Martha Stewart, founder of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, will headline the Private Label Manufacturers Association’s (PLMA) trade show education program as keynote speaker.
Stewart – one of America’s most recognizable business, food and media personalities – will speak at the PLMA Keynote Breakfast, Nov. 17, during the association’s trade show in Chicago, Nov. 16-18.
Product lines bearing the Martha Stewart name have provided major retail chains with exclusive lifestyle offerings in categories that range from cooking and entertaining to gardening, home renovation, crafts, healthy living, pets and much more, according to the PLMA. “Their success has expanded the concept of store brands, while opening up new possibilities for the private label industry,” the PLMA said in a statement. “Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia today reaches approximately 100 million consumers every month and has a growing retail presence with 8,500 products in thousands of retail locations.”
In addition, the PLMA also announced speakers and topics for a series of seminars during the show that will examine the latest retail trends, industry issues, and the strategies that are driving store brands growth. The PLMA Live! Breakfast on Nov. 18, will feature a presentation by Stephen Mader, senior analyst for Kantar Retail on the topic of digital retailing.
Leading off the PLMA’s seminars on Nov. 16 is Christopher Durham, with his presentation titled “Store Brands are for Everybody.” Durham’s website, My Private Brand, chronicles the growth and expansion of retailer-owned brands internationally and across all retail channels.
Other concurrent seminars pertaining to the food category include “What Your Quality Control Department Isn’t Telling You,” moderated by Jim Wisner, Wisner Retail Marketing; and “Store Brand Organics: Where Value Meets Profit,” moderated by Robert Vosburgh, news director of PLMA Live!
This year’s PLMA show will include more than 2,400 exhibit booths in three halls at Chicago’s Rosemont Convention Center. Exhibiting companies will offer up tens of thousands of products across virtually every food and beverage category – including prepared foods, frozen and refrigerated, ingredients, snacks, gourmet and specialty – while on the nonfood side, exhibitors will feature health and beauty care, over-the-counter pharmaceuticals, vitamins & nutrition, household, kitchen and cleaning products, DIY, and general merchandise.
Among the more than 4,500 visitors who attend the event each year are the leading U.S. supermarkets, drug chains, mass merchandisers, wholesale clubs, convenience and specialty retailers, as well as wholesalers, brokers, importers and others.
