Why no response?

I had one of those “scratch your head and go ‘huh’ moments” a couple of weeks ago after chatting with Pierre Richard about how things were going with the planning for the 2016 Canadian Furniture Show. He told me the strangest thing. Apparently, the show’s management team sent an e-mail to every exhibitor that showed at both the 2015 and 2014 editions of this country’s only national industry trade event. Strangely, he received only one response to the question he asked.

In my mind, the question was a fundamental one. He asked each exhibitor to submit a list of retailers who haven’t been coming to show in recent years, but who they would really like to see attend. Show management’s goal was to compile a list of names common to all the feedback they received. Then, these retailers would be individually invited to the 2016 CFS and offered some sort of incentive or thank you for making the trip to Toronto at the end of May.

The incentive would, of course, depend on how many names were on the list. He told me if the lists these 300 exhibitors provided could be organised into a group a 40 or 50 retailers, show management would probably be able to provide them with hotel accommodations. If the group was bigger, something else would have to be done – but something worthwhile would be.

But the key thing to remember is: no one responded to Pierre’s original letter. Wow! Imagine that. These industry execs, when asked to take 10 minutes to help get some of their potential customers to market, couldn’t or wouldn’t be bothered.

I’ve been writing about the Toronto market for the best part of the last three decades. The most commonly expressed complaint by exhibitors is there aren’t enough retail buyers on the floor and wandering through their space. So, when show management devises a plan to bring more retailers to the events – retailers chosen by the exhibitors, no less – why would those who benefit most fail to respond?

I don’t get it. I don’t understand and I can’t rationalise it. Almost everyone in the industry believes this industry will lose something important if Pierre and his team at the Quebec Furniture Manufacturers Association cannot put the Canadian Furniture Show back on an even keel before its closing day 2017 (that’s next year, by the way).

Here’s another fact to think about: most experts agree the Canadian dollar will not climb out of its current doldrums in the near future. This is going to put travel to High Point and Las Vegas out of reach for many, if not most, independent furniture and mattress retailers. And, prophet that I am, the bigger merchants are going to pare their travel plans back to the absolute minimum because of all the product they have to buy in U.S. dollars.

I don’t know if time has run out to take Pierre up on his offer, but I’d send him a note and ask after thinking real hard about which retailers to invite to CFS 2016.