Think about it: How often do we make time, I mean really make time, to consider why we are thankful at times of difficulty, when gratitude can be so easily overwhelmed by stress?

For many, now is a time of difficulty, of division, of distress and of doubt. These are all ingredients in the social stew of the moment. But, of course, the same recipe has marked the moment many times through the years in our personal and business lives, which are intertwined in many ways.

However, to paraphrase an annual sentiment of optimism uttered often in this business: The holidays come every year. There is a genuine, often validated expectation among retailers and their suppliers that solid consumer spending during the final six weeks of each year is a given despite circumstances that might have dampened the marketplace up to that point.

It is also a sentiment that can apply beyond retail receipts, a belief and a hope that peace and prosperity are within reach. Such is the enduring promise of this season, no matter how we might choose to celebrate it and no matter what difficulty confronts us.

It can be a challenge for many to glimpse any light among stormy clouds in life and in business. But this is the time of year when looking closer and deeper can find breaks in the clouds.

In the retail business, those breaks might be measured by gains in store and online traffic the next six weeks expected by forecasters to contribute to modestly satisfying 3% to 4% year-over-year gains in holiday sales. How we measure glimmers of light on a personal level is… well, personal.

So, as we enter this critical year-end season of personal and professional assessment, perhaps everyone can benefit by allowing more gratitude to break through the stress. The holidays do, indeed, come every year… in times of prosperity and in times of difficulty. The spirit of that sentiment, like this special season, begins with thanks.

Make time to think about it.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I received an invitation this week from an industry supplier inviting me to take part in its “newness webinar.”

I must admit, I’ve never been one to use the term “newness.” In its overuse, to me, the term had evolved into arbitrarily vague marketing-speak. I can’t tell you how many times during my three-plus decades covering this industry, when asking retailers what they were looking for at a trade show, their first word was… “Newness.”

I often wondered what makes a product genuinely worthy of newness status. Does a nuanced change in the shade of its color qualify? Or are we talking more substantial advances in style, technology and utility?

That’s a debate that might never be settled. And perhaps such a wide range of interpretation within the trade is fine because it means more opportunity for a broader range of “new” products to catch the attention of retail buyers. After all, the consumer is the ultimate judge of what’s new and, more importantly, whether what’s new really matters.

I must admit, though, I’m starting to warm up to the term. All it took was a life- and business-changing pandemic for me to realize just how much newness, in its slightest and most comprehensive applications, really matters after a period dominated by… oldness.

By now, we all know how the incentive for new housewares development investment was muffled — initially, by surging homebound demand that mitigated the need for updated product to drive sales, then by overstuffed supply chains that threatened to block new products from getting into homes; and then, by sinking demand, excessive retail inventories and inflation that chilled the marketplace and balance sheets.

That brings us to the precipice of a holiday season that, by many accounts, should be fairly productive for the housewares business even if wary retailers curbed their appetite for new inventory amid continuing economic uneasiness.

The housewares business can always fall back to the fact that it historically has been one of the most reliable and steady retail producers, prone neither to steep declines in soft economies nor steep inclines during the most prosperous conditions. The caveat to that, of course, is a previously unthinkable life- and business-changing pandemic that sent the business on a wild ride the past three years.

Could 2024 actually be the year when the business finds its new baseline, finally removed from the highest highs and the lowest lows of recent years and primed to reassert its place as one of the most reliable and steady retail producers?

Perhaps. And I’m thinking the prize will be significant for… dare I say it… newness. Some expect the retail market will start to reboot in early 2024, moving past overcaution and primed to reward renewed investment in well-informed new product and new marketing innovation (newness is not limited to product development). What initially might be the most effective way for marketers and retailers to win share could become the catalyst for industry growth for years to come.

The home and housewares industry saw a hopeful rededication to new product introductions by suppliers earlier this year during an active winter/spring trade show circuit highlighted by a productive Inspired Home Show. While retailers seemed very receptive to the introductions, lingering marketplace caution might have mitigated some of new product potential as the year progressed. Genuine enthusiasm about what such new product could mean moving into next year has not been doused.

I asked a retail buyer during the recent New York Tabletop Show what she was looking for. Her first word was…you guessed it… “Newness.”

I must admit, my appreciation of the term has been renewed. It really matters more to this business now than it has in a long time.

And I can’t think of a better time for a “newness webinar.”

Housewares industry executives will convene next week outside of Chicago for two days of education and networking during concurrent conferences by the International Housewares Association: CHESS and the IBC Global Forum.

The conferences are set for October 3 and 4 at the Hilton Rosemont/Chicago O’Hare.

CHESS (Chief Housewares Executive SuperSession) is the IHA’s annual in-person gathering of member leadership to hear a wide-ranging lineup of educational presentations on vital business topics of the day.

The IBC Global Forum, presented by IHA’s International Business Council, gives the international sales managers of IHA member companies a chance to hear from key retailers and distributors across the world.

I have been privileged to participate in CHESS for more than two decades as an industry editor and now also as a part of the IHA team. That has forged my first-hand appreciation of the attentive zeal with which industry leaders make time to break away for a couple of days during an extremely busy, critical time of year for their businesses. They relish the opportunity to glean valuable information and insights from presenters and fellow executives that can apply well beyond the impending holiday season.

I again will emcee a comprehensive slate of CHESS presentations designed to help attendees set a course for the near and long terms. This year’s lineup hits on the theme of an industry in a constant state of transformation and how companies can best equip themselves for steady, productive change.

The transformation theme certainly applies to this year’s CHESS retail keynote speaker: Jonathan Johnson, CEO of the new Bed Bath & Beyond (formerly Overstock). Johnson, who guided Overstock’s home-centric merchandising transformation and its subsequent acquisition of the Bed Bath & Beyond intellectual property assets, will update attendees on the rebirth of Bed Bath & Beyond and his vision for the brand.

Other CHESS sessions will examine diverse industry topics: housewares retailing market data and trends; artificial intelligence and Chat GPT; brand and product diversification; sources of business funding; retail credit evaluation; online consumer review optimization; regulatory updates involving PFAS chemicals, Prop 65 and ADA; the Generalized System of Preferences trade agreement; and the movement to measure the sustainability and ethical impact of a company’s operations.

See the full complete CHESS schedule.

The IBC Global Forum, meanwhile, will spotlight housewares buyers and distributors covering Canada, China, Eastern Africa, India, Ireland, Latin America, Spain/Portugal and the United Kingdom.

The speaker lineup features two major retailers in the Americas: Canadian Tire and Sodimac, a home improvement retailer with a presence in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay. Canadian Tire’s Carolyn McPhearson, vice president, merchandising, Living Division, is set to discuss the retailer’s home and housewares merchandising and buying strategies. Sodimac’s Patricia Barreiro, GMM, home decor, and Melissa Garza Cantu, GMM, housewares, Mexico, will discuss nuances of the Latin American market.

Also during the IBC Global Forum, market research and analytics firm Circana will provide a view of growth opportunities in Canada and Mexico. IHA’s global offices and representatives, comprising more than 25 key markets, will also offer insights into their key markets during the conference.

See the complete IBC Global Forum schedule.

A critical fourth quarter for the home and housewares business begins next week. So does the opportunity for home and housewares leaders to get a jump on critical business developments and insights that can help them transform and prime their companies for success well beyond the fourth quarter.

It’s not too late to register to attend CHESS and the IBC Global Forum.

See you in Rosemont.

Writing about the passing of industry leaders is one of the regrettable, but necessary, assignments in this job. After 33 years of covering this business, though, this time feels different.

Dave Willis, the nonstick coating leader and innovator who passed away last week at 87, was the first housewares industry chief executive I ever met in person. 

I was just a few weeks into my position as a junior editor for HomeWorld Business during the spring of 1990 when I was sent to the West Chester, PA, headquarters of industrial and consumer coatings manufacturer Whitford to meet with the executive team for an editorial feature on the company. I’ve shared the story of what happened on that day many times, but more on that later.  

Willis, who co-founded Whitford in 1969, was an unpretentious, no-nonsense entrepreneur with a sharp intuition for what the market wanted and needed. In his unofficial uniform of a dark blazer, grey slacks and a button-down dress shirt, Willis, a salesman-turned-fluoropolymer guru, was always at the ready with a detailed explanation and convincing demonstration of the company’s nonstick housewares coatings. He understood the secret to success with such complex chemical science, however, was to strip it down to what matters most to manufacturers, retailers, and, ultimately, consumers: how it can make life easier. 

Willis, without the deep marketing coffers of primary rivals, spearheaded the type of shrewd, proactive guerilla marketing that no large corporation could match. He knew focusing on the trade in the housewares business— the manufacturers that would apply the nonstick coatings and the retailers that would sell the coated products — would be a cost-effective and convincing way to build market share and shelf space, which, in turn, would build credibility among consumers. It worked exceptionally well for 50 years, leading to the sale of Whitford to PPG in 2019. 

Willis’ legacy in this industry runs far deeper than the cooking surface of a nonstick-coated fry pan. Behind the constant pursuit of innovation was Willis’ unrelenting competitiveness and grit — a resolve that cleared a path to global leadership that was methodical, consistent and humble. He formulated and preserved an entrepreneurial, never-say-never, get-it-done culture that permeated everything and everyone at the company, eventually turning the everyday reins over to his daughter, Anne Willis, in 2016. Working for Whitford was demanding, but it was rewarding. The company was as close to a big family as any growing organization could be with a workforce spread across the globe. 

And it was OK, even encouraged, to blow off steam after a long day of work — oh, those lively dinners at Machiavelli in Frankfurt during Ambiente — as long as everyone answered the bell early each morning. They did (most of the time) knowing full well Dave Willis would be there ahead of them. 

I was privileged to have a close view of the Whitford culture the past three decades, beginning with that spring day in 1990 when I first met Dave Willis. I walked into the Whitford office that day wondering how in the world a reporter who once dreamed of covering the New York Mets was about to interview the management team for a manufacturer of nonstick coatings. Nonstick coatings? 

Then I sat down with Willis and the Whitford team, who couldn’t have been more accommodating, informative, supportive and… just real. As I departed that day, I realized for the first time this business isn’t just about nonstick coatings or any of the other products it makes and sells. It’s as much, if not more, about the people who make and sell the products. That changed everything for me, just as Dave Willis helped change the housewares business.

Some 33 years later, I, like so many others, owe much to Dave Willis for the high character and spirit he passed along during a remarkable career… a remarkable life. I didn’t get the chance to thank him properly for that. But I’d like to think, in his unpretentious, no-nonsense, intuitive way, he knew.  

Thanks, Dave.  

The Dallas Total Home & Gift Market opened this week as the first of the year’s summer gift and home markets that should provide a revealing mid-year progress report leading into what could be a turning point holiday season for the home and housewares business.

After Dallas, the summer industry show calendar includes stops at the Atlanta Market, NY Now, New York City’s Shoppe Object and Las Vegas Market.

No doubt the home and housewares business is still challenged by a wobbly economy that has yet to inspire consistently higher consumer confidence levels, and commensurately, assured retail expectations for the back half.

The heady days of the pandemic sales surge now seem long gone, even though the housewares business is on pace to exceed pre-pandemic levels in many categories. Pre-pandemic comparisons, however, have become a bit hackneyed. It is far more crucial to stay focused on how to seed the next wave of growth that doesn’t need to depend on a steep economic rebound.

Chief among what’s needed is the most fundamental business driver in the history of this business: meaningful new product. Voluminous new product launches had been something of a given from the industry for a generation despite economic conditions. Recent seasons shattered such expectations, however, as an unprecedented cycle from overdemand to supply chain disruption to oversupply conspired to discourage new product investment.

Retail inventories across the marketplace have been managed to the lean side. Thorough, if still carefully calculated, restocking is a priority now compared to a year ago. And while there is much demand from retailers of all types for aggressive price promotion to drive traffic, there also is more incentive for retailers to curate their assortments where possible with new products that can differentiate their businesses and drive new sales while guarding margins.

Moreover, increased household penetration in many categories built during the pandemic translates to continuing heavy use of products purchased as long ago as early 2020. That may presage an opportunity to accelerate traditional replacement cycles by introducing consumers to a new wave of product innovation.

It all adds up to percolating potential for the industry to begin stoking the next growth wave for a business that historically has performed well in softer economies but never faced the once-in-a-lifetime sales fallout from a once-in-a-lifetime sales surge.

The home and housewares industry, perhaps sensing a turning point, is unleashing what might be the most comprehensive arsenal of new products in years in the face of ongoing business headwinds. Well-attended and productive trade shows earlier this year, such as Ambiente and The Inspired Home Show, showcased much of that fresh output.

This is where the summer markets should provide a barometer of the progress made by the industry and its retail customers to take stock in this re-commitment to new products. And new growth.

​Change is a complicated concept in business.

The sudden, radical change pressed upon home and housewares practitioners over the past three years certainly proved that. It confirmed in the process that change remains inevitable and necessary for meaningful progress while reinforcing the need in today’s marketplace of fast-rising disruptive influences to be on constant alert to pivot.

It requires balancing the self-controlled prudence of resisting change for the sake of change with the enterprising commitment to well-informed, sharply timed adoption of a new, potentially better way.

With that, “better late than never” is antiquated thinking in an unforgivingly accelerated business climate that can punish organizations for being even a nano-second late on the next big thing. Being a half-stride too early also can result in hazardous exposure.

Change — the right change at the right time­ —  is complicated.

From the reaction of home and housewares suppliers and retailers to this week’s announcement that The Inspired Home Show 2024 will be concentrated to three days in two exhibit halls at Chicago’s McCormick Place, the International Housewares Association got such a major change just right.

Here are some key details:

• The Inspired Home Show in 2024 will move from a four-day pattern adopted in 2012 to three full days, starting Sunday, March 17, and ending Tuesday, March 19. (The latest generation of retail buyers will be pleased to get part of the weekend back).
• The entire Show will take place in the directly adjacent McCormick North and South halls, with appliance exhibitors moving from their longtime homes across the covered walkway in McCormick Lakeside Center to share McCormick North in an even split with storage and cleaning product exhibitors. McCormick South, a short stroll across a shared concourse from McCormick North, will continue as the Show’s kitchenware, tabletop and décor hub, to be joined by travel gear in 2024 as part of the IHA partnership with the Travel Goods Association that kicked off during the March 2023 show in McCormick North.
• The International Sourcing Expo, reserved for exhibitors without branded products and U.S. distribution, will return in March 2024 to the lower level of McCormick North, a location previously occupied by that group of exhibitors in 2019.

Some exhibitors and buyers might have wished IHA would have put some or all of the pieces of this plan in motion for the recent 2023 Show. But, really, the Show’s March 2022 return after a two-year pandemic hiatus was a hard-to-predict restarting point and not a fair barometer of what would be needed to best serve exhibitors and attendees going forward. IHA — and the whole of the home and housewares business — needed to wait for what would turn out to be a vastly expanded March 2023 Show (1,600-plus exhibitors vs. 900-plus in 2022) to properly gauge exhibitor and retail attendee dynamics of the Show’s rebuild that would help inform the changes announced this week.

IHA did its due diligence —  surveying exhibitors and retailers after this year’s March Show about their preferences for show duration, exhibit layout, location, etc.— before proposing the changes and presenting them to the IHA board, which unanimously approved the moves.

The clear consensus: The concentrated schedule and layout of The Inspired Home 2024 can be more efficient and productive for all participants.

It’s noteworthy that some housewares industry leaders and retailers, independent retailers in particular, who lobbied adamantly and successfully for the Show’s expansion to four days more than a decade ago are among those most enthusiastic about the return to a three-day pattern next March.

This business climate requires and rewards increased efficiency and productivity in all aspects of operation, including attending a major trade show for high-level meetings and finding new products, companies, trends and solutions.

Never has it been more evident that change remains a necessary constant in business. It’s complicated. But this is the right change at the right time for the home and housewares business.

The Bed Bath & Beyond saga has long had the feeling of a gravely ill relative or friend. Despite expectations and preparation, the demise hits hard with deep sorrow. It is still stunning if not shocking.

Sunday’s Chapter 11 filing allows Bed Bath & Beyond the longest of shots to emerge from bankruptcy and/or sell its Bed Bath & Beyond and buybuyBaby retail businesses. The company more likely will wind down and close, its retail flags going to the highest bidders to be resurrected otherwise, possibly. That such an outcome has seemed inevitable for so long won’t necessarily ease the pain of the loss for the home and housewares industry.

The Bed Bath & Beyond saga is the latest lesson in how a retailer once planted firmly atop its competitive mountain can fall so steeply. This is a retail market in which the probability of successful second chances is not nearly as high as it might have been during the Chapter 11 era of the 1990s when vendor selling and consumer shopping options were not simply a click or two away. Truth be told, much of the home and housewares industry had already begun to map out business without Bed Bath & Beyond. So had flocks of shoppers, well before many vendors stopped shipments to the retailer last year, perhaps sealing its fate.

Even for the sizable group of home and housewares suppliers that limited or erased bankruptcy exposure while developing alternative sales channels, the expected closing of the single largest specialty retail chain for home products presents lasting consequences beyond its price to creditors, shareholders and thousands of workers. It is more wishful than probable that all of Bed Bath & Beyond’s market share will be redistributed to other digital and physical retailers in the home product space, although it does open a big window for veteran and newer operators to widen their influence in the category. Within days of Bed Bath & Beyond’s Chapter 11 filing, retailers including The Container Store and Big Lots announced limited-time programs to accept Bed Bath & Beyond coupons.

Bankruptcy and liquidation likely would not spell the permanent end of housewares sold under a Bed Bath & Beyond banner. Macy’s brought back Toys ‘R’ Us, whose collapse in the face of a mass market and e-commerce blitz seems most akin to the fall of Bed Bath & Beyond. The internet has become a refuge for the acquired and licensed remains of national retail brands once thought to be invincible, i.e., Montgomery Ward, Service Merchandise, Linens ‘n Things, The Sharper Image and Brookstone. The potential for such a scenario under the Bed Bath & Beyond brand offers little consolation for the time being.

Perhaps the saddest thing about the Bed Bath & Beyond saga is how the looming end of what for decades was a relentlessly commanding operation responsible for so much home and housewares growth is so unsurprising. That underscores one of the most fundamental business lessons: No matter how important and powerful a company becomes, it often is not as essential and indestructible as its leaders might believe and act.

Irreversible damage to Bed Bath & Beyond began before an ill-fated attempt under Mark Tritton’s management to transform the retailer radically, then a last-chance effort under Sue Gove to buy financial flexibility and time to save the business. It seems to have been too late for Bed Bath & Beyond for quite some time.

Despite the feeling of inevitability to a home and housewares industry and consumer market that has already begun to move on from Bed Bath & Beyond, this is still a sad moment for the business. And it still hurts.

It’s the time of year for renewal.

And with that, readers of the HomePage News Daily Digest are being greeted beginning this week with a fresh new format for the industry’s most widely read e-newsletter recapping key home and housewares industry news as reported on HomePageNews.com each business day.

As HomePage News approaches the second anniversary of its launch by the International Housewares Association, the new-look Daily Digest also marks the beginning of a new partnership between HomePage News and Multiview, which specializes in digital newsletter publishing services for B2B organizations.

Multiview has assisted HomePage News in developing and delivering the next generation of the HomePage News Daily Digest. This new format takes the same high-level industry news and information HomePage News readers have come to expect and presents it in a highly visual, easy-to-navigate e-newsletter format showcasing daily industry news. The new format features added daily content including videos, special reports and an industry events calendar.

Multiview also is working with the HomePage News team to provide advertising sales support for the enhanced HomePage News Daily Digest and for HomePageNews.com. This business development collaboration will result in a more responsive, wide-reaching program of custom B2B marketing solutions to connect home and housewares suppliers, retailers and industry affiliates. The new HomePage News Daily Digest, for example, has been designed to accommodate several differentiated advertising options —  including multiple banners, videos and sponsored content — that can be tailored to the needs of each prospective advertiser.

It all adds up to deliver a more effective way for home and housewares decision-makers to engage each day with HomePage News so they can remain more effectively engaged with the home and housewares business.

It is the perfect time for readers to renew their connection to HomePage News.

Extensive follow-up from The Inspired Home Show 2023 is already beginning by suppliers, retailers and other allied businesses that attended the show.

So… What did we learn at this year’s show?

We learned the show came at an opportune time for an industry still grappling with what generally was a challenging 2022 that saw a confluence of declining post-pandemic demand and rising living costs that, by most consumer confidence measures, finds the wide swaths of the general public somewhat uneasy about their prospects. That has caused some uneasiness in the home and housewares industry about its near-term prospects. However, The Inspired Home Show offered a promising glimpse into what could be a productive back half as winners from the bounty of new products and programs presented at McCormick Place find their way to selling shelves and websites.

We learned retailers of all sizes and types from North America, Latin America and elsewhere abroad showed up in a shopping mood. Attending buyers, many of which lauded last year’s downsized return of The Inspired Home Show for its quality face-to-face time and new vendor-prospecting opportunity, thought the heightened volume of genuinely new product on display at this year’s much larger show was immediately evident across all categories. This show marked the first time in more than three years many customers had seen exhibitors’ product lines in person. And that still makes a difference.

We learned there is still a big appetite… to learn. Full-house crowds sat in on keynote presentations by the likes of Walmart’s Julie Barber and Justine Van Buren; Pantone Color Institute’s Lee Eiseman; and the IHA Market Watch team of IHA’s Leana Salamah, NPD’s Joe Derochowski and Springboard Futures’ Tom Mirabile. Education sessions in the Innovation Theater covered a range of pressing topics, such as the home products opportunity on TikTok; PFAS chemical regulations affecting housewares; the intersection of consumer food and beverage trends and housewares; inflation’s impact on housewares spending; leading-edge visual merchandising; export opportunities; and much more.

We learned this from year’s Global Innovation Award (gia) winners that inventive product development and inspirational retail theater in home and housewares are by no means lost arts.

We learned that housewares charity during the show was back in full force supporting breast cancer research and other cancer-fighting organizations. The return of the Housewares Charity Foundation gala honored Select Brands’ William Endres, Bloomingdale’s Daniel Leppo and The Home Edit’s Clea Shearer.

We learned the home and housewares industry remains fundamentally resilient, persistent against the most unpredictable turbulence to turn new ideas into new solutions — often evolutionary, sometimes revolutionary — to help retailers make the best choices for their customers and for their bottom lines.

The ultimate test of what we learned at the Inspired Home Show will be graded by whether or not 2023 goes down as a year during which the business reinforced its value and its reputation as a reliable retail growth driver.

We learned there is so much follow-up to be done to make that happen. Well, maybe we already knew that.

It’s showtime!

The Inspired Home Show returns to Chicago’s McCormick Place this week (March 4-7) at a critical juncture in the pursuit of new growth by the home and housewares business.

Plans for back-half programs should begin to firm up during and after the show for an industry that, after riding a big wave of demand during the pandemic, saw an inevitable slowdown in 2022 compounded by economic headwinds. That’s all the more reason that 2023 marks a new starting point for renewed growth by suppliers and retailers that can cultivate differentiated programs driven by what figures to be the biggest crop of new product rollouts and commensurate marketing campaigns since before the pandemic.

Active winter domestic and global trade shows signal a busy Inspired Home Show, which will be considerably larger at more than 1,600 exhibitors than the 2022 event that marked the show’s return after three years because of the pandemic. The 2022 show was heralded as a highly productive event by exhibitors and what turned out to be a bounty of retailers, many of whom were released from corporate travel restrictions just prior to the early March show.

That the 2022 show was smaller than usual contributed to the high satisfaction of buyers and sellers participants who relished the extra face time. The opportunity now for retailers, considering the 2023 show’s expanding exhibitor base, is to balance their schedules on the exhibit floor, holding meetings with key vendors while leaving plenty of time for the kind of new vendor and product discovery that can really cement the value of attending the show.

Embracing the opportunity presented by Inspired Home Show to renew relationships while cultivating new possibilities can make a big difference in what will be a critical year for the home and housewares business.

See you in Chicago.