Retail Observer

RETAILOBSERVER.COM JULY 2016 36 about a refrigerator with a 21.5" screen that simply, streams audio, shows shared family calendars, and takes a picture of the contents of your fridge and slings it to your smartphone at the grocery store?" Some of the newest web service initiatives included the announcement of the continuing growth of the group's Just Say Yes initiative, described by EVP of Member Services Frank Sandtner, as the group's latest digital marketing opportunity for retailers. Sandtner also mentioned a heightened focus on Facebook, complimenting the guest speaker Brian Carter, who addressed the membership on the importance of Facebook as a communication platform. Sandtner said, "Facebook's moves to reduce the reach of your postings opened the door for one of the first successful ad units offered by Facebook – the opportunity for you to boost your posting. Boosting your posting is a way for you to pay Facebook to reach all of the people who Like your company. When you boost a posting, the full audience of people that like you will have your posting appear in their News Feed. They can share that posting to their network of friends and thereby extend the reach of the posting/ad." Senior Vice President of Appliances, Patrick Maloney, said appliance dealers still proved to have a strong year in 2015. "Poor weather drove January business to a gloomy start (-3.8%). We fought through a port strike on the west coast that slowed the import of both parts and finished goods. Supplier challenges included factory set backs, fires and general inventory issues across the board. All of this was trumped by the uncertainty of mergers and acquisitions of some of our largest vendor partners. Considering all of these headwinds, the appliance industry still proved to have a strong year. Retail rebounded with increasingly stronger business each quarter to end the year on a positive note. With these headwinds behind us, we look toward 2016 with optimism. The latest projections place the estimated industry growth at or around 5.0% for the year. This is certainly good news for independent retailers." With continually increasing attendance numbers at PrimeTime! from the Furniture category, the group spent Monday morning of the show, dedicated to hosting Furniture Summit, where dealers were able to take advantage of exclusive deals. Bill Bazemore, VP of Nationwide Furniture, said, "December of 2015 completed 18 months of strong and consistent growth, which is something we have not experienced since 2007. Leading the pack in growth is bedding, which accounts for 15% of the total industry with estimated sales of $15.1 billion in 2015. In the upholstery arena, stationary is predicted to grow at a rate of 4.2% with estimated sales of $17.77 billion. Motion upholstery accounted for 11% of total industry sales with estimated 2015 sales of $10.95 billion. Leather upholstery is expected to grow 4.1% and estimated sales are $11.74 billion. And last but not least, is case goods, which is estimated to grow 3.7% with estimated sales of $28.29 billion. I almost forgot about one other category that has been experiencing tremendous growth as well in our industry, and that is outdoor. If you are not in this category, you need to take a closer look because outdoor is poised to grow 4.4% with estimated sales of $4.4 billion." James MacAlpine, Senior VP Member Development, reported a renewed emphasis on Member Services. "Nationwide's Prepare for Share (PFS) strategies have delivered positive results for those members that have embraced them. New for PFS in 2016, we have expanded the exclusive vendor offers for members, made significant changes to the group's marketing calendar and totally revamped our member learning programs. To support these changes, as well as continue to share the other facets of our PFS strategies, we have developed a new field representative certification process and trained additional Nationwide home office staff to support requests from field reps prior to and after visiting members. Member visits actually start for us as much as two weeks before we visit the member. We request a number of reports from various home office departments and market data for each of the locations. The reports include the member's utilization of various PFS designated services, Membernet TV, Just Say Yes and 360 Marketing promotions. All of these services are designed to increase dealer awareness among their potential consumers. The market data information will provide members with the sales by category for their market place and allow us to back into the market share the member is capturing. This information is key to assisting us with recommendations to the member as to which member services are best for them." Rick Weinberg, Senior VP Marketing, discussed the 360 Media Multi platform initiative. "Nothing you can imagine can complete your Prime Time! trip more than going home armed with a new Omni Channel marketing campaign that will assist you to connect with today's and tomorrow's connected consumer across the most popular media channels. The 92 Million Millennials, the largest consumer group in America is the generation that's grown up connected. They are very, very likely to actively watch TV and digital video, 80% likely to have a smart phone, 75% likely to be active in social media and less likely to routinely read the printed newspaper. Today's connected consumer floats from media channel to media channel and expects consistent messaging and the ability to have your message and research your resources at their fingertips 24/7." The next PrimeTime! show will be held August 14-17, 2016 in Nashville, Tennessee. Please visit www.nationwideprimetime.com for additional information. RO NATIONWIDE PRIMETIME RECAP / ORLANDO

• Cover