Posted 3/1/2010 - 12:50:28 PM
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What are these?
Heading into Frankfurt’s Ambiente, I expected the show to provide the year’s first broad-scale barometer of the housewares industry.
Strong showings at January markets in Atlanta and New York set an encouraging, lets-get-back-to-business tone for the year. Those shows, however, played more directly to specialty retail segments.
Global Vista
Ambiente marked the first time in 2010 that most core housewares and tabletop segments convened in one location for a global vista of the state of this industry.
Coming out of the show, it is evident the industry believes it’s in a better state than it was a year earlier. Lower buyer turnout at the 2009 Ambiente and non-committal conversations among those that did attend underscored brimming economic worries.
This year’s Ambiente overcame some stressful hurdles— including flight-stranding winter weather in the U.S. and throughout Europe and an unfamiliar, diffuse layout of first-time housewares exhibit halls— to make the extra effort to get to the show and to shop it worthwhile.
Refrains of optimism at the busy show from U.S. suppliers and retailers invoked the surprisingly strong end-of-year retail sales performance that carried through January, clearing a product pipeline that could begin flowing earlier than usual to fill vacant spots on retail shelves.
Despite this opening, nobody’s sure about what to expect from the consumer. And when to expect it. Everyone wonders how strong the roots are of this new era of thrift, and whether the competitive landscape has been altered for the short or long term.
Cut Through The Haze
Retailers have kept vendors guessing, too, throughout the past several months. National brands vs. private labels? Direct sourcing? SKU rationalization? Vendor consolidation? So many questions without so many answers.
At Ambiente, though, you got the sense retailers know it’s time to cut through he haze of uncertainty with a recharged decisiveness on both sides. In doing so, they realize this is a rare chance to start with a virtual clean slate, to rethink how they buy now compared to before the downturn.
As much as buyers might look to renew business with veteran suppliers, they’ll also look for new resources with new ideas that can meet new needs.
Make The Mix
It’s a huge opportunity for all vendors to step up and get noticed. That comes with a huge responsibility, as well: to create and communicate well-defined market identities; to reinforce innovative product development processes; and to oil supply chains for faster response as retailers adhere devoutly to lean inventories.
Retailers won’t forgive consistent slipups in any of these areas if you want to stay in the mix. First, you have to make the mix.
With that, the Ambiente layout that scattered housewares and tabletop companies across five halls and multiple levels at the sprawling Messe Frankfurt complex actually might have come at just the right time for this industry.
It wasn’t nearly as convenient as the triangle of adjacent halls that previously hosted housewares at Ambiente. The reward for buyers who accepted the challenge of getting to each hall and shopping each level, though, might be a fresh perspective on their prospects for 2010 and beyond.
Housewares buyers and sellers should be better prepared next year for the reshuffled Ambiente layout. But next year could be too late for retailers and vendors that aren’t prepared to get back to business immediately.
Next stop, Chicago.
