Atlanta Market Reports Strong Order Writing and Major Updates at Recent Winter Market

January 27, 2020  by Laurie Northington in Business Strategy, Industry   

The market saw buyers from every U.S. state and more than 60 countries sourcing a broad range of gift and home décor merchandise in more than 4,000 showrooms and temporaries. At the market, International Market Centers (IMC) celebrated the debut of its new Atlanta Market brand, the opening of the remerchandised Open Year Round home décor collection, the announcement of a new lifestyle collection in Building 2, and the launch of a wholly owned, standalone digital division, IMC_di.

“The excitement at the Atlanta Market was palpable,” said IMC CEO Bob Maricich. “The buyers were placing strong orders with new and established brands, filling seminars and learning opportunities, and fully engaging with market events. IMC added fuel to the excitement by announcing multiple updates that will push the company and its markets into its next era of success.”

IMC’s strategic remerchandising of the 130 Open Year Round home décor showrooms to five contiguous floors as part of Atlanta NEXT Phase 1 had a positive impact on the market. The 35+ showrooms that signed new leases, relocated or expanded their footprints opened at the winter market to a great reception from buyers.

“At this market it was so much easier to source home décor,” noted interior designer Diane Hewitt. “I really appreciate the reorganization of the floors and look forward to shopping at AmericasMart year round.”

During market, IMC announced the July 2020 debut of a new lifestyle collection on Building 2, Floor 11, which will launch with industry leaders Appelman Schauben and Ivystone. The relocation of these two representative groups jumpstarts a reorganization of the Building 2 gift resources resulting in a new foundational gift, garden, seasonal and accessory floor on Building 2, Floor 18; the relocation of top accessory brands Diamond Star Corporation, IMAX and Sagebrook Home to Building 1; and significant expansions by industry leaders including GiftCraft, Magenta, OneCoast and TAG.

This winter, IMC primed buyers for new product discovery both before market and on campus with new and interactive online tools.

New product discovery and the sharing of market experiences drove increased buyer and exhibitor to interaction with Atlanta Market’s social media channels. The market’s Instagram account @AmericasMartATL gained nearly 5,000 followers during the market week and logged more than 730,000 impressions and more than 4,100 mentions.

Designer Amie Freling-Brown of Meme Hill Studio in Rochester, N.Y. posted, “There’s nothing to get your creative juices flowing like a few days at AmericasMart. Meeting amazing brands, getting inspired by speakers, seeing all the upcoming trends, catching up with friends and so much more.”

Buyers connected with product trends in the weeks leading up to the market via the new IMC Market Snapshot program that previewed products on social media, on the AmericasMart website and in buyer emails. Attendees selected via online voting the Peak Necklace and Stackem Up Bracelets by Glee Jewelry, the Puffin Bottle Holder by Puffin Coolers and The Late Rococo – Faux Lapis Blue Stones - Circa 1780 Antique Swedish Mora Clock by VE Designs as the Atlanta Market People’s Choice Winners.

At market, the Shop the Show influencers Tiffani Thiessen, Katie Stauffer of the Stauffer Family, Brian Patrick Flynn, Paloma Contreras and Liz Marie Galvan shared favorite market finds and moments on Instagram and presented a series of cooking demos, seminars and meet and greets.

IMC is entering into a new phase of its business following the launch of IMC_di at the Atlanta Market. The new stand-alone division will enhance and extend the market experience through the development of an integrated channel-agnostic B2B commerce platform including a marketplace, marketing and sales automation software and smart showroom tools. With the announcement of the new division, IMC also announced its acquisition of two innovative technology companies, RepZio and Pharos, who will provide technical and industry expertise to accelerate the launch of the new digital platform.

More than 500 market attendees joined with IMC in celebrating IMC_di at the market kickoff party where they were shown a video outlining the new platform. Overall positive reaction to the announcement shows the desire for buyers and sellers to connect throughout the year.

“We’re very excited about the IMC_di announcement and see a lot of good things coming out of it. RepZio has been a part of our business for the last 10 years; we were one of their very first customers,” said an IMC spokesperson. “With that, we’ve been able to see them grow and we know how they work, so we see how the future can be really bright. Eventually we’ll be able to integrate the two programs which will help us in order writing, making the visit for our customers a little quicker, a little more seamless. With all three markets we are in – Atlanta, High Point and Las Vegas – we’re looking forward to integrating these into one, cohesive platform. So we see this being a great opportunity.”