If there are two topics of discussion many in the housewares segment are tired of talking about, Amazon and Millennials may top the list for most.
The Housewares Show. Utter that phrase to anyone who worked the annual event held recently in Chicago and it will conjure up a multitude of feelings that range from excitement in seeing new products to exhaustion after a long week at McCormick Place.
Few would argue that 2017 was a strange year at retail and a time of significant change.
Throughout 2017 there has been much discussion about the future of retailing, with the crystal balls of some showing a future without stores and a consumer base using their digital devices to buy what they need from the comfort of their living rooms.
Retail in 2017 has been a mad, mad, mad, mad world. But with the madness also comes a host of opportunity for retailers and suppliers alike.
The clock had barely ticked past midnight on November 1 and several retailers, in announcing holiday season sales, were tripping over themselves like Black Friday shoppers trying to buy a new television.
So Walmart wants to stock my refrigerator? Really? There’s something off-putting and a bit creepy about a Walmart employee entering my home and putting away my groceries. I don’t even go into my mother’s refrigerator without first asking.
The first eight months of 2017 have been focused on the retail apocalypse (overblown), the growing impact of Amazon and the struggles of department stores.
If imitation is indeed the most sincere form of flattery, then there are a few retailers that should feel good about themselves.
Music in America during the 1960s forever changed when the Beatles led a host of bands from the U.K. to the U.S. in what would forever be known as the British Invasion.
As the spring weather warmed much of the country in mid-May, the housewares industry digested the first quarter earnings reports from a host of retailers.
There’s no retail apocalypse, but long-standing retailers need to find new ways to stay relevant with today’s modern consumers.
A retail revolution is happening before our eyes as the ever-changing purchase habits of consumers continue to rattle the cages of many brick-and-mortar retailers.
The retail news the first few weeks of 2017 has been less than rosy as reports of soft sales, store closures and even a bankruptcy filing have dominated the headlines.
In the days following Super Bowl LI, there was much discussion on sports radio about the New England Patriots’ historic comeback win over the Atlanta Falcons.
Despite overall holiday sales growth, some retailers continue to struggle. Perhaps what they need is some old-school retailing to drive sales.
Trade show season is once again upon us and the showrooms at markets across the country will again spring to life as retailers begin 2017 on the hunt for the new and exciting.
The holiday shopping season has moved past Thanksgiving weekend and Cyber Monday, and retailers are now totaling their receipts and wondering what more they can do to get shoppers to dip deeper into their wallets.
There’s been a great deal of discussion during the past year about the current-day and future prospects regarding smart home products.
The fourth quarter has arrived and with it the final preparations by retailers for the holiday season. While the first three quarters of 2016 were largely unspectacular across a number of housewares product segments, all eyes are now watching what steps retailers will take to drive product into the hands of consumers.