NKBA ROCKS & 40% Increase in KBIS Registrations
Submitted by advisor on Wed, 03/03/2010 - 6:03pm.
After a long conversation with the NKBA today about exhibitors, attendees, Las Vegas, Chicago, the weather, the industry, we were told that some in our industry have said that "ApplianceAdvisor.com really has it in for the NKBA".
Let's clear something up right here. Nothing could be further from the truth. NKBA, and Nielsen, and Whirlpool and Sears, and Congress, ALL OF US could do better, could make better products, or react to their customers, clients, stake holders with greater speed, compassion or efficiency. We are very focused on what you could do better. Like our children, when we see that you are not living up to your potential, you are failing yourselves and our industry, and we will tell you (and 40,000 of your closest friends). Ahh, but we still have great affection for you, each of you in this beloved industry which we all share.
So go out there and make us proud.
The ApplianceAdvisor.com, this service, could also do a better job, as the NKBA so very politely pointed out. In our pursuit of the next appliance train wreck we uploaded good news from KBIS, a press release directly related to an ongoing discussion, in the Forum section and not in the News sections where other related KBIS stories had already recently appeared. We agree that this was not entirely fair to KBIS or the NKBA. Below we correct this mistake.
KBIS Press Release
KBIS PROJECTS 40% INCREASE IN 2010 SHOW ATTENDEE FIGURES
Large number of new attendees, architectural and design firms register for Chicago show
ATLANTA, GA (March 1, 2010) –With the Kitchen & Bath Industry Show (KBIS) just around the corner and set to embark on McCormick Place in Chicago on April 16-18, 2010, attendee figures are showing a significant 40% increase over last year’s numbers during the same time period to date. Show producer Nielsen Expositions is now anticipating nearly 35,000 attendees at the show this year, which will include the industry’s top dealers, designers, builders, remodelers, retailers, and other professionals directly involved in the design and remodel of residential kitchens and bathrooms.
The numbers are pretty staggering at this point as our research shows that 67% of the attendees who are registered for KBIS 2010 did not participate last year,” said Brian Pagel, vice president of the Kitchen and Bath Group at Nielsen Expositions. “This has surpassed our expectations and has generated a lot of early buzz and excitement surrounding the show in Chicago this year.”
A significant growth is particularly seen in the number of architectural firms that have signed up to attend the show to date, with a 20% increase compared to 2009 figures including many major architectural offices that have projects in the pipeline and will be looking for specific products, ideas and inspiration during the show. Design firms are also flexing solid numbers to date with a 15% increase overall compared to 2009 figures which includes many prominent designers and design firm executives. Lastly, Nielsen anticipates nearly a 10% increase in the number of plumbing wholesalers and distributors at KBIS this year based on the current projection figures
Baloney ... Pure Baloney !!!
Anyone who even visits here occasionally knows, I too have been critical of K-Biz for a long time !!!
I'd like to clarify that nothing I have ever said about K-Biz was intended to imply that it applied to NKBA ...
My criticism of K-Biz is simple ... they have turned their back on anyone who wishes to attend K-Biz by not making accommodations and the associated expenses affordable for anyone who might wish to attend !!! It is apparent that that the major appliance manufacturers understand that they need not spend the $$$ to participate in a trade-show which is not well attended !!!
The replies from K-Biz to my complaints were downright insulting ... and to equate the loss of substantial members of the Appliance Industry with the "Designers" & Architects" is not only insulting, but it is a slap in the face !!!
Then, in their recent mailing they misrepresent the participation this way:
The latest in cooktops, refrigerators, dishwashers, and hoods will be on display at KBIS 2010. Major manufacturers such as Jenn Air, GE, Fisher & Paykel, Liebherr, TurboChef, and hundreds more, will showcase their latest and signature products, setting an industry standard with incredible design, technology, and operational ease.
Really ??? "... hundreds more ..." ???
Can you please name just half of those "... hundreds more ..." ???
Wake up, K-Biz ... the economy still is in trouble, no matter what Obama sez !!! If you refuse to attempt to attract the most important demographic which produced your swelled ###'s in the past, you will have no future and might just be left to wallow in your own self-agrandizing press releases !!!
I believe it is time to
I believe it is time to form a new show for the appliance industry. I think you can do three shows a year one in each region you keep it small, affordable and well attended by the core group. Do we really need all the pep talks and over priced class's I don't think so. Good luck KBIS I will not be sending my sales staff this yr to your show but they will get there hands on training.
Well, now ...
The problem with that idea ... and I understand from where you're coming ... is that the manufacturers do not want to spend $$$ to transport, set-up & break down, and man booths three (3) times a year !!!
I have long said that Vegas is the quintessential place for a trade show because, if those showing are smart, they make working the show a "perk" and that increases productivity from the sales staff throughout the year ... plus if anyone were smart, with the ###'s being down in Vegas presently, a long term pricing agreement could more easily be accomplished now - taking advantage of the Recession (didn't know there might be a silver lining did you ???) and making Vegas a home like CES has !!!
At the prices K-Biz HAS NOT negotiated for people @ the show you are certainly smart not to send your people ... it's a bad investment, or more succinctly, no investment @ all !!! It is people like you that K-Biz needs to be listening to ... and ... negotiating pricing especially to make it affordable and attractive to YOU, but they don't - because they are short sighted !!!
That's why they never invited ANYONE from the Appliance Industry to any Focus Groups ... because they do not want the critical comments they would get !!!
Designers and Architects will not make up the ###'s, nor the $$$'s, the vast amount of folks from the Appliance Industry would provide if the Appliance Manufacturers were to show @ K-Biz !!! Pretty soon, my prediction from last year might actually come true ... "What if they gave a show and nobody came ???"
There's a problem, but it's not that one
I think the problem is for the exhibitor not the attendee. If the exhibitors exhibit will the attendees will show up? More importantly, will the attendees they really want, the ones with the fat check book, actually show up? I believe that the answer to this is yes.
Attendees may start cutting the number of sales men, and 3rd tier seat warmers coming to the show, but if the show were a SHOW, someone important, a principal, a buyer, a specifyer, is coming from the organization to see what's new.
This is not a problem of cheap hotel rooms. This is a problem of Exhibitors blanching at the cost of the annual KBIS display. A display that's fat and visible in the annual accounting.
It's not your $1000 that is killing the show, it's Dacor's and Viking's and Sub-Zero's $1,000,000, or $2,000,000 or who knows how much.
We are on either sides ...
... of the "cause and effect" relationship !!!
If the Major Manufacturers do not perceive that it is worth their while to spend the Big Bucks to exhibit because they will not get the foot traffic, then they will not come ...
... as contrasted by the idea that ...
If the foot traffic cannot be generated because they cannot justify spending the $$$ to go to a show where there are no Major Manufacturers, then tey will not come ...
So there is the conundrum which, I believe K-Biz has not addressed after the pitiful showing last year in Atlanta, and the mass exodus of Major Manufacturers so far this year !!! They cannot continue to delude themselves that they can replace so many significant exhibitors and attendees with Designers & Architects !!!
I fear that the powers-that-be assigned to run K-Biz refuse to admit that their product is broken, and maybe irreparably so ...
Mea Culpa
I have been critical of KBIS ! In particular, I have criticized the choice of this year's location and critical of the costs involved in attending the show (especially in today's economy). Most of all my criticsm has been directed at the enormous cost that must be absorbed by exhibitors whose business is dependent upon both Remodelling and New Construction and must decide upon attendng KBIS or IBS or both.
I did not intend my criticsm of KBIS to be likened to a criticsm of the NKBA. The NKBA has been very good to the appliance industry. Notable members of our industry have been named to the NKBA Hall of Fame, including Jim Bakke, Stan, Mike and Tony Joseph and Fred Carl. NKBA members have specified appliances in their kitchen designs and have served on advisory committees and focus groups to assist manufacturers in appliance design. That said, I still believe that the trade show (not the NKBA organization) is broken and needs to be overhauled. Sorry if I've offended, but I think the (appliance exhibitor) attendance speaks for itself.