By David Gill
A wary but optimistic group of small-electrics vendors are preparing to exhibit at the International Home & Housewares Show later this month.
Scheduled for March 22-24 at its usual venue in McCormick Place in Chicago, the show is expected to draw more than 20,000 retail buyers from around the world, according to a statement from the International Housewares Association, the show’s sponsor.
Missing in action will be three of the small-electrics industry’s biggest vendors—Applica, Jarden, Hamilton Beach. Applica told HFN that it would not exhibit there this year, and both Jarden and Hamilton Beach announced to the industry in January that they would skip this year’s show.
The vendors that will be there regard the absence of these powerhouses as an opportunity for them. “For our company, this means there are cracks in their armor,” said Bill Booth, vice president of sales and marketing for Toastess. “This offers opportunities for us to take some business away from the giants.”
These companies hope that they can take more time with the buyers who stop by their booths. “We are planning on having the ability to spend more time with our key customers and independent retailers,” said John McCann, president of Saeco USA. “We are looking to gain opinions on some new concepts and ideas which we hope to launch in the back half of the year, so the show should give us the chance to communicate ideas (and) tweak products so we can eventually finalize our assortment mix.”
Another opportunity comes from the changing makeup of the buying groups that now attend the show. Francesco DeFlaviis, marketing director of De’Longhi USA, pointed out that large buying groups used to be the norm at the show. More recently, “you see key decision makers but less of an entourage,” DeFlaviis said. “For us, this is an advantage in that you have less people you have to tour around, and you have more focused and efficient meetings.”
From this point of view, it would seem that the show offers some promise for new business. However, the state of the economy has dampened these prospects, at least to some extent. “I see it as being subdued,” said Steve Fox, director of consumer products for BSH Home Appliances, parent of the Bosch brand. “The economy alone has changed the dynamic. We’re all looking at costs, at what we can get out of our expenditures.”
Given the uncertainty in the business, vendors have come up with some new ways to drive business at the show. After last year’s housewares show, Saeco decided to move its booth away from the Lakeside section and into the South Hall. “We chose a booth close to the GOHO section (where vendors of gourmet foods and specialty items will exhibit) to capitalize on the increased foot traffic, and also to stress how we can complement a wide range of foods, meals and other products,” McCann said.
The hope from this move is that Saeco will demonstrate that coffee belongs with these other products. Both McCann and Fox believe that coffee in and of itself remains a strong category for small-electrics manufacturers. “The drivers at the show will be products that are doing well, and single-serve coffee is an example of that,” Fox said. “Single-serve was the shining star in the coffeemaker category last year.”
For De’Longhi, product innovations and public relations will provide other sources of fuel for business. “Last year, we went through a rebranding to focus on the higher-end sector,” DeFlaviis said. “We are striving to be the go-to brand for premium kitchen products. We don’t want to be promotional. We’ve found that we can’t be everything to everybody.”
For other vendors, driving business means making the difficult decisions that are often associated with a bad economy. “Shed inventory, discount some merchandise, get rid of some products,” Booth said. “We need to make sure we keep ourselves in front of our customers and concentrate on profitable products.”
Last month, IHA issued a statement with comments from vendors, which underscored the need for exhibitors to approach the housewares show with a positive frame of mind. “Seeing how vibrant our industry really is will reinforce to the retail community that housewares is a category that can lead us out of a recession and drive traffic,” said Marty Armstrong, vice president of sales for KitchenAid.
While absentees may have been expected for the housewares show, given the expenses in a difficult business climate, “we don’t think that for the Chicago show, not showing up is an option,” DeFlaviis said. “We have all the appointments. It’s important for us to be there with new products.”