailers that they needed more time to cover the show, and for meetings with current and prospective partners.”
At least two retailers expressed support for the idea.

“The Housewares show is a valuable resource for us to understand new trends in the decorative home and housewares industry and also to network with current and future vendors,” said a Target product design and development team member. “The addition of a day to the show will allow us to spend more time at the show, and will give us more opportunities to attend seminars that have proven to be valuable in the past.”

Joe Laneve, senior vice president and general merchandise manager of home furnishings at Bloomingdale’s, said, “I like the idea as it gives us an extra day to review new resources and new categories of product that in the past we may have missed.”

Vendors queried by HFN were also mostly positive about the additional half-day. Jeff Siegel, president and CEO of Lifetime Brands, said, “The Chicago International Home + Housewares Show is one of the shortest of the key international housewares trade shows. The buyers have been asking for this and, without the change, the Chicago show was at risk of being marginalized by other international shows.”

Also noting retailer requests for the additional time, Sal Gabbay, president of Gibson, said, “This will allow many [high-level retail] executives to come on the weekend, not taking away from their busy weekend schedule.”

The major concern for some exhibitors regarding the additional half-day is the extra costs that will be incurred. “The additional half-day will increase the cost of the show for all manufacturers, which in some cases may be something of a deterrent to prospective exhibitors,” said Mary Rodgers, director of marketing communications for Cuisinart. However, “several of our retailers have said they need more time at the show due to its size and scope.”

And some vendors are willing to take on the added cost because of the time element. “Although we will incur additional costs, the opportunity to spend face-to-face time with our customers is priceless,” said Jeff McClure, director of global sales for the KitchenAid portable-appliance division.

For some vendors, the added cost might be hard to bear. In an email sent to Brandl and IHA, Wesley Smith, director of The Smith Agency, which provides marketing services to the Dualit and Espressione brands, said the extra time would increase the costs of exhibiting and require an added night’s stay in hotels. “Three days [for the show] was definitely more than enough,” Smith said. “Four is too much.”

Brandl said the IHA would measure and monitor any developments. “We will also promote and communicate the additional opportunities represented by the additional time. We will also set Tuesday as a specialty-store and independent-store day, promoting more appointments on Tuesday.”

Will Symonds, president of DKB Household USA, expressed confidence that IHA would help exhibitors with the extra costs. “While manufacturers, of course, will have to bear additional costs for travel, hotel and operations, the IHA has demonstrated sensitivity and put plans in place to moderate those extra expenditures,” Symonds said.

Even with the added costs, the real bottom line is what the customer wants, Gabbay said. “Many retailers have expressed a need for more time to walk the show,” he said. “Customers are the kings and queens.”-Andrea Lillo and Allison Zisko contributed to this story.