Inside the numbers: How did High Point Market attendance stack up?
Turns out, the outside factors such as the election, recent storms and a brief port strike didn’t have an outsized effect.
HIGH POINT — With so many outside factors creating noise, one could see justifiable reasons why the just completed High Point Market’s attendance might be off. Turns out, the outside factors didn’t have an outsized effect.
At the High Point Market Authority’s board meeting this morning at the American Home Furnishings Hall of Fame, HPMA CEO Tammy Nagem reported that registrations were tracking down 2%, which fell into acceptable levels, given recent and ongoing happenings.
“Coming into this market, we were all nervous about what market was going to be. We’re a week away from an election; we’ve seen a hurricane and flooding come through our state; we dipped our toe in a port strike,” Nagem said during staff reports. “You name it, the macroeconomics were not in our favor coming into this October market.”
Nagem said within the attendance figures, some highlights included an increased press presence as well as a 3% increase in large retailers. Attendance from international buyers was down.
Elsewhere in the staff reports item, Terry Venable, HPMA’s vice president of operations and finance, reported that, not counting red line and green line riders, the market provided 3,133 rides to 6,181 individuals, representing increases of 12% and 6%, respectively. Additionally, red line and green line riders were up as well.
The High Point Market app saw usage from 15,000 users, up from 9,900 users last market. Of those 15,000 users, 9,200 were new and 82% used the app from their iPhones.
Ashley Grigg, vice president of strategic growth and partnerships, noted that 115 new buyers took advantage of eight of the new buyer tours, and 351 registered for the Market 101 webinar that took place about a month prior to the show.
Ben Muller, vice president of marketing and communications, said the Market Authority made an effort to target mid-tier retailers who had registered but had not attended a market since 2021, sending out gift boxes with a few perks and making cold calls later. He said the outreach had a 12% success rate, which greatly outstripped the accepted cold call response rate of 2%.
In all, Nagem said she and the HPMA staff received positive feedback from exhibitors, and they’re ready to turn their attention to the next event, which is slated for April 26-30, 2025.
“Across the board, we heard from exhibitors that this market exceeded their expectations. We’re happy to report where we are, and we’re excited to start working on April,” Nagem said.
See also:
What's Your Reaction?
