January 2014 Market Reaches New Highs in Atlanta
When the January 2014 Atlanta International Gift & Home Furnishings Market closing bell sounded, the show had posted gains across all measures, with national and international attendance and first-to-market buyer totals leading a litany of advances.
On-site actual registrations for the eight-day market showed healthy year-over-year gains with increases as high as 53 percent posted on key attendance days. Preliminary hotel occupancy results reports indicated an increase in the average length of stay per attendee to 4.2 days, the highest recorded since 2006.
Growth posted in all national regions beyond the show’s principal Southeast baseincluding the Midwest and Far Westplus international beyond the Americas delivered global buying power to exhibitors across all product categories in showrooms and trade show booths.
The Market’s first-time buyer totala measure of new buyers having not attended any previous Atlanta marketsaw high double-digit increases. Meanwhile, reports from exhibitors throughout the Market, across showrooms and trade show booths, echoed strong salesmore orders, larger orders, from new and returning accounts.
Powering momentum throughout the Market was the new AmericasMart App, which made its debut to rave reviews and, according to iTunes, was among the 10 most popular apps in all business-to-business categories.