WMC gets mixed reaction during ABC
By Jeff Linville -- Kids Today, 10/1/2007 12:00:00 AM
About 35 youth manufacturers at the World Market Center opened their doors during last month's ABC Kids Expo, but the results were mostly negative.
The majority of retailers remained at the ABC show in the Las Vegas Convention Center rather than ride over to the WMC. The lack of traffic has some WMC clients reconsidering being open next year.
The idea of exhibiting during ABC was something that was discussed during the July market in Las Vegas, said Keith Covey, vice president of sales and marketing for Furniture Basics. That didn't give the furniture companies or the market much time to plan and organize, he said.
Plans were to have limousines carry buyers back and forth between the two forums. However, some manufacturers said the ABC show organizers quashed that idea. As an alternative, the WMC paid for cab rides to its show as well as a two-page ad in Kids Today informing ABC participants about the three dozen youth showrooms it would have open.
Most of the youth exhibitors are concentrated on the ninth floor of Building A, and that is where most of the traffic went as well. Covey said he mailed invitations to many retailers and had a few dozen people come through. He was pleased as eight of those people became first-time customers.
Berg Furniture, who showed in both locations, had little traffic at the WMC during the daytime, but made appointments between 7 and 9 a.m. each morning to catch clients before the ABC show opened at 9 a.m. The company said it felt it was achieving its goals in both spaces.
Tom Carscaden, national sales manager for John Boyd Designs, said he'd heard that there were 1,300 buyers at the ABC show, but the WMC was "lightly attended." Still he said the WMC did a good job of giving furniture makers a chance to meet clients.
Carscaden is still a strong proponent of the WMC, noting that the July Las Vegas Market not only was John Boyd's best Vegas show, it was the best market anywhere in the company's history.
Covey said he hoped that other WMC exhibitors had good shows so that more retailers will be tempted to visit the building next year. Unfortunately, some manufacturers were sorely disappointed.
Powell Co. catered lunch only to have three customers show up. That's still better than Legacy Classic, which didn't see a single buyer all market long.
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