MAWA at the "Inspired Home Show" in Chicago
This year's "Inspired Home Show" ran for three days from April 4th to March 7th in Chicago – what impressions did you take with you, Ms. Schenk?
One of the highlights was certainly that one of our customers was one of the focal points of the trade fair: Food 52. Food52 is one of the leading online marketplaces in the US for the household and lifestyle goods. The company was founded by two women over ten years ago.
The idea behind Food52 was to provide cooking ideas and inspiration for 52 weeks of the year. Over time, more products were added, and it became a successful e-commerce platform. Over time, Food52 has also included products from beyond the kitchen in their shop - including our MAWA clothes hangers. At Food52 people get to see a whole “world” with ideas, recommendations and the right brands or products. This successful platform is inspiring more and more people and that was once again very clear at the Home Show.
How did Food52 come across clothes hangers from MAWA?
Our approaches harmonise very well together. Food52 is always looking for something special. And MAWA clothes hangers are special with our approach: we don't just sell clothes hangers, but clothes hangers that adapt to the lifestyle of the customer. Whitewashed hangers from our Classic series are very popular at the moment. These fit perfectly into a clean, Scandinavian style.
How important is the trade fair in Chicago for MAWA in general?
The Inspired Home Show is the largest homeware show for the American and South American markets and our presence at the show for these markets is very important. It was very interesting for me just to feel the mood in the US market. On the one hand, a clear "after-Covid-19" drive can be felt. Customers and companies want to keep growing and continue to efficiently and effectively incorporate the changes that the last two years have brought about into their strategies.
What trends did you notice at the trade fair?
Today, everyone values sustainable materials and a good lifestyle. If there is a good story behind a good product, that is a guarantee for success. And it is precisely this approach that we are pursuing with MAWA by staging our clothes hangers as a lifestyle product.
What were the main talking points at the show?
In the last two years we had to learn to implement hybrid trade fairs, we are now used to that. And it has been shown that our existing business has not really suffered, we have continued to successfully implement our strategy. Nevertheless, most exhibitors are still in favor of physical trade fairs. Such events are valuable for new business and for presenting your own products. Because customers expect that, they expect living environments and inspiration, in summary: they want to see experiences. Therefore, we at MAWA still consider physical trade fairs to be very important. We look forward to meeting our customers in person and the communication part of these meetings.