I was fortunate to spend two days at the Auckland Gift Fair earlier this week. It was a big event, over six large halls at the ASB Showgrounds. While there was some crossover between the Australian Gift Fairs and the Auckland event, I was surprised to see greater diversity of product in Auckland. First up, they had more locally made products. Here in Australia similar items tend to be treated as tourist items. In NZ, they are more mainstream. The other difference was the mix of homewares in the gift space. It seems that more gift stores carry a selection of homewares products.
The hot product categories from what I could see, based on floor representation, are: scarves, candles – all sorts, homewares, glassware including innovative local glassware and children’s products.
The mood of the business owners was upbeat, the well known Kiwi can do attitude was evident on the trade show floor, particularly around conversations regarding the impact of the Christchurch earthquake.
It was terrific stepping outside the usual Australian Gift Fair mix for a fresh perspective on the channel.