Global Opportunities

Benefit from IHA’s International Business Council, which offers opportunities, education and insight to help members succeed in the global marketplace!

2019 Global Forum Offers Educational Sessions on Global Markets

Housewares suppliers new to the international arena or veteran sales executives wanting to grow their global business will benefit from the 2019 IBC Global Forum, to be held Sept. 15-17 in San Diego, Calif at The Guild Hotel. Overviews by housewares buyers and distributors covering Asia, Spain and the United Kingdom along with sessions on opportunities in key markets around the…

May Currency Outlook

In their May 2019 Currency Outlook report, Tempus, an exchange rate and global payments company, provides a detailed report including the following topics and sections: In Brief The USD had another month of swings, rising .8% in AprilEconomic performance divergence is a strength for the USD as other currencies struggleBased on Latin safe-haven and oil prices, the Mexican…

U.S. Custom and Border Protection: Steps to Protect Intellectual Property Rights

The Custom and Border Protection (CBP) encourages the usage of their e-Recordation Program to help copyright owners gain enforcement of intellectual property rights. The CBP has the right to detain, seize, forfeit and destroy any merchandise that enters the U.S. if it infringes on trademark or copyright that has been registered. In order to do so, the trademark…

Global Retail Intelligence – May

May 22 – UK’s Marks & Spencer Reshapes Strategy after Annual Profit Decline of 10% With a plan to open larger format food stores, shifting away from smaller convenience outlets and closing other outlets that also sell clothing and housewares, Marks & Spencer’s new approach shows a shift of strategy. From Bloomberg May 22 – Spar International to Expand China…

April Currency Outlook

In their April 2019 Currency Outlook report, Tempus, an exchange rate and global payments company, provides a detailed report including the following topics and sections: In Brief The Federal Reserve did not increase interest rates, however, the USD is up half of a percent The global economy is slower than the U.S. economy, hence the better performance of the USD…

Global Retail Intelligence – April

To follow is a brief review of retail news from around the world: April 23 – Walmart China Has Competitive Advantage with JD.com Alliance in Highly Competitive Market With 433 retail outlets in China, including 412 Walmart supercenters, Walmart plans to add 23 Sam’s Clubs by 2020. In 2018, Walmart and JD.com jointly invested $500 million in online-to-offline grocery…

Global Retail Intelligence – March

To follow is a brief review of retail news from around the world: March 19 – India’s Reliance Retail to Open New Stores Reliance Retail plans to expand its low-cost fashion store network Reliance Trends to 2,500 locations within the next five years. From Retail News Asia March 18 – Walmart Japan Announces Seiyu Is Not For Sale Newly appointed CEO of Walmart’s Japanese…

March Currency Outlook

In their March 2019 Currency Outlook report, Tempus, an exchange rate and global payments company, provides a detailed report including the following topics and sections: In Brief The USD recovered about half of its January losses in February, increasing .7% The Brazilian Real and South African Rand sank dramatically The Australian and New Zealand Dollars both…

Global Year-End Results

In a summary of 2018 year-end results and 2019 projections, four of IHA’s global partners give members an update of what happened in 2018 in their markets of responsibility as well as some indicators of what 2019 holds: Canada Based on conversations with retailers across the country, the 2018 holiday season in Canada was ‘okay’ or flat. Either on par or slightly below 2017,…