What happens at KBIS….
Last week, we attended the 2015 KBIS (Kitchen & Bath Industry Show) and IBS (International Builders Show) in Las Vegas, Nevada. With approximately 2,000 brands exhibiting, and 75,000 attendees, it was the largest Construction Week event in recent years, and an exciting place to be. In years past, the talk of the show has been trends in color and/or materials, but this year technology took the lead in terms of trend strength. Showers, thermostats, toilets, and even coffee pots were exhibited and controlled by Smart phones, and the “Best of Show” award was given to a technology based product. The Techtop wireless charging surface by LG Hausys, which charges your phone wirelessly by simply by resting it on the surface where a charging station is embedded beneath, was this year’s top award winner. In keeping with the technology trend, both Houzz and HGTV were on hand exhibiting the strength and growth of their online presence, and social media posts and hashtags could be found everywhere, many boasting the attendance of media personalities including Mike Holmes, Ty Pennington, James Young, Jonathan Adler, and Nicole Curtis just to name a few. It was a great week for the Kitchen & Bath Industry, and if strength in numbers is any indication, a very positive indicator of growth in the category for 2015, especially in the area of technology. Look for your clients to begin asking about these hot new products, because unlike the city’s slogan, I don’t anticipate that what happened at KBIS will stay in Las Vegas.