Page 10 - NECO News

SUNDAY KICKOFF PRESENTERS
Taken together, the message from all the speakers at the Fall Expo at Foxwoods in September hit on a common theme: the retail landscape is shifting and opportunity abounds.
Attendees of the event heard from a variety of vendor senior management personnel that included Mark Chambers from Electrolux, Tim Hodges from LG, Dave Cichocki from Whirlpool, Michael Giodano from Samsung, Dick Muchanic from BSH, and Rob Posthauer from GE.
All the speakers were upbeat about the future of the independent channel, especially as Sears, one of the largest competitors, goes into decline. That will result in added market shares for those who can capitalize on it by being nimble, aggressive and forward-thinking. Each one gave their insight into new products, company initiatives, what’s hot and what they expect going into 2017. All reported strong sales from NECO Alliance and expected that to continue. There seemed to be an anticipation of things settling down after the election so we can focus our attention on the year ahead.
NEW VENDORS ON THE SHOW FLOOR
I spoke to several of the new vendors and all are excited about the opportunity to work with us and demonstrate some creative ways to think beyond what we may be currently doing to en-
Dick Muchanic from BSH
hance revenues.
As independent retailers, we should naturally be thinking outside the box - as in the Big Box. Being smaller and more dynamic, we are much more nim- ble and able to adapt than any of the megastores ever could. We have the ability to quickly refocus our inven- tory as the conditions on the ground dictate. We can easily tweak our product line, floor space, etc. to reflect what is going on right now in our market. Just adding a small portion of our show floor to a new product could prove to be a big boost to the bottom line!
WELCOME TO OUR NEW VENDORS
10 NECO News
DECEMBER 2016