Premarket dates changing?
Suppliers considering February, August
By Powell Slaughter -- Furniture Today, April 18, 2005
High Point — Some suppliers that participate in premarket here are considering moving the event a month earlier, to mid-February and mid-August.
The informal gathering of suppliers and retailers to review High Point introductions now occurs in March and September, four weeks before the twice-a-year High Point International Home Furnishings Market.
With the increasing amount of imported goods at High Point shows, moving the premarket dates could give suppliers sourcing in Asia the chance to tweak introductions before the April and October shows. As it is, premarket has evolved in many showrooms from its original purpose of getting last-minute customer feedback on introductions to a time of nailing down distribution and commitments, or even order-writing.
"Someone called and asked me about it, and I said, 'Hey, it's a great idea'," said Bill Sibbick, executive vice president of sales at Pulaski. "There are fewer people attending premarket and it doesn't seem to have the importance it once did.
"Let's find out if the retailers want to do this, and find out what makes sense to them," Sibbick continued. "If changing the dates benefits the purpose of premarket, I'm all for it."
Fine Furniture Design & Marketing currently shows up at premarket with cuttings already in progress, said Geoff Beaston, president and CEO. He likes the idea of earlier dates for premarket.
"In the traditional sense of premarket, the tweaking of designs, it makes all the sense in the world to move the dates up," he said. "The challenge in our industry is to figure out designs that don't need tweaking."
Beaston said that, eventually, he'd like to get consumer input into the event: "Could we create some type of consumer attraction that gives focus-group input to the design process?"
At Century, Bob Maricich, president and CEO, said he'd heard rumblings about a date change. He said he would leave it up to his customers to make the call.
"We will do what our dealers want," he said. "If having product at that point in time would make sense for our dealers, we'd do it."
Some exhibitors like the present premarket dates just fine, including importer Jofran.
While other importers may have only one or two Asian plants to deal with, Jofran sources casual dining in five plants and occasional in six or seven. President Bob Roy said an earlier premarket would likely entail high air-freight costs to have the company's fall or spring intros reach High Point by August or February.
"A premarket in August would mean my samples need to be shopped by the first of July to avoid air freight," he said. "To get these samples made and shipped to us in a timely manner would be very, very difficult, at least for (Asian) suppliers in these categories."
A "customer-is-right" sentiment prevailed among showroom building managers contacted by Furniture/Today, and at the International Home Furnishings Market Authority.
Since premarket is an informal event, it's up to exhibitors to determine when and how it works, said Market Authority President Judy Mendenhall.
Bruce Miller, CEO of the International Home Furnishings Center, said he never knows who's participating in premarket until they show up.
"Neither the IHFC nor any other building has ever been involved in premarket," said Miller. "The only thing our exhibitors have asked us to do is not get involved in it, not promote it, and let them conduct it the way they want."
Tom Mitchell, vice president and general manager of Merchandise Mart Properties Inc.'s High Point operations, said the topic of changing dates came up at this past premarket.
"We had conversations with a number of our exhibitors at premarket on that very topic — conversations they initiated," he said.
"That's an industry-dictated event, and we'll do what the industry decides," Mitchell said.
