Arlington, Texas—“Better than expected.” That was the consensus among the 58 exhibitors that participated in the weather-marred Southwest Flooring Market (SWFM) here earlier this month.
An untimely January snowfall that began the morning of the show and lasted through the night did its best to keep many of the 1,000-plus pre-registrants away, although, according to Lori Kisner, managing partner, Market Maker Events, “Everyone was genuinely surprised that we had over 400 buyers as of 2 p.m. [on the first day].”
She told FCNews many were fearful the day before the show opened because “the news has to exaggerate everything so much. And then when the schools closed yesterday, people became nervous. But all things considered, we’re pleased with the turnout.”
Hopes were high that this would be the best SWFM ever. The show moved to the Loews Arlington Convention Center, where it co-located with Adleta’s Winter Product Show along with Shaw Floors’ regional market and BPI’s meetings. Adleta was actually considered part of the SWFM.
“Our pre-registration was up more than 15%,” Kisner said. “You have to remember, Adleta brings their buyers to the table by partnering with us. So we didn’t even consider the Adleta buyers who hadn’t come [to our show] in the past in our pre-reg. Half of their customers are new. So we are way up if you consider that.”
She added that SFM also registered many BPI people.
But at the end of the day, the one thing SWFM could not control was the weather. “My guess is we’ll end up with about 500 attendees, and we should have been over 1,000,” Kisner said. “They typically come from as far as New Orleans, Little Rock and Oklahoma, so it’s about a 250-mile radius. It’s all driving. That’s the beauty of regionals; they don’t have to get on a plane. Some of them don’t even have to stay overnight.”
Despite the weather keeping numbers down, exhibitors told FCNews there was business to be had. The newly branded Stanton Design was one. “Based on the weather, the show’s been better than we thought,” said Trey Thames, senior vice president of soft surface. “The weather scared a lot of local people away. But we had consistent turnout all day long. We had some productive meetings and even wrote some orders.”
Jaman Stepp, senior vice president of hard surface, added, “We had more action than I thought we would have. People from out of town came early; some even came by to talk to us yesterday.”
Things were the same at Kährs, where Warren Avery, new business development manager for national accounts, said: “We have had some good, engaging conversations with the customers who have stopped by. A number of dealers asked for displays, asked for follow ups. I think if it wasn’t for the weather this would have definitely been a great show for us.”
And upstart SPC and laminate supplier Ultimate Floors also saw value in the show. “Despite the weather, we saw a good amount of foot traffic,” said Ron Dardashti, managing partner. “We picked up some new customers, saw some existing customers, had some good conversations, placed a few displays and wrote a few orders.”
New location draws approval
One positive, Kisner said, was the great feedback she received about the format. “They like being here with the other big guys.”
The new venue is better suited to an event like SWFM than AT&T Stadium, which played host to the event for the last few years. “Logistically, it’s more of a trade show as opposed to what you had at AT&T,” she said. “Everyone likes it because it is more compact, so you feel the buzz. There’s an energy on the floor. You can’t make that exist in a building that’s designed to fit 90,000 people.”
Co-locating with Shaw and capitalizing on their draw actually happened by chance. SWFM was looking for a new home after many exhibitors felt AT&T Stadium was not conducive to a trade show. “When I was here for the show last year, I said, ‘Let me see the exhibit space [at Loew’s],” Kisner said. “And when I toured it, they casually mentioned Shaw and BPI were coming in here [this] year.”
The hope is to capture 50% of Shaw market attendees.
Kisner said SWFM hopes to build on the momentum next year. “I think we need to find out better what is going on with Shaw and BPI on their first days. Hopefully we can align on the same days. Shaw has traditionally been a kickoff on Wednesday night, big day on Thursday, clean up on Friday. This year they seemed to have done something major [Wednesday] and a lot of their buyers left because of the weather. I would really like to move this event to Wednesday/Thursday and get people out of here before Friday.”
There were about five more exhibitors at this year’s Southwest Flooring Market than last year, with almost all of the staples returning. “Most of the new guys are tile,” Kisner said. “We’ve gotten more into tile this year, which speaks to Texas in general.”
Next year, the goal for the Southwest Flooring Market is to get everybody back, she said, and get some people that held out this year. “The point I’m trying to put across to all the big guys who aren’t here is that this is such an incredible region and it’s hard for your reps to get around this region. You remember 20 years ago they said, ‘We want one show. We want all the dealers to fly to Vegas and find us there.’ Well, that doesn’t work. That’s why Mohawk had to do the road shows. That’s why Shaw does their mini shows. You cannot get a small specialty retailer to come en masse every year to the same location. I know enough trade shows to know that.”
Of course, the more attendees who attend the more attractive it is for exhibitors. To that end, SWFM does its own marketing but also benefits from the distributors and Shaw’s efforts. “So the retailers are getting hit from all different sides, but it’s our job to make sure they know we’re here, too,” Kisner said. “We call anyone who’s come to the show in the last two years just to say, ‘Hey, are you aware of it? This is the new format. This is where we’re at.’ And of course, the smart exhibitors also reach out to their customers.”
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