With its highest number of exhibitor stand rebookings already in place by the time the Exclusively Shows closed last month, organisers Brooke House Exhibitions (BHE), were delighted with this year's positive exhibitor response.
Show director Simon Boyd said: "Exhibitors have been very pleased with who they've seen and talked to at the Shows this year. Many have also got involved with our new 'On Trend' initiatives, which, as we hoped, have helped to open up new conversations across the sector".
BHE chairman and BHETA housewares director Will Jones added: "The feedback that I have received so far from exhibitors has been generally positive and it is pleasing to note that a number of meetings took place as a direct result of buyers' interest in products highlighted by the 'On Trend' initiatives and our international visitor focus."
The two sister shows, Exclusively Housewares with 120 exhibitors and Exclusively Electrical with its 24 specialist small kitchen and domestic appliance exhibitors continue to attract the industry's major buyers and retailers.
Housewares and electrical buyers from the department store chains, grocers, hardware stores and major high street retailers were well-represented with John Lewis, Morrisons, Debenhams, House of Fraser, Robert Dyas, Tesco, Argos, HomeSense, Aldi, Fenwicks, Costco, Lakeland, Dunelm, Steamer Trading, Sainsburys, TJX Europe, Wilko, Asda, Home Hardware and Marks & Spencer all in attendance.
In addition, leading online and TV retailers Wayfair, Ideal Shopping, QVC, Ocado, Groupon, Scotts of Stow, Coopers of Stortford and Amazon all attended.
Following collaboration with the Horticultural Trades Association (HTA) this year there were also a good number of garden centre buyers at the Shows including Scotsdale Nursery & Garden Centre, Alton Garden Centre, Millbrook Garden Company, Wyevale Garden Centres, Hillview Garden Centres, Frosts, Bents Garden & Home, Otter Nurseries and Blue Diamond. This is a market sector the Shows will continue to target, says organisers.
On the independent retailer front, well-established names such as FTB Lawson, Oldrids, Upstairs Downstairs, Rossiters of Bath, Kitchen Kapers, Dinghams, Colanders, Kitchenmonger, Barnitts, Hart & Sons, Marchmont Hardware, Hoopers, Trevor Mottram were in attendance. However, the shows noted a downturn in the number of cookshops and smaller independent stores attending this year.
"The decline in independent numbers reflects the current challenges faced by the market; what was encouraging is that those independents who recognise the need to adapt their offer were very much in attendance," explained Will Jones.
Now in its second year Exclusively Electrical has built up the number of the electrical buyers who now attend the Shows alongside their housewares and dining buyer colleagues and attracted the larger electrical specialists such as Appliances Online, Dixon Stores Group, Appliance City, Euronics, Shop Direct and key independents like Avensys and Fairway Electrical.
"We will continue to work closely with buying groups such as Sirius and the Retra trade association, to spread the word about this specialist part of the Exclusively offer, said Mr Boyd.
"We know that the electrical buyers from our established visitors are attending the show but we want to extend the reach of Exclusively Electrical further to reach electrical specialists too - even if they don't sell SDA/SKA yet! Exclusively Electrical is the perfect place to review what's available and work with the major brands."
International retailers this year included El Corte Ingles, Monoprix, Briscapo, Westwing and Gadgets Cuina - just part of the Shows' international buyers programme, which targets 20-30 key companies selected by exhibitors to invite every year. In addition, buyers from Denmark, Lithuania, Norway, Spain, Greece, France, Italy, Estonia and Germany also made their own way to the UK to attend.
"As specialist shows, our visitor database, like our exhibitor line-up reflects the industry and its current state quite closely," says Mr Boyd. "It is important to us that we assist our exhibitors by providing access and introductions to all the channels to market - which includes searching out the new as well as maintaining links with established retailers.
"Following its positive reception this year, we will also continue to develop and feed in 'On Trend' information to our exhibitors during the year so that they can incorporate it into their new product development and presentation to retailers."
The 2017 Shows will run on Tuesday, June 13 and Wednesday, June 14 at the Business Design Centre, London.