With a new year comes a new season for building, home improvement and lawn & garden trade shows. Some are massive, covering anything and everything, such as the International Builders Show. Others are targeted, focused on specific trades or categories, such as the International Roofing Expo.

The Farnsworth Group is hyper-focused on the building, home improvement and lawn & garden industries, which is why we attend many of these events.

We Attend Trade Shows for Three Reasons:

1. Products and trends: What are manufacturers showcasing? What design, installation or building trends are constant themes?
2. Traffic and sentiment: How well are these shows attended? Who is walking the floor? What is the mood among the attendees?
3. Connecting with colleagues: How is traffic in their booths? What are the challenges are they seeing and hearing? Where are they seeing success in the market?

Within the first three months of this year, our firm will have collectively attended over a dozen trade shows and conferences. Here are some initial takeaways we’ve gathered to provide you with insights on where our industry may be heading this year and next.

Products and Trends:

Technology is everywhere. In nearly every category we observed, smart home tech was either a component of the product or was a consideration. If it wasn’t home automation or smart home, it was software or tools designed to support products.

While some products have tech for tech’s sake, others are involving technology for the following reasons:

• Minimize labor requirements for installation or service.
• Deliver on homeowner demands for convenience, safety and security.
• Connect to a broader smart home ecosystem.

With technology also comes an increase in Health and Wellbeing. This is a topic The Farnsworth Group has been studying.

Our recent research shows healthy home concerns are growing among Homeowners. Many of the technology products had some connection to healthy home or wellness benefits. Some were only monitoring the environment such as cameras, air/water sensors, but others are now automating actions based on those monitors and conditions of the home, such as Broan’s IAQ systems.

The last major trend we’ve seen was a connection to the outdoors and environment. This was seen through the use of imagery in booths, product materials and aesthetics.

It was promoted in many products through environmentally friendly, recycled content or efficiency. While there was no single environmental trend, the idea of associating the home, products and materials to the broader environment was very visible.

Traffic and Sentiment:

If you haven’t attended an industry trade show for a few years, you may be surprised by how well they are attended. More importantly, though, is the quality of attendees.

Smaller shows often have a high percentage of targeted traded professionals attending, like the AHR Expo. However, we noticed a higher than normal amount of professionals attending the larger shows as well, such as KBIS. Attendees and exhibitors alike have commented on the high volume of traffic this year.

Even better is the mood, the energy of the show floor. In talking with several contractors throughout each show, they have experienced strong years of business and are optimistic for 2020. They were attending to learn, grow and produce.

Connecting With Colleagues:

Many of our friends and clients attend several shows each year. It’s a great opportunity to hear from product managers, brand managers, marketing directors, sales managers and executives across the industry.

We have noticed a reduced sales staff presence from manufacturers, which may be budget-related. We have also seen some manufactures withdraw from big shows or shift their spend away from large show booths. However, many companies that don’t exhibit are still sending executives to walk the floors. Some events reserve meeting space rather than invest in costly exhibits.

Through dozens of conversations, the expectation for 2020 was positive. Many have experienced growth in recent years and expect growth over the next 12+ months. However, that growth may not be as strong as the last few years.

There are some challenges that remain for many manufacturers and retailers:

• Tariffs: This was discussed frequently and the ultimate impact is unknown. What is clear: Manufacturers and retailers are feeling the effects, whereas a year or two ago it was yet to be felt financially or logistically.
• Affordability: This is a major challenge for the home building industry, and it’s impacting many categories that are looking to supply builders with affordable price points to meet the market demand.
• Customer Experience: This is changing for pros and consumers, and it’s changing quickly. Companies are working hard to understand consumers of products to determine how, when and why they buy what they do.

That brings us to one of the more exciting changes we’ve seen this year at trade shows, at least with forward-thinking manufacturers and retailers: branding.

Building products have far too often relied on distribution and relationships to drive sales. With channels being disrupted and increased product options and available resources to customers, relying on your distributors and sales team to sell product is a risky proposition.

Walk through any show and you’ll see products that begin to look the same from one row to the next. Companies are working hard to determine their brand equity, perceptions and alignment with various customer segments. From there, they are now working on shaping that customers experience through various mediums.

It’s exciting to see our industry begin to apply lessons from the consumer-packaged goods industry, from the consumer electronics industry and from the fashion industry.

If you want more insight into the industry, your customers or how trade shows could benefit your company, get in touch by clicking here.