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.
But if “good riddance” to a bumpy 2016 whose late push couldn’t quite make up for the year’s rough spots was a common refrain across the January trade show circuit, the scars didn’t seem too deep.
Clearing Hurdles
Indeed, the first round of winter gift and home shows served up a palpable buzz— not so much the typical optimistic rhetoric, but more of a unified determination to overcome hurdles that keep popping up just as you think you’ve cleared the latest one.
For vendors, there was the requisite proclamation of new products and programs, same as every year and every show. But it was clear that many are embracing the necessity that “new” is not enough, certainly not in an unrestricted digital marketplace where the lines between authentic and illegitimate product are being blurred with alarming speed and frequency.
Vendors are itching to tell bigger stories about the inspiration behind their products and their companies. They want to amplify the nuances that could turn a new product into a special product, one befitting the mounting consumer clamor for personalized experience that is the current holy grail of marketing.
They want more retailers to listen.
Retailers of all classes would do well to take a cue from some of the independent retailers that visited the winter gift and home markets.
High Spirits
Coming off a year that saw an upsetting array of top gourmet housewares stores exit, this remains a high-spirited class of trade used to fighting uphill and adapting to stave off the competitive threat du jour. The survivors have no choice but to demand a deeper relationship with their vendors and their products so the retailers can pass that depth to their customers in ways other retailers don’t.
It seems the whole housewares business, like most traditional consumer product businesses, is fighting uphill more often than not.
True, there is much to be concerned about and prepared for— from the conflict of embracing a growing digital marketplace that still doesn’t feel very secure to the potential for looming free trade barriers to further crack a fragile retail landscape.
Listen Close
The year is just getting started. There are bigger housewares trade shows to attend. And unpredictability might be the only thing everyone can count on.
That’s why it is encouraging to hear that so many housewares companies have put 2016 behind them as they open 2017 with the determination to clear each hurdle and get more people to listen.
