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Global Innovator Award (gia) Celebrates 10 Years of Success
Retailing lessons learned from past winners remain invaluable globally
ROSEMONT, ILL. (January 2010)—Ten years on, the Global Innovator Award (gia) has become synonymous with retailing excellence around the world, as more than 200 retailers from 25 countries have experienced first-hand.
An Academy Awards®-style ceremony on Sunday evening, March 14 during the 2010 International Home + Housewares Show will honor the 18 regional winners from 17 countries, with up to five winners earning the special distinction of gia Global Honoree. The gia program is sponsored by the International Housewares Association (IHA), which owns and manages the Show, and media partners in each participating country. The 10-year celebration will include some historical elements worked into the ceremony and, the organizers say, some “surprises” this year as well.
To learn which retailers have been named the 2009-2010 Global Honorees, stop by the gia display in the North Building, Grand Concourse Lobby, on Monday, March 15. Interviews and background information can be arranged through the Show News Center.
In its 10 years, gia has become far more than an awards program by representing and illustrating retail excellence around the world that can be replicated anywhere. gia is part of a larger education initiative that includes seminars by retail experts, columns in many housewares publications and educational sessions at events in sponsors’ home countries. Visit past gia winners at www.housewares.org/gia.
Retail lessons passed on by recent gia winners include:
- Successfully creating a distinct image and brand for a store.
- Increasing sales with greater operational efficiencies.
- Achieving effective visual communication with customers.
- Creating interactive in-store promotions that build repeat business.
- Telling a story in via visual merchandising.
- Increasing store traffic without spending more money.
“The Global Innovator Award has really grown in stature and recognition over the past 10 years, and the competition is now even more intense,” says Derek Miller, IHA vice president, international, who manages the program. “All the winners have been very good in the past, but in the last three to four years, there really seems to be a heightening of innovation from the field overall.”
Miller notes that as the award process has matured over the decade, it has become far more challenging to predict who will win because global interest in the program has grown dramatically and submissions have become more sophisticated.
“Guessing who the jury might select as the five global honorees has become almost impossible,” Miller says, “as the vast majority of all gia country winners have elements that make them very likely candidates for the award.”
As the caliber of retailers continues to rise, the awards ceremony and the event itself have been fine-tuned, with a professional production company and a seasoned master of ceremonies at the helm. “Those two elements turned a very nice event in one that is truly world-class,” Miller says.
Over the years, one constant of the program has been noted global retail experts who have offered invaluable time and guidance to contestants. These experts are:
Martin Pegler, who says he has become “addicted” to gia since his involvement began, is a professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York and a leading expert in his field for more than 50 years. The author of more than 70 books on retail design and exhibition, Pegler has been honored multiple times over the years for his visionary leadership and guidance. In 2008, he was presented with an honorary gia award for lifetime achievement.
Wolfgang Gruschwitz is the owner and managing director of Gruschwitz Corp., which offers full-service store design and visual merchandising expertise to retailers across Europe. He serves high profile clients such as ZARA and Burberry. “gia’s development from the beginning until today has been tremendous,” he says. “It has been very rapid growth, to become the big event that we know today. And there will be another peak with the 10-year jubilee in 2010. The rising popularity of the award has led to an increasing competition between the stores and now many shops are eager to be honored.”
Scott Kohno is president and CEO of the Retail Element, an international retail marketing and store design firm with offices around the world. Kohno has worked with Macy’s, Federated, May’s Department Stores, NASDAQ Times Square, MGM Grand and Disney over the past 20 years. “There is still a huge potential for gia,” Kohno says. “Maybe we will even extend the program beyond housewares. Why should an exchange in ideas be reduced to different countries? Different branches as well can sometimes create new ideas for one another.”
Miller says he has been inspired by the cohesion and cooperation between retailers, the three core experts and the IHA over the years. “It’s personally been one of the most rewarding and gratifying projects I’ve ever had the chance to work on,” he says. “The spirit of cooperation is incredibly high behind the scenes. The winners are all so pleased and appreciative…this is especially true for the smaller, family-owned retailers who work so hard for so long.”
For more information on the gia awards and this year’s regional winners, please visit www.housewares.org/gia.
