Congratulations to Las Vegas Market (Part 1)

From everything I have heard the potential traffic count at Vegas will down due to competitive markets in Asia as well as pre-market in High Point. Combine that with retailer apathy due to poor selling conditions and you have the potential of a disaster.But the Vegas market has unveiled two initiatives that I think are very smart and I hope do well for them. Interestingly enough neither initiative is directed at the retailer directly who is their customer. And yet both initiatives will have a very good impact on the retailer ultimately if they can pull it off.

The first initiative is a nationwide campaign to entice consumers in the value of home furnishings. They have committed millions to help sell consumers on the “IS IT HOME YET?” campaign in support of National Home Furnishings Month. It’s something our industry needs to combat the forces of other industries advertising to entice consumers to their offerings. We offer a fabulous product at an incredible price in comparison to other products. I am looking forward to seeing how this campaign plays out.

I also hope when the North Carolina forces decide they have to do something similar (which they will), I hope they figure out how to dovetail with this campaign so we don’t have two competing messages. It would be so much better for our industry if others jump on board and promote the benefits of home furnishings in conjunction with the Vegas effort. The synergy will be much greater than individual efforts.

In my next post I will tell you what the second smart play I see Las Vegas doing.

If you would like to see a video I did about what you can learn from the two furniture markets check out www.MikeRoot.com.

Please let me know your thoughts on this national advertising campaign for the furniture industry.