Las Vegas isn't a sure thing, but current thinking about future market attendance indicates a problem for High Point

Question: It may be too soon to tell, but based on your first experience in Las Vegas, do you think your company will attend (or show at) both the High Point and Las Vegas markets in the future?

The cost/value equation favors Las Vegas

Question: Is the value of attending (or showing at) the High Point and Las Vegas markets worth the expense even though one may cost more than another?

Comments about future attendance plans reinforce the perception that retailers want an alternative to High Point and that as the number of vendors showing in Las Vegas increases, High Point could become considerably less important.

Retailers said:

• Once the range of better companies to shop increases in the next few Las Vegas markets we will discontinue to visit High Point altogether.

• Las Vegas is the perfect venue for shopping the furniture and accessories market. Once it is large enough I will not attend High Point again.

• There is just so much more in High Point. It will be hard to compete with the vast assortment that High Point has to offer. Vegas was a disappointing market for my type of business.

Vendors and sales reps said:

• It may take 10 years, but Las Vegas will take over for High Point and once that happens, the market dates will change to match April–October.

• We're not going anywhere! I hope the High Point buildings realize they are stronger together and start to work to improve the shockingly bad buyer experience that is High Point.

• The Las Vegas market is not going to bring us new customers, it is going to split our customers to different markets. We will be spending a lot more money to make the same amount of money.

Market survey methodology

High Point — After the first Las Vegas Market in July, Furniture/Today surveyed subscribers — retailers, vendors and sales representatives — via the Internet, inviting participation on its e-daily newsletter and an e-blast. We asked them to rate various aspects of the new market compared with the High Point market.

Responses came from 297 retailers, 227 vendors and 57 sales reps. In addition to responding to questions, many gave candid, often caustic, comments pointing out positives, negatives and needed improvements about each market.

More information on the survey and additional comments are available at www.furnituretoday.com.

Cost of attending the Las Vegas market mostly met expectations

Cost of attending the Las Vegas was:

About two-fifths of manufacturers said it costs more to set up exhibits in Las Vegas

Compared with High Point, set up costs in Las Vegas are:

Question: Please compare the ease of setting up your showroom (availability of temporary labor, transportation, freight delivery, docking facilities, building management cooperation, etc.) in Las Vegas with setting up in High Point and Tupelo.

Compared with High Point, set up in Las Vegas was:

Las Vegas compared favorably with High Point among manufacturers and retailers

Question: Overall, how did your Las Vegas experience compare with your experiences in High Point? Please use a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 equal to Not comparing favorably at all and 5 equal to Comparing very favorably to assess the following market characteristics.

Compared with High Point, Las Vegas rates:

What improvements needed in High Point?

Retailers said:

• High Point raises their prices to charge more to the furniture dealers. Las Vegas rolls out the red carpet for tourists and visitors for business.

• High Point needs to update the buildings. I mean, we are in a fashion industry and yet the buildings are tired and old. Need fresh lobby and hallway renovations to set the tone for a furniture show.

• Run the market Monday through Friday, pass anti-gouging laws, lower room rates, provide free shuttles, change market times to January and July and get rid of CNN on the monitors.

Manufacturers and reps said:

• The show schedule in High Point (10 days, 11 hours per day) is overkill. Cut the number of days in half and reduce the show time to eight hours per day.

• They can stop lighting the "full" sign on the city parking buildings where there are plenty of available parking spaces. Add more convenient shuttles from outlying parking areas. Get the prices of the hotels/motels more reasonable. Automobile rentals are also far out of line.

• Cell phone and pager coverage in the main building needs improvement.

While many retailers commented about missing vendors in Las Vegas, the overall sentiment regarding the range of product was more than satisfactory

Question: How would you rate the range of product and price points on display in Las Vegas both in terms of number of exhibitors and quality of exhibitors?

Let's say 1 = Not at all satisfactory and 5 = Very satisfactory.

Both markets have work to do to make retailers happy, but High Point has the longest row to hoe.

Question: What are the THREE most important things that High Point and Las Vegas should do to improve their shows so that you will go or continue to go to them?

Retailer also said Las Vegas needs to make improvements:

• I think that Las Vegas should have offered more unique merchandise and interesting vendors. I was totally disappointed in the temporary large white tents that housed mostly large furniture vendors. I was prepared to spend several hours walking those tents as I thought they would have small vendors with wonderful new products and left after 10 minutes.

• Las Vegas must improve shuttle systems and must maintain close proximity to all showrooms for (the) show to be an improvement to me. It defeats the purpose of better hotel rates and flights if I die of heat in the summer desert trying to get a taxi and get across town to yet more showrooms.

• Food in Las Vegas was lousy and overpriced, almost as bad as Atlanta.

Manufacturers and reps said:

• It is too hard to say after a very first market what should be different. They need to work on traffic flow, food/catering, shuttles, but I believe much of that will be improved next market.

• Hopefully, they will not overlap the Las Vegas with New York shows. This does create a very difficult situation for manufacturers to staff and set up both locations at the same time.

• The war between WMC and Furniture Expo has to end. It was a real inconvenience for both the dealers and reps who have to be at all three places.