SAINT-LAURENT, QUEBEC – Showing their commitment to growing their businesses, Cantrex Nationwide members joined their U.S. counterparts, Nationwide Marketing Group, recently at Virtual PrimeTime, held from March 16-18th.
During the three-day all-digital event, more than 2,500 attendees from Canada and the U.S. logged into the Virtual PrimeTime platform, including more than 1,400 representatives from over 1,100 member companies across North America.
The event provided independent retailers with more than 100 free-to-attend educational sessions addressing an array of retail business areas. Tracks included Digital Marketing, Social Media, In-store Marketing, Leadership, Emerging Opportunities, Mattress University and Product training, to name just a few.
In addition, the PrimeTime Expo provided valuable opportunities to connect to various business partners in the appliance, furniture, bedding, consumer electronics, outdoor and business service categories. Independent retailers explored new vendors and product opportunities for their businesses, despite limited promotional offers for Canadian members, as many vendors are still experiencing inventory shortages and delays.
During Virtual PrimeTime, the Cantrex senior management team took the opportunity to provide members with an overview of the global and the Canadian economic outlook, to highlight several of the major trends shaping their retail environment and give an update on the solid state of Cantrex and its various industry categories.
Cantrex Independent retailers have consistently shown how agile they are in reacting to the measures put in place during the pandemic, as consumer spending spiked for household, entertainment and outdoor products in addition to a marked shifted to a Buy Local mindset.
Investments in education and the group’s digital resources paid off for members over the past 12 months as members optimized their digital marketing programs through Cantrex
Marketing Services and attended free webinars throughout the year on strategies to increase their online presence. A successful Think Local, Shop Local, Buy Local awareness campaign on social media was initiated by Cantrex to support independent retailers during the busy 2020 holiday season.
It is almost certain that the investments made in digital marketing will continue to pay off for retailers as a strong awareness will benefit both online and physical locations in both the short- and long-term.
Cantrex will continue its focus on growing their members’ online presence in 2021 and ensure that they have a strong Omnichannel solution in place to create an integrated customer experience – key to further success.
As digital marketing continues to drive business, sessions by industry experts, Patrick Tam from Google and Rob White, Nationwide’s VP of Marketing explained how understanding and winning over the digital shopper has a huge impact on independent retailers’ growth potential.
Bridget Brennan, the world’s leading expert on the women’s growth market, provided valuable insights on business growth with the increasingly important market of women shoppers and shared a number of strategies and best practices that retailers can use to increase their competitive edge, several of which retailers could be put in place almost immediately.
On the supply chain side, Cantrex continues to work relentlessly with it major vendor-partners to ensure a smooth and timely flow of inventory to fulfill both back orders and new orders in members’ stores. Cantrex will continue to enhance and expand its exclusive programs in 2021 giving members the competitive advantage in their markets.
Virtual events have allowed retailers, vendors and industry leaders to remain connected during the pandemic, but without hesitation, many have mentioned that they look forward to returning to in-person events when it will be possible again. This August, Nationwide PrimeTime aims to return to an in-person format in Nashville, Tennessee. In Canada, the in-person event will resume in 2022. However, a second Cantrex PrimeTime virtual event is being planned for its Canadian members this Fall. Details will be made available on www.cantrexprimetime.ca in the coming months.
About Cantrex Nationwide
For over 60 years, Cantrex Nationwide has been working with independent Canadian retailers in the appliance, consumer electronics, furniture, bedding, photography, floor covering, home décor and outdoor categories, helping them grow their businesses in an ever-changing marketplace. With more than 1,000 retail outlets in Canada, Cantrex Nationwide members produce an estimated $2.5 billion in annual retail sales. Together, with its parent company, U.S.-based Nationwide Marketing Group, we are the largest buying and marketing group of its kind in North America. We provide our members with stronger buying power and an extensive array of advertising, digital marketing, educational, financial programs and services designed around current retail trends. More information is available at www.cantrex.com
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