WMC survey: They will come
76% of buyers say they'll be at 1st Vegas show
By Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, April 14, 2002
LAS VEGAS — A survey of buyers from the top 200 U.S. furniture retailers shows that most will attend the first furniture market here when the proposed World Market Center opens in early 2004.
Of the 91 buyers from 85 retailers responding to the 14-question survey, close to 76% said they planned to attend.
Nearly all said they had visited High Point in the past year, while less than one-third said they had attended the San Francisco or Tupelo markets in the past year. (A Tupelo official, however, said that market's own statistics show higher attendance, and San Francisco also said it has strong support; see story at right.)
Jack Kashani and Shawn Samson, managing partners in the planned 7.5 million-square-foot World Market Center, say the survey results are a clear signal of top retail support for the new market and show that the West Coast doesn't have a facility "that attracts or adequately services the needs and wants of major buyers."
"These survey results place the new Las Vegas Market in a class of its own," Samson said.
Until now, national buyers have primarily gone to High Point while mostly regional buyers shop the smaller, regional markets, he said. "This study proves that World Market Center will be a super-regional market with not only an expanded regional appeal, but also a strong national draw.
"Moreover, Las Vegas is the most suitable venue for a major international draw, which over time would surpass that of any other U.S. market," he added.
The study, done in late 2001 and early this year, was commissioned by World Market Center developer Furniture Mart Enterprises and conducted by the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas in conjunction with market research firm L.A. Mayo and Associates of Las Vegas.
The 91 responses from 85 retailers came from an adjusted sample size of 170 top retailers developed from Furniture/Today retailer lists and an Aktrin database. The 50% response rate translates to a 99% accuracy rate, the developer said.
Among the survey results:
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Nearly 98% said they had visited the High Point market in the past year. Of these, nearly 78% plan to visit the World Market Center.
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69% said they did not attend the San Francisco market last year and nearly 76% said they don't plan to attend this year.
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Almost 73% said they did not attend the Tupelo market last year.
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More than 85% said they would select Las Vegas over San Francisco "given a choice."
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Of the nearly 76% who said they plan to come to the first Las Vegas market, 42% were from a list of the Top 100 retailers and 58% were from the second 100.
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Almost 97% had heard or read about the World Market Center.
The survey results did not identify the buyers by category nor did it ask if any other buyers from the companies answering the survey had attended the regional markets.
Samson said the World Market Center didn't intend to establish the attendance level at other regional markets, but "rather to establish a baseline for comparing the relative levels between other markets and Las Vegas." Comparing the buyer's past visits to other markets "with his or her likelihood to visit the Las Vegas market is a direct apples-to-apples comparison," he said.
Kashani said the percentage of surveyed buyers planning to attend Las Vegas exceeds the combined percentages of those who attended the San Francisco, Tupelo and Dallas markets this past year.
"This positions Las Vegas as a new phenomenon in the evolution of markets in the United States," he said.
Several questions asked for responses about San Francisco and comparisons between that market and Las Vegas. Answers to a question asking reasons for not attending San Francisco included "difficult to get good accommodations," "too far away" and "too expensive."
Several indicated that the major suppliers they do business with don't show in San Francisco, and that High Point offers all they need.
Samson said the developers are convinced they will have a sustainable super regional market with both a national and international draw because the market center will be larger than any other Western market, with the right mix of exhibitors in various segments.
"When you couple that with all the amenities Las Vegas has to offer and the quality of the facilities that we are developing, this is why an overwhelming majority of Top 200 retailers' buyers have said they will attend our market," he said.
The World Market Center developers have released the names of only a handful of tenants to date, but say they have lease commitments from "more than 160 leading manufacturers," representing 80% of the space in the first 1.25 million-square-foot complex. Samson said more than 100 companies have signed leases, "and we expect the rest to be signed shortly."
Some buyers in the survey cited Las Vegas as more desirable than San Francisco because of its accessibility, convenience and affordability. They noted as benefits the new facility planned for Las Vegas, better amenities and infrastructure, a central location and more hotel rooms with greater choice and better prices.
In November 2000, Las Vegas market developers commissioned a broader-based survey to measure the level of retail support, with replies mostly from smaller buyers who are more likely to attend regional markets, Samson said. More than 80% of the respondents to that survey said they would buy at a new Las Vegas market.
Combined with the latest survey, the developers now have shown they have support from both small and large retailers, Samson said.
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