Las Vegas Market sets Summer attendance record

Summer 2016 Las Vegas Market which concluded last August 4, registered exponential attendance gains, with overall attendance up 8% over last Summer Market, and gift buyer attendance up 28% specifically. The Summer 2016 edition also showcased the largest-ever number of resources in the Market's 10-year history, with exhibitor participation topping 3,100 for the first time, including a record 500 temporary exhibits.

“Summer Las Vegas Market was epic,” said Bob Maricich, CEO of International Market Centers, “Punctuated by unprecedented attendance, order-writing and new resources, we are continuing to deliver on our promise to create the leading furniture, home décor and gift destination in the western United States.”

While there were year-over-year gains in the market's three product categories (furniture, home décor and gift), attendance growth was particularly robust in the rapidly-escalating gift segment, with increases of 28% over last year's Summer Market bringing parity for the first time to the total number of gift buyers attending both Summer and Winter Markets. The increasing home décor category also registered strong attendance gains of 4% and the mature furniture segment drew 3% more buyers than last year's event.

Buyers from all 50 states attended Summer Market, with the largest numbers of attendees coming from California, Nevada, Arizona, Texas and Utah. International participation continued to be strong, with 73 countries represented; the largest number of attendees from outside of the U.S. came from Canada, Mexico, China, Japan and Panama.

Strong attendance increases can be attributed to the swift and sizeable expansion of both permanent and temporary exhibitors, as Las Vegas Market continues to build resource density across its campus. Among the Summer market's more than 5 million square feet of product displays was 118,500-square-feet of new and expanded showroom space representing 66 new and expanding resources. These gains represented all of the Market's core categories - with new and expanding showrooms adding 70,000-square-feet of furniture resources, 21,500-square-feet of home décor resources and 27,000-square-feet of gift resources - as well as record-breaking numbers of casual and outdoor resources and the largest-ever number of temporary exhibitors in the Market's history.

Las Vegas Market newcomer, Drew Sweeney, Vice President, Sales and Marketing of La-z-Boy Casegoods, said “This is our first Las Vegas Market and it's been very good. Our traffic has been better than I expected, our order writing has been better than I expected, and we picked-up eight or nine new west coast accounts that we would not have opened had we not been showing here in Las Vegas. Las Vegas is definitely a west coast market and I am very, very pleased.”

Vendors and exhibitors at Summer Market said they were pleased with both the quantity and quality of buyer traffic, as well as strong order-writing throughout the week and increasing exposure to new customers. Returning from a seven-year hiatus from Las Vegas, Bob Ulrich, Senior Vice President of Sales & Marketing for Currey & Company said, “We are very pleased to be back in Las Vegas. We are seeing lots of our regular customers we’ve not seen because they are not travelling to other markets where we show. Las Vegas offers us an opportunity to connect with customers representing a mix of furniture stores, designers and gift shops. To develop more business in the West Coast, we have to be here. This showroom signals our long-term support for the western region of USA and further presentation of our product.”

The Pavilions at Las Vegas Market, home to 80,000 square feet of gift and home décor temporary exhibits, registered a 212% increase in buyer traffic since its debut one year ago. Margo Pyne, Wholesale Merchandising Manager for The Grommet, one of some 400 temporary exhibitors in the Pavilions commented, “The show has grown exponentially since we started exhibiting. The traffic, the summer market orders and the excitement - they are all going up and it is refreshing to see it grow! We’ve seen a decent amount of old faces and tons of new ones. We are seeing buyers are from Arizona, California and Washington primarily, as well as customers that don’t always get to markets on the east coast.”

Buyers also were overwhelmingly positive about the number of resources and vast array of products presented at the Summer Market. Retailer Doug Sanicola, Owner/Buyer, Outdoor Elegance Patio Design Center, added, “This market is new, crisp, and a lot of fun compared to other shows. It is extremely important to the west coast. As Co-chairman of ICFA (International Casual Furnishings Association), I see a lot of markets, and it's important that manufacturers and retailers, especially from the West, attend this show.”

Source: Las Vegas Market

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