AVB and its affiliates to convene next week in Las Vegas
By Alan Wolf, YSN
Talk about a full house.
The $24 billion BrandSource buying co-op will gather its forces next week in Las Vegas for the 2023 Summit, bringing members, vendors and buying group affiliates together for a five-day deep dive into independent retailing.
Joining BrandSource’s independent appliance, home furnishings and consumer tech dealers will be members and staff from ProSource, the nation’s leading CE specialty group; Mega Group BrandSource Canada, AVB’s partners to the north; and two friends from back East: the New England Appliance Group (NEAG) and Intercounty Appliance Corp. (IAC), the cooperative buying, warehousing and marketing organizations.
All will hold court at the Caesars Forum Conference Center, a short stroll from host hotels Harrah’s and Flamingo Las Vegas.
During the course of the annual show, members will attend regional and national-level strategy sessions, garner marketplace and industry insights, shop the newest products off the factory line, share their own business challenges and successes and, as this year’s Summit theme suggests, “Plug In” to AVB’s newest retail tools and innovations.
The action kicks off this Sunday with a full regimen of vendor trainings by such brands as Whirlpool, GE, LG, Electrolux, Tempur Sealy and Serta, and continues on Monday when AVB CEO Jim Ristow presents his State of the Union Address. Attendees will also have their pick of educational seminars covering every retail discipline from marketing and service to digital technology and HR, plus category-focused sessions on furniture, bedding and luxury appliances.
And speaking of products, dealers will get their first crack at deeply discounted show specials during the traditional Monday night Stampede, and can peruse a wide panoply of appliances, bedding and CE at show floor EXPO, which runs all day Tuesday and resumes Wednesday morning.
Along the way, members will attend regional and affiliate meetings, special town halls for home furnishings and self-servicing dealers, and a Women in Business breakfast that celebrates the accomplishments and impact of the industry’s females.
New to this year’s Summit and running concurrent with the show is the inaugural Institute of Service Management (ISM), a 10-hour course for service department managers that will explore the strategic, tactical and practical elements of running an appliance repair operation — and which will earn participants and their companies BrandSource service certification.
Of course, all work and no play is a no-no in Las Vegas, and the 2023 Summit offers plenty of opportunities for socializing and networking, from the Sunday night Welcome Reception and First-Time Attendees Meet & Greet, to Tuesday’s ISM Cocktail Reception and Young Professionals Icebreaker at Icebar on the LINQ Promenade.
For more information, including agendas and last-minute registration, visit AVBevents.com.
YSN publisher AVB BrandSource is the nation’s largest merchandising and marketing co-op for independent appliance, mattress, furniture and CE dealers.
