Retail Observer

RETAILOBSERVER.COM OCTOBER 2020 58 B randSource's 2020 Virtual Convention has come to a close, and based on attendee and exhibitor feedback, the first-ever online edition of the buying group's annual late-summer confab and product expo was a rousing success. This year's show, which shifted from Dallas to the cloud in light of the still-evolving health crisis, was the first on the major appliance, consumer tech and home furnishings calendar to adopt a digital-exclusive format. Credit goes to AVB's Senior Leadership Team (SLT), which had the courage and foresight to move the Convention entirely online. While other groups and trade organizations pushed their shows further back on the calendar, hoping that travel and safety restrictions would lift, BrandSource pioneered the way with the industry's first all-virtual expo, and most – including the massive Consumer Electronics Show (CES) – have since followed suit. The format itself proved exceedingly effective, drawing a record number of attendees and many commending the advantages over on-site shows. While everyone missed the in-person camaraderie, and certainly the cocktail-hour gatherings, both members and exhibitors cited the ease of access to vendor personnel and product information, and the more personal nature of scheduled member meetings when children, pets and household spaces appeared on camera. Attendees also enjoyed surprise guest appearances by actor Charlie Sheen, TV personality Dog the Bounty Hunter and boxing great Sugar Ray Leonard, plus lighthearted video clips and loads of contests and giveaways. What's more, the first digital edition of the Stampede, a deeply discounted, limited quantity buying event, was executed flawlessly, and exhibitors took to cyberspace with aplomb. In particular, LG Electronics and Electrolux/Frigidaire rose to the occasion by respectively recreating a virtual booth space and a corporate park that attendees could traverse and explore in detail with their cursors. If there were three essential messages AVB wished to convey through the Convention, they were: Digital, digital and digital. As CEO Jim Ristow and CMO John White noted in their keynote addresses, the pandemic has had the effect of accelerating the trend toward online shopping by an order of magnitude. And thanks to the agility and resourcefulness of BrandSource members, and the state-of-the-art e-commerce platform and tools provided by AVB Marketing, the group's total online sales skyrocketed an astounding 1,300 percent year-over- year from the outset of COVID in March through the end of August. Despite enjoying record sales through the spring and summer, Ristow cautioned BrandSource members against complacency and urged them to "double down" on all of AVB's resources, both digital and otherwise. The latter include one-on-one member phone consultations, of which AVB conducted more than 45,000 between March and September. Echoing Ristow and White and looking ahead to the fourth-quarter holiday selling season, Merchandising VP Chad Evans forecast the end of long Black Friday queues around big-box stores as the lines shift to websites, underscoring the need for a super-fast and feature- rich e-commerce solution like AVB's Alta 360 platform. To that end, AVB introduced at the Convention a new arrow for members' digital quivers: KIOSQ, an in-store interface, accessible by both sales staff and customers via mobile touchscreens, that bridges physical and online storefronts by providing an "endless aisle" of inventory and all the competitive tools available through LINQ. Also announced at the Convention: a new Fall Training edition of AVB University featuring a weeks-long series of complementary product trainings and business courses conducted by vendors and industry experts. All told, the Convention represented a historic moment in our industry – a trade show first for the appliance, home furnishings and consumer tech businesses – and reaffirmed the winning combination of independent, entrepreneurial retailers backed by a dedicated team of merchandising and marketing experts. Together, the SLT affirmed, BrandSource is taking share, leading the pack and will continue to do so through the pandemic and beyond. B U Y I N G G R O U P N E W S AVB/BRANDSOURCE HOLDS INDUSTRY'S FIRST VIRTUAL CONVENTION Jim Ristow, CEO of AVB, took to a virtual stage to kick off BrandSource's 2020 Convention and buying expo. Alan Wolf is Senior Communications Specialist for AVB/ BrandSource, the nation's leading merchandising and marketing co-op for independent appliance, consumer tech and home furnishings dealers. RO

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