Optimism in Las Vegas

“The strong visitor attendance figure shows that the home improvement industry is making a comeback.” With these words Sonya Ruff Jarvis of Reed Exhi­bition, organisers of the event, gave her comment on the latest National Hardware Show held in Las Vegas at the beginning of May. The fair attracted 16 per cent more representatives of the industry than the previous event just one year ago; however, Reed still has to publish exact attendance figures. For next year the organisers expect the exhibition space to grow still further by some 2 500 m². Several innovative features and improved formats in the supplementary programme designed by the organisers were quite evidently to the public’s taste. For instance, the new way of laying out the exhibition space according to product cate­gories met with widespread approval. Two new fair segments, “building pro­ducts” and “farm & ranch”, were also well received. The efforts to allocate a prominent position to the theme of “innovation” in the show programme are also bearing fruit. The zone reserved for inventors with new product ideas was one of the most visited areas at the fair, along with the New Products World and the Innovation section. “Made in the USA” is a trendy topic, not least in relation to the environment, and so had its own dedicated area at the fair as well. More than 125 companies were represented here. But not everything went smoothly in Las Vegas. First and foremost, some of the total of around 2 700 exhibitors complained that the organisers had not succeeded in bringing foreign visitors to the event in any signifi­cant numbers; too few buyers from Europe, Australia and South America make their way to Las Vegas. On the other hand, it was noted with much interest that another group of visitors from a new world has now discovered the show (because it has discovered the sector itself): rumour had it that the e-commerce market leader Amazon had sent 40 people to the event, a figure that was upped to 60 later on. Dissatisfaction was also expressed about the markedly quiet final day of the fair and about the advance publicity for some of the events in the supplementary programme, which did actually deserve a better reception. Nevertheless, after several difficult years the fair has clear­ly managed to establish itself as the crucial platform for the sector in North America. “For anyone employed in this field it is a must-attend event,” said Jayne Seagrave, president of the North American manufacturers…