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Winning Wares
July 07, 2008
Homewares—a little different than housewares—are honored at the National Hardware Show
By Nathan Adkisson
The best products in the new category of "homewares" were announced May 14 at the 2008 National Hardware Show in Las Vegas.
Officials at the show said that with the term "homewares" they are trying to address a specific new market for certain housewares within the hardware market.
"Homewares are targeted at the home-improvement, DIY people who shop at Ace and Do-It-Best, as opposed to places like Kohl's," says Beth Blake of Reed Expo, which helped organize the event. The homewares market is notable for its exclusion of table-top items not found in hardware stores, like linens and cutlery, Blake says.
The winners in the show's homewares category represent the diversity of products in this market. The Gold award went to Reynolds, for their Handi-Vac freezer bag sealer, while LightWedge won the Silver award for their Flex Neck LED laptop light, which can be powered by batteries or a USB port. Davom Products, Inc. took home the Bronze award for the PROLOCK propane safety cap, which makes a propane tank valve tamper- and child-resistant.
Olivier Jammaers, merchandising manager for Pine Brook, NJ-based Rymax, Inc., says that while these awards represent the popular "gadget" form of homeware merchandise used in incentive programs, he has noticed in particular a trend toward more eco-friendly products.
He attributes this to both increasing environmental awareness and the downturn of the economic market.
"These products are something companies need because they are popular now," Jammaers says. "There's a big demographic for them, and it's not just California and the East Coast. It used to be that you'd hear just the occasional global warming comment, but now it's a lot more common than that."
He mentions the Circulon induction cooker, which, by using less energy, is both better for the environment and cheaper.
"Fewer redemptions are so materialistic.," Jammaers says of incentive winners' preferences. "There's more of a focus on practicality."
Some product lines in the homewares market are especially suited to tiered-reward programs. Jammaers recommends an iRobot package including the Looj automated gutter cleaner, which won Best of Innovations 2008 in the Home Appliance category at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last January, the Roomba automated vacuum cleaner and the Scooba automated floor washer.
"Employees say, 'Why don't I get something I'm actually going to use every day?'" Jammaers says.
Norma Jean Knollenberg, owner and CEO of Oshkosh, Wisc.-based Top Brands, Inc., has also noticed the popularity of cleaning appliances. Top Brands, which specializes in Dirt Devil products, offers vacuums at a variety of price points. Knollenberg is unaware of the new term "homewares," and she says that she considers her company's products to be "housewares."
"Floor care continues to be a viable market in redemption incentive programs," Knollenberg says."You can start out with a hand vac on for the first level. Then give a stick vac and finish with a full-size upright vacuum."
Knollenberg estimates that for her company housewares constitute about 15% of all rewards redeemed, a figure she expects to stay constant. The change will be in the type of housewares employees prefer, forgoing occasionally used luxuries in favor of more pragmatic products.
"In today's economy, their popularity will continue to be strong as people go back to basics, as opposed to more frivolous items," she says.
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