Posted 3/29/2010 - 11:49:03 AM
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What are these?
CHICAGO— An industry colleague theorized the difference between this year and last year in the overall tone of the Home + Housewares Show.
At last year’s show, he said, people had little choice but to rationalize their experiences with best-case expectations as the recession bore down at full force.
This year, he continued, the confidence among those selling and buying was genuine, a reflection of real progress in the marketplace.
Optimism as a defense mechanism can only work for so long. This industry seems ready to go on the offensive.
It’s true, the shroud of uneasy hopefulness that shielded the industry this time last year has been removed, exposing inner gears churning for what most expect to be notable gains in output through this year and beyond.
There was plenty of motivation in the tone resonating from the exhibit floors of McCormick Place earlier this month.
Make no mistake, as fast as the economy seemed to implode, the recovery will be a marathon. Following effective warmups earlier in the year at shows in Atlanta, New York and Germany, the Chicago show confirmed the industry is getting its legs back. And everyone gets to start at the same time and place.
Note to the industry’s veteran market leaders: Don’t be surprised to look over your shoulders and see smaller companies that few considered serious challengers a couple of years ago gaining on the front-runners.
It was obvious at the Home + Housewares Show that many of these upstarts believe now is their time. They are tempting retailers with value-added products, fresh marketing perspectives and nimble service in the most basic of core housewares categories long believed to be virtually impenetrable.
If this helps to make larger suppliers more productive, more creative and more responsive... that’s all the better.
It is all about everyone working harder to be better at every facet of business.
So, what’s the big new product? I’ve been asked that question, without fail, at just about every turn during the 20 Housewares Shows that I have covered for HomeWorld Business; perhaps even more so at this year’s show, as if everyone hoped to identify a silver bullet that could propel the industry’s renaissance.
I have to admit, I couldn’t come up with one definitive answer. That’s not to say contenders for the next housewares game-changer weren’t in play at the show.
Much more evident, though, is a collective effort to restore the basics— in product and in practice— that drive the housewares business day in and day out. The most intriguing of specialty innovations can flounder without the support of a sturdy foundation provided by rock-solid, basic, everyday housewares.
Still want to know what’s new? Try these: coffee and tea making; indoor and outdoor grilling; toasting; slicing and dicing; popcorn popping, cupcake baking and decorating; water drinking; cleaning; ironing; organizing. I could go on, and no one thing, by itself, might stand out as all that new or extraordinary.
Nobody should count on a single, revolutionary product or trend to rescue the business. This industry generally makes its living taking what’s old, rethinking it and making it new again. From that point of view, there were plenty of new opportunities to discover at the Home + Housewares Show.
The show marked an industry motivated to get back to basics, because that’s what it does best.
You could hear it in the tone of just about everyone there: What a difference a year makes.
