Porland of Turkey, one of the five gia Global Honorees this year, has a long, rich and colorful history. We look into what makes this manufacturer and retailer of porcelain stand out from the rest. by Michelle Hespe Porland’s logo features a ballerina executing a perfect pirouette. This elegant symbol conveys both beauty and strength, reflecting the grounding philosophy of this manufacturer and retailer of porcelain. The word…

CHESS 2019 – Retail’s Seismic Shift: Understanding the Forces Changing Housewares Consumers

Presented by: Michael Dart, Partner, Consumer/Retail Practice, A.T. Kearney Retail specialist and visionary, Michael Dart advises retail and consumer companies on how best to navigate retail’s seismic shifts. He combines his economics and finance training from Oxford University and the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, with more than 25 years of experience consulting with A.T. Kearney and Bain & Co. to provide a unique…

Global Retail Intelligence – April

April 14 – JD.com Creates Offline Catering Supply Chain SolutionJD.com with Juqi, a dinning chain in Beijing, announced a supply chain cooperation, positioning JD.com as the first platform in China capable of providing a one-stop supply chain solution covering both the full category of food and materials supply, and integrated warehousing and distribution services. Through the cooperation, JD will also provide intelligent inventory…

Navigating The Wild West of Ocean Shipping

by Dave Akers, IHSA "Good Judgment comes from experience and a lot of that comes from bad judgment." — Will Rogers Here is how the modern shipping business mirrors the Wild West: 1. The “Gold Rush” Boom and Bust Cycles The Old West was defined by the gold rush with sudden, explosive wealth that created overnight millionaires, followed by devastating busts that left ghost towns behind. Shipping operates on the exact same…

IHA Plans Sourcing Mission to Vietnam

To help members investigate alternatives to sourcing from China, the International Housewares Association will hold a sourcing mission to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, next year. The 2020 Vietnam Sourcing Mission will be offered in two sessions: April 20-22 or April 23-25. Each session is limited to just six companies to provide a high level of service and allow for private meetings and factory tours. The dates were chosen to allow…

Guide to Effective Retail Store Design

by Martin M. Pegler If RETAILING is your chosen path of livelihood, here are some simple guidelines you might like to consider when planning your retail store. 1. Let There Be Light! Without the proper light the merchandise cannot be seen or judged, colors cannot be appreciated, coordinates cannot be assembled, nor buying decisions made. Let your light be the best you can afford to install and use—or, if necessary, skimp on…

Global Innovation Awards

Generations of Inspiration

Michelle Hespe speaks to Patricia Lockhart, owner and director of Uruguay’s award-winning retail store, Bazar La Iberica and its focus on generations of inspiration. Achieving 100 years in business is something worth talking about. But Bazar La Iberica, a family-run retailer operating in a country with only 3 million inhabitants (half of which live on very low income) has…

Recycling and Display Props

By Martin M. Pegler Props, I would imagine, is short for “properties” and “properties” can be anything that adds something to a scene, a setting, a display. If we were to look around us, we would see we are standing in the center of a field of display props: from the furniture in the room, the plants, the unused rolls of wallpaper, the tableware, the collection of pots and…

Introducing Anne Kong: gia’s New Expert Juror

The IHA Global Innovation Awards (gia) program is guided by a wealth of housewares industry and retail expertise: the national gia sponsors are the leading professional housewares trade publications in their own countries and adding credibility to the program, the four expert jurors are internationally recognized experts in visual merchandising, store design and marketing. The…

Inspiring the Industry: Henrik Peter Reisby Nielsen

gia Expert Juror and CEO of ReisbyConsult, Henrik Peter Reisby Nielsen, is inspiring the retail industry. Michelle Hespe finds out how he does it. Henrik Peter Reisby Nielsen would never use the word “bored” because he is continually entertained by how much inspiration there is around him. He has drawn from this inspiration to carve out a career for himself in retail,…

On Trend

The four gia expert jurors — Martin M. Pegler, Wolfgang Gruschwitz, Scott Kohno and Henrik Peter Reisby Nielsen — are from different sectors of retail, including store design and architecture, branding, visual merchandising and displays, marketing and technology. They always need to be at the forefront of trends driving the retail world, so who better to present the latest…

Lake Living

The Lakehouse from Canada was one of the five global honorees at this year’s IHA Global Innovation Awards (gia). The store reflects the spirit of the community in which it’s based, inspiring locals with products to suit their lifestyle, and offering tourists a taste of lake living that they can take home. Five years ago, Sue and Ben Boschman were at the International Home +…

Seven Decades of Style

This year, Illums Bolighus not only celebrated seven successful decades in the retail business, but also became one of the top retailers in the world at the IHA Global Innovation Awards (gia). When the Marketing Manager of Illums Bolighus, Sofie Molls, took to the stage at the IHA Global Innovation Awards in Chicago, there was a palpable sense of elation in the air. After a…

Kitchenware Veteran

One of five global honorees in the 2016 IHA Global Innovation Awards (gia) — Kitchen Shop in Malaysia — is out to help people live more healthily while also taking care of the environment. Next year, Katrin BJ, the Malaysian holding company for 25 homeware and kitchen retail specialty shops in Malaysia, including Kitchen Shop, House of Presentation (HOS), La Gourmet Shop,…

Success to the Bold Innovator Friends

In March this year, retail store K’OOK! from the Netherlands became one of five global honorees celebrated at the IHA Global Innovation Awards (gia) in Chicago. In 2005, two friends with a passion for cooking and a desire for a new life, joined forces and established a small 35 square meter retail store in the Netherlands’ Wormerveer. Fast forward eleven years, and K’OOK!…

Perfectly Porland