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IMC Plots Course for Las Vegas Market
July 31,
2012 by in UnCategorized 
By Home Furnishings Business in Business Strategy on August 1, 2012
International Market Centers has announced a strategy to position Las Vegas Furniture Market as the most comprehensive buying platform in the western United States.
The three-phase plan, which begins in 2013, will afford buyers and sellers new opportunities in the furnishings, gift and home décor channels across the 5 million-square-foot World Market Center Las Vegas campus.
Beginning with the Winter 2013 Las Vegas Market, buyers and exhibitors will see a re-merchandised, reinvigorated marketplace that will deliver a greater concentration of complementary resources in each building--with the goal of providing a more effective, efficient experience for market participants.
IMC will designate 1.7 million square feet of Building C for gift and home décor resources at Las Vegas Market, allowing for growth of existing gift resources and the launch of new product categories such as tabletop, home textiles and lifestyle collections. As part of this re-positioning and significant industry investment, IMC also will present a collection of high-end home décor resources on C3 as an extension of the fully-leased, highly-successful B3 initiative that launched this week at the Summer 2012 Market.
Buildings A and B, along with the top floors of Building C, will present Las Vegas Markets furniture, mattress, interior design and hospitality design resources. Since the start of the year, 43 new showrooms totaling approximately 265,000 square feet of space have been leased to home furnishings companies at WMC. IMC officials expect more leading brands to join Las Vegas Market as a result of the strong value proposition for furnishings companies to see unique buyers and drive incremental business in an increasingly vibrant market experience.
This new merchandising strategy creates a clear and compelling identity for Las Vegas Market, both as an established and rapidly growing venue for the furniture industry, as well as a dynamic, rising marketplace for the gift and home industry. Our ability to deliver on this vision of a totally redesigned marketplace, one that is more compelling and effective than ever before, is a direct result of the strength of the commitment and continued investment by our partners, said Bob Maricich, CEO of IMC. Our multi-dimensional platform is truly relevant for todays cross-category buyers and suppliersit provides thoughtfully-designed buildings to maximize efficiencies, yet also offers opportunities to explore new distribution channels and facilitate cross-over commerce. Under this refocused direction, Las Vegas Market will deliver as todays total marketplace. This evolution reflects how retailers sell and consumers shop todayeverything they would envision for their homes and gift giving, all in one place.
A number of leading furniture companies are showing in new spaces in Buildings A and B at this weeks Market, including Office Star, HTL, Moroni, International Furniture Direct, Furniture Traditions, Perdue Woodworks, Prepac Manufacturing, and Med-Lift & Mobility. The popular Lodge Living showcase, formerly in Building C, has re-emerged within B2s Home Furnishings Temporaries.
Las Vegas Design Center, which features more than 40 premier showrooms representing hundreds of designer lines, will continue to be positioned in Building A with a plan for future growth. This new approach keeps all of the designer resources within LVDC under one roof, and will provide a more streamlined experience for design professionals and consumers who visit LVDC on a daily basis.
This realigned plan will serve retailers and designers who are seeking a full spectrum of home furnishings products in the most seamless and compelling experience, said Tom Mitchell, President of Home Furnishings for IMC. It also gives us ample runway to attract more high-end manufacturers to Las Vegas Market, creating meaningful destinations of better end goodswhether those showrooms are open daily in LVDC or for market only.
Strategic plans for Gift + Home at Las Vegas Market include the introduction of two dynamic new categories targeted for debut in Summer 2013. c-ONE--a new, cross-category showcase of directional resources presented in a curated collection on the first floor of Building C, will include tabletop, gift, and home resources in both permanent and temporary presentations. Also debuting next summer, Lifestyle on C10 will feature suppliers of on-trend resources from in-demand categories such as fashion accessories, personal care and fragrance, stationery, juvenile merchandise, pet products, and technology accessories. The addition of these category presentations will create compelling neighborhoods of high-end merchandise throughout the building.
This plan re-imagines and re-aligns the presentation of gift and home décor at the Las Vegas Market, said Dorothy Belshaw, President Gift + Home Décor for IMC. By strengthening existing resources, launching new categories and enriching the presentation of better goods, we will create an unparalleled marketplace for gift and home products in the western United States.
In 2013, Las Vegas Market will take place Jan. 28-Feb 1; and the Summer Las Vegas Market will be held July 29-Aug. 2. In 2014, the Winter show will be held Jan. 27-31, 2014 and the Summer Market will occur July 28-Aug. 1, 2014.