The show must go on, at market and in stores
By Ray Allegrezza, Editor in chief -- Furniture Today, October 28, 2001
I don't know about you, but I had a great market. There was plenty to see, a lot of innovation, a lot of showmanship and a lot of heart … both from exhibitors and buyers.
Make no mistake, attendance was down and down considerably. My personal take was that the big domestic buyers showed up, while many of the international and small- and mid-sized domestic dealers stayed home.
But as the saying goes, the show must go on, and it did. The weather was great, the SWAT teams and bomb-sniffing dogs were undetectable, and, as the show progressed, I found myself willing and able to make the best of the situation.
I applaud all the retailers who came to market. Your support transformed a potential disaster into a market. I also applaud the efforts of a number of exhibitors, including Lane, Broyhill and Nieri, for their efforts to help retailers visualize dramatic new ways to merchandise product.
Broyhill, for example, took 56 SKUs from its hot Attic Heirlooms line and 840 square feet to show dealers how to create an upscale flea-market atmosphere, one that encourages shoppers to discover the various pieces as she shops.
Lane took a similar approach with a group of African-inspired SKUs. In a very small footprint, it created a large visual hook, one that gives retailers a real chance to tell a story on their floors.
Nieri created a Racing Box, replete with a Ferrari car, to help drive sales into the fast lane.
Perhaps nobody didshow-and-sell better than Bernd Kraeusslein, sales manager for Derbri, the company that developed and markets the Butterfly, a remarkably stain-resistant microfiber. Bernd was on hand at our market kickoff party with some Butterfly covered frames, and enough mustard, ketchup and chocolate sauce to keep even my kids happy.
Like some avant-garde artist, he proceeded to "paint" his products with the aforementioned condiments. After the crowd was convinced he had ruined the furniture, he wowed them by restoring the cover with a simple wipe of a rag.
That's showmanship. And as we all know, showmanship sells.
Earlier, I challenged retailers to find ways to bring some of the excitement and fun of market back home with them. Imagine sending teaser packs of crayons and condiments to potential customers, inviting them to the store for a very unconventional game of tic-tac-toe or connect the dots.
I can already see the writing on the wall. It says, "Sale made."
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