gia Global Honorees Named at IH+HS

The International Home + Housewares Show and the International Housewares Association (IHA), the global sponsors and organizers of the Global Innovation Award (gia) program, announced the 2013-2014 gia global honorees. 

The global honorees are: TheSuperCool - Australia www.thesupercool.com; K&Ö HOME - Austria www.go-home.at; Merci - France www.merci-merci.com; Galleria Fiaba – Italy; Kookwinkel Bianca Bonte - The Netherlands www.biancabonte.nl; and Lakeland - United Kingdomwww.lakeland.co.uk

The global gia jury, consisting of four retail/visual merchandising experts and seven editors and publishers of co-sponsoring housewares trade publications from around the world, selected the gia global honorees from the winners previously chosen in their respective countries by the 

national gia sponsors. In addition, the Martin M. Pegler Award for Excellence in Visual Merchandising was awarded to LERCHE design – Denmark www.lerchedesign.dk.

gia was created in 1999, with the objective of fostering innovation and excellence in housewares retailing throughout the world and is the most recognized, high-profile awards program for homegoods retailers around the globe. The competition is structured on a two-tier level, national and global, evaluating retailers within the following categories: Overall mission statement, vision and strategy; store design and layout; visual merchandising, displays and window displays; marketing, advertising and promotions; customer service and staff training; and innovation.

Co-sponsoring the country-specific gia award programs with IHA are housewares trade publications worldwide, which sponsor national gia programs in their respective countries. This year, 23 national gia winners from 22 countries were selected by co-sponsoring trade publications with targeted distribution in more than 30 countries on five continents. 

All winners were automatically entered the global competition at the International Home + Housewares Show in Chicago, where the global jury selected the final gia global honorees.