THE NEW NORMAL
As pandemic hits home shows, surge in online sales expected, says Vicky Sanderson.
On one March day, in just a matter of hours, news came that the National Home (now called The Big One), Canada Blooms, Green Living and One Of A Kind (OOAK) consumer shows — were all either cancelled or postponed due to COVID-19.
In the U.S., North Carolina’s High Point Market — the world’s largest home furnishings trade show, with 2,000 exhibitors and 80,000 attendees — was one of several big events shut down.
Show closures were just one effect of the global slowdown on the design and retail industry, says Leslie Carothers, CEO of The Kaleidoscope Partnership, a U.S. online strategy development consultancy for the furniture and interior design industries.
“It is as huge financial loss, but (it was) really a wonderful thing to witness all these shows, despite the financial losses, putting the health of customers and employees at the forefront.”
But the same internet infrastructure that allows retailers to place orders in the absence of a show also gives consumers direct access to retailers and designers, Carothers says. “Online shopping is going to be huge,” she says, in part because people stuck at home will start seeing things they want to do.
The future will reveal whether government assistance for businesses, cuts to utility prices, tax payment deferral plans and other forms of stimulus will help push that kind of spending, and the degree to which it may be hampered by massive job loss.
Either way, online shopping will take off, says Carothers, who is also CEO of the threeyear-old Savour Partnership www.savourpartnership.com/ blog, which produces shoppable digital publications that live on websites, and designs systems for designers, retailers and manufacturers to monetize websites without selling physical products or handling customer service, shipping and e-commerce store maintenance.
It’s a trend Carothers championed well before the current crisis; noticing that increasing online decor shopping by consumers was a concern from designers who sold product, she began advising them on how to recapture the sales being lost to larger online retailers.
Along with creative director Sam Henderson, Carothers now produces the shoppable digital 32-page Seasonal Living magazine. For a more from Carothers, go to www.aroundthehouse.ca
It’s a shame fans missed out in real life on such OOAK artisans as Made with Mud by Margie, a Montreal studio that makes funky, functional objects for the home; the odd, intriguing work of artist Tony Taylor, whose portraits place animal heads on powerful people; and Surrey, B.C.’s MysGreen, which makes quirky reusable food bag wraps.
Given how drastically things have changed, Around the House will for the next few weeks be trying to help folks at home, with columns on online options for home-related purchases, as well as suggestions on how to save money and possibly your sanity while stuck at home.
We’ll have tips on online resources as well as strategies on isolation grocery shopping and cooking. Email specific questions to vicky@aroundthehouse.ca
This week’s tip is to check out the kind of thing you didn’t get to see at the One Of A Kind event at its online store, oneofakindonlineshop.com, where you will find hundreds of artisans.