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IHA’s blog features informative posts written to keep the housewares industry educated and informed about key strategic issues and IHA member services.

Reason to Cheer? Depends on Where You Live

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce polled small business owners about the state of the economy during the third quarter last fall and found that most were optimistic about increasing revenue in 2018. Most also said their local economies were strong. About one-quarter of those businesses surveyed were retailers. Increased confidence in local economies and the health of small…

Optimize Shipping Advantages for Your Business

IHA continues successful partnership with International Housewares Shippers Association (IHSA). The International Housewares Shippers Association (IHSA) is the not-for-profit shippers’ association formed by IHA to lower supply chain costs for its members at the highest quality service levels. Through combined leverage of members, IHSA negotiates freight contracts with more…

Global Retail Intelligence – April

To follow is a brief review of retail news from around the world: April 16 - JD.Com Plans to Open 1000 Stores Per Day The Chinese online retail giant opened a store a week in March and announced that their goal is to continue their rapid expansion of franchised convenient stores to reach 1 million in 5 years. From MINGTIAandI April 16 – Alibaba’s Tmall Launches New…

Le Petite Gourmet Shoppe

Location: La Grange, Texas Founded: 2006 Owner: Donella Dopslaug-Cernosek Square footage: 7,200, including 5,000 sq. ft. of retail space La Grange, Texas, is a small place with a big kitchenware store. At 7,200 sq. ft., Le Petite Gourmet Shoppe has more square feet of retail space than there are people in the town. While owner Donella Dopslaug-Cernosek says that…

Being Smarter About Smart Home

by Joe Derochowski, The NPD Group In the first 11 months of 2017, U.S. dollar sales of home automation products increased 40 percent, with strong growth across all device types, according to The NPD Group’s Retail Tracking Service. Home automation products were among the fastest selling items during the 2017 holiday season – over Thanksgiving week and Cyber Week, home…

April Currency Outlook

In their April 2018 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 fell by more than half of a percentage The Fed raised interest rate to 1.75%, signaling confidence The European Central Bank changed policy language, removing allowance for…

Technological Advancements in IoT Transforming the Way Consumers Interact With Their Products

By Dina Abdelrazik Dina Abdelrazik, research analyst at Parks Associates, recently sat down with Research and Markets to discuss technological advancements in the Internet of Things (IoT) and how they’re transforming the way consumers interact with their products. The Connected Lifestyle How have technological advancements affected the adoption, usage and retention of the…

Speak, Swipe, Smile: How Virtual Assistants Are No Longer Just About Voice

By Chris Albrecht Amazon’s Alexa plays a central role in my family’s morning routine: she tells us the weather, plays the radio and sets timers so we can catch the bus. Alexa is great for simple tasks, but she and other smart speakers stumble when it comes to more complicated requests. That’s just a limitation of having only a voice and speaker interface. But the way we…

Lifestyle Guru Tom Mirabile Shares Insights for Thriving in Today’s Retail Renaissance

“We succeed by embracing change” is his theme at 2018 International Home + Housewares Show It’s no secret the marketplace is experiencing unprecedented and rapid changes in how consumers gather information, shop and buy products. But these changes represent tremendous opportunities for the housewares industry, said Tom Mirabile, consumer trend forecaster for the International…