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Once again we all enter the chute, ready to be ejected at warp speed into that alternate reality that we call the Housewares Show.
If you are a buyer it’s a pressure-drenched few days in which to meet with all your current vendors, work on programs, set follow up meetings, and then (oh God, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE) discover THE ITEMS that will make you a star in the coming year.
If you are a manufacturer it’s a matter of getting the booth and samples delivered before Saturday afternoon, then unpacked, set up, and displayed without enough help while hoping late samples magically materialize. All the while you field unending “helpful suggestions” from folks who have the time and energy to criticize but who also beam themselves out of the building when really nasty and dreary set-up chores have to be done. Like labeling. And cleaning.
Reps on the other hand constantly calculate the odds that they will actually have face time with accounts that refuse to make appointments but promise to drop by a booth “sometime on Sunday.” This calculation is only slightly more complex than predicting all the brackets in March Madness. And be aware that as you stand idly waiting for an account in a booth, the manufacturer giving you the hairy eyeball is as pissed at you for apparently doing nothing more than taking up space as your other manufacturers (whose booths you are not in as your accounts come looking for you) are likewise convinced of your ineptitude and total lack of planning.
Yes, the Housewares Show has something for everyone.
Lest you think I have a really bad attitude let me assure you that these observations are strictly mostly tongue in cheek, based on my own experiences in buying, manufacturing, and selling. For me, part of the experience at the Housewares Show is what happens in the aisles, not necessarily the booths. The aisle are where you run into old friends and acquaintances, the aisles are where you network, the aisles are where even a jaded industry veteran can be blown away by something really new in a booth you didn’t know existed.
That being said, here’s a list of our manufacturer’s booths. Swing by and there’s a reasonable chance that you’ll bump into me as I’m coming or going. If there’s enough time maybe we can split an $8.00 pretzel.
Thermos S2443
Marinex S3225
Sagaform S3267
Pillivuyt S4333
Chef’s Planet S4410
C60 (6 Ideas) N6004
I suppose that a year-end entry about our Housewares industry, its retailers, manufacturers, and salespeople should include pithy observations about the changing retailing climate, social media, new products, and thought-provoking insights about our economic future. It could include a screed about how things have changed from what once was, nostalgic glimpses of more exciting times, and wistful remembrances of colorful characters and retailers.
Sorry, too predictable. There are those who have covered the topic before me and have done so far more artfully.
Recaps of the year’s business climate always seem to follow a well-worn path: We are told what the big trends were (not a difficult task if you haven’t been asleep for the preceding twelve months), we are told what next year’s trends may be, and it is all delivered in sage, knowing tones as if this information is being channeled to us by some divine eminence via the keyboard of a carefully chosen writer.
The bottom line is this: If you are in our industry, in any capacity, and you can honestly say that 2010 ended up anywhere from great to reasonably OK, that’s an accomplishment that many will envy. Considering the economic turmoil we see all around us, if you finished your year in the up column YOU should be giving advice and making predictions.
Surviving and prospering in 2011 will take bold initiatives and guts of steel to take the necessary risks. When we look at various manufacturers and accounts we see one common trait among those that had a strong 2010: that trait was a willingness to try something new and untested. When things went well they all looked like geniuses. When things did not go as planned they quickly regrouped and tried something new. And that my friends is the key in this economy: to extend one’s boundaries, to resist the tried and true, and to have more ideas waiting when plans don’t work out. The successful manufacturer or retailer will always be pushing forward, rather than holding back.
