show report: the international home & housewares show A home for smart home!
The ‘Wired & Well’ show expo, part of the International Home & Housewares Show held every year in Chicago, calls itself “the world’s leading exhibition for kitchen and household electrics”. With many US and international brands and products not found at European and Asian shows, is it time to add Chicago to your Spring Show calendar? PR Direct’s Sarah Selzer reports.
C
ommitted buyers in housewares are really put to the test in the Spring, with relevant shows in
January, February and March (not to mention the Canton Fair in April!). So it’s important if you’re planning to broaden your trade visitor horizons you choose a show that works for you. The International Home & Housewares Show,
owned and run by the IHA (International Housewares Association), takes place every March in Chicago with over 2,200 exhibitors from 50 countries and 60,000 attendees from 130 countries. The show, which will be known as The Inspired Home Show from next year, covers a broad spectrum of housewares, divided up into show expos – Dine & Décor, Discover Design, Clean & Contain, Wired & Well and Global Sourcing. Wired & Well features energy conservation, floor & carpet care, home healthcare, kitchen & household electrics, major appliances, personal care and home environment (air & water). Brands that you would recognise including Cuisinart, DeLonghi, Jura, Karcher and KitchenAid – who were continuing to celebrate its 100th anniversary this year. Others perhaps not, like Objecto (distributing Bugatti kettles but also featuring their own uber-stylish air treatment and panel heaters) and
Storebound with brands like Dash (egg cookers, air fryer ovens and blenders), Maytag (under licence and including steam irons) and a new range of wifi-enabled side/ coffee tables, Sobro. There are plenty of brands keen to do business this side of the Atlantic. There will be a couple of issues on voltage (but not insurmountable and many companies I met would be happy to look at that depending on quantities). With so many products now focusing more on Smart Home and USB as a means of charge, there are certainly some strong options out there. In the area outside the Wired & Well show expo in the Lakeside hall, there is the Smart Home Pavilion with a mix of brands dual- sited from the main show and businesses with just this smaller presence. Among the 33 exhibitors were EyeTemp, a Wi-Fi device which alerts you to any appliances left on; Vayyar with Walabot Home, designed as an automatic home fall alert system for the elderly, using radar imaging rather than cameras; Airdog air purifier which harnesses ionic wind technology, saving the cost of replacing filters; Moodo smart home fragrance diffuser which allows you to mix up to four fragrances in real time and Ovie Smarterware storage system, to cut down on food waste (funded by Kickstarter and
available in the US for pre-order). Add its SmartTags to any container, press the button and record what’s being saved. Ovie will then alert you when you’re getting near to use-by date, either visually (the tags have a traffic light ring system) or if integrated with Alexa and apps, via reminders to your smart phone. Ovie is only currently planned for US shipping this year, but it’s likely there will be a wider roll-out to include other territories. Prices start at $50 for the three-tag kit. The Smart Home Pavilion area also hosts a
series of 25-minute ‘smart talks’ throughout the show with themes like “Fridge Smarter: How better tracking of your food leads to better living “ (this was Ty Thompson from Ovie) and “Ready for Smart? The consumer is!” The main show also runs seminars and presentations of interest to both a retailer and supplier audience and all are available as audio (and some as video) on the IHA website through till next year’s show. There is the cooking theatre with celebrity chef demonstrations and there are several organised networking events, held just as the show finishes. New exhibitors at the show have the
opportunity to take part in a special showcase on the first morning, before the doors officially open, and this has proved to be a really useful way of kicking off business. There is a special brochure available with product and contact detail as well as their hall and stand numbers in the main show. There is also another, newer, mini expo on the first morning ‘Trending Today Preview’ – last year was hydration, this year beverage-making in general, covering wine, beer, tea- and coffee-related products and including some electrical brands. Spherificator (from Canadian company Cedarlane and in the UK through Sous Vide Tools, rrp £99) is an electrical device which turns any food or liquid into little caviar pearls for amazing plating and presentation. The Inspired Home Show 2020 takes
The Smart Home Pavilion outside the Wired & Well show expo hosted over 30 smart tech companies 12 |
www.innovativeelectricalretailing.co.uk
place March 14-17, McCormick Place, Chicago
www.TheInspiredHomeShow. com. Details on 2019 exhibitors, audios and (selected videos) of the seminars
www.housewares.org/education.
May / June 2019
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