 |
 |
|
|
|
|
| |
| The Other Kind of Hardware |
| |
| |
A report from Trendlines' Managing Director Steve Rhodes on the National Hardware Show. Steve attended the Show, which was held from 11 to 13 August at McCormick Place, in Chicago, Illinois.
|
 The 2002 Show, which billed itself as "The World's Fair of Home Improvement," was characterized by an unusual degree of nervousness and uncertainty. A weak economy, concern about security, and fear that the holiday season's retail sales will not be strong, all contributed to what seemed like a slower-than-usual show. The somber mood was not helped by August's weak retail sales figures which, according to a weekly hardware industry newsletter from Gallagher Communications, came in well below expectations.
| | Missing in Action
|
Although Show press releases spoke of close to 3,000 exhibitors participating, there was a distinct sense that Show attendance — both attendees and exhibitors — was down this year (although no official Show statistics have been released yet. The aisles were not crowded, there were no long lines for food, and salespeople seemed to have more free time than usual in their booths.
There were a number of highly noticeable no-shows. Two large U.S. companies that usually have a major presence at the Show — Rubbermaid and Stanley — did not participate at all. Large Israeli companies such as Keter and their U.S. subsidiary, U.S. Leisure, did not exhibit; Zag, which in recent years appeared as a part of the Stanley booth, also did not show.
|
| Trends |
Housewares In an effort to bring more female consumers into their stores, the three largest retail DIY chains — Home Depot, Lowe's, and Do It Best (the brand name used by the Hardware Wholesalers cooperative) — all are placing heavy emphasis on housewares products. The main product categories emphasized in this push:
|
| |  | Corded floor products (vacuums, scrubbers, rug cleaners)
|
| | |
Home environment (fans, humidifiers, heaters)
|
| | |
Lighting
|
| | |
RTA furniture
|
| | |
Small electrical appliances
|
| | | Storage products
|
|
Barbecue. This market grew 12% in 2001 and there is a trend to year-round (not just summer!) barbecuing — 58% of grills are now used year round. Consumers are becoming more sophisticated barbecuers, and there is a trend towards making the entire meal outside, not just the meat.
One company that seemed position to take advantage of this trend was Today's Plastics Inc., of Dallas, Texas. This company introduced a line of large plastic barbecue carts, many of which included sinks, cutting boards, and storage space to create an entire backyard kitchen.
Away with wood. Due to environmental concerns there is a trend to phase out the use of treated wood in residential products such as fences, decks, and other exterior projects. The editor of Building Product News believes that this presents a huge opportunity for "composites, plastic and metal...I anticipate new innovations in this area to remedy the shortcomings of replacement products to be closer in cost, durability and reliability of treated wood."
Refinancings. The good news may be that there is a lot of money coming into the market as the result of home mortgage refinancings. As the result of lower interest rates, Americans are expected to refinance mortgages in almost record levels and, of this refinancing, it is expected that $138 billion will be in new debt taken against home equity. The Federal Reserve Bank estimates that 33% of this money, about $45 billion, will be spent on home improvement. Business Week, in its September 9 issue, comments that this spending was a major factor in second-quarter sales growth at Lowe's.
|
The Trendletter team welcomes your comments.
|
Steve Rhodes
Managing Director
The Trendlines Group
|
|
|
|
|
©2002–2008 Trendlines International Ltd. All rights reserved.
Phone: +972.4.958.3323 | postmaster@trendlines.com
Directions |
Privacy Policy |
Site Map
This site contains material copyrighted by third parties.
This site
is best viewed in Internet Explorer version 5 or higher.
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
