Many in the housewares industry received a welcome break this winter from the virtually back-to-back sequence of Frankfurt’s Ambiente and Chicago’s International Home + Housewares Show during recent years.
It didn’t take long to get a read on how glad many housewares companies and retailers were to put 2016 in the rearview mirror.
One of the most rewarding aspects of the Housewares Design Awards for me is the opportunity to observe the judges in action.
The department store death knell is ringing loudly once again in the wake of weak holiday sales reports and announcements of looming store closings.
The pursuit of 2017 retail inspiration is already in full gear as the annual flurry of winter trade show activity begins.
The years seem to fly by faster than ever. Maybe it has something to do with the constant communication cycle in which HomeWorld operates, where business news can’t wait until the next day or until Monday morning.
The election is finally over. Everybody is trying to digest much more than their turkey dinners this week, notably whether a post-election exhale will breathe life into holiday sales in the near term and whether a Trump presidency will mean headwinds or tailwinds for business in the long term.
The cyber attack that took down large swaths of the Internet in October was a possible double-whammy to the home products industry.
Most would agree “millennials” and “disruption” are among the most influential marketing buzzwords at the moment.
It’s the eve of the recent New York Tabletop Market, and everyone in and around Forty One Madison seems more inclined at the moment, understandably, to discuss the night’s first presidential debate than the latest dining and entertaining trends.