High Point Market Exhibitors: Are Your Samples Ready?
High Point Market brings thousands of home furnishings professionals together to discover products, meet brands and find inspiration for upcoming projects. For exhibitors, those few days represent an enormous opportunity to get new collections in front of interior designers, retailers, buyers and other industry professionals.
But what happens after everyone goes home?
The impression your showroom makes at Market is important. Giving designers and buyers something useful to take back to their offices can help that impression last much longer.
That is where a great sampling program comes in.
Turn a Great Market Introduction Into a Lasting Connection
High Point Market moves fast. Designers may visit dozens of showrooms, discover hundreds of products and meet more vendors than they can realistically remember once Market is over.
Physical samples give your products another opportunity to stand out.
Whether you manufacture textiles, wallcoverings, upholstery materials, rugs or other products where color, texture and material matter, a professionally produced sample gives designers a tangible reference they can revisit when specifying products for a future project.
A sample isn't simply a miniature version of your product. It can become part of a designer's working material library.
That means the conversation that started in High Point can continue months later when the right project comes along.
Make Your Materials Easy to Specify
Interior designers often need more than a photograph before recommending a material to a client.
They may need to see the true color under different lighting, feel the texture, compare multiple options or place materials alongside other finishes being considered for a space.
Well-designed sampling tools make that process easier.
Depending on your product line, that might include:
Swatch cards
Memo samples
Chain or ring sets
Hanging samples
Ring pages
Waterfall samples
Wallcovering samples
Custom sample presentations
The right format depends on how your customers evaluate and specify your products.
The goal is the same: make it as easy as possible for someone who likes your product at Market to confidently use it on a real project later.
Don't Let Sample Fulfillment Become the Bottleneck
Creating an effective sample program is only part of the equation.
You also need a reliable way to get those samples into customers' hands.
Market can generate new relationships with designers, retailers and other potential customers from across the country. If those contacts begin requesting samples after the show, brands need a system that can keep up.
Outsourcing sample fulfillment can help simplify that process by handling inventory, assembly and shipment without requiring your internal team to manage every request individually.
For growing brands, that makes it much easier to turn increased interest from events like High Point Market into an ongoing sampling program.
Your Samples Represent Your Brand
Designers pay attention to details.
The quality of the sample presentation, printing, labeling and packaging all contribute to the impression someone has of your company.
A well-made sample communicates that the same level of care extends to the product it represents.
That doesn't mean every sample needs elaborate packaging. Often, the best sampling programs are simply organized, durable, easy to understand and designed around how the customer will actually use them.
Before Market, consider looking at your samples from the perspective of someone discovering your company for the first time.
Can they immediately identify the product?
Is the collection information easy to understand?
Can they quickly find additional colors or options?
Is it obvious how to order or request additional materials?
Will the sample survive being carried around, shipped and stored in a busy design library?
If not, it may be time for an update.
Meeting Acme Sample During High Point Market
Acme Sample has been part of the High Point, North Carolina community for decades, producing custom sampling solutions for companies throughout the home furnishings and materials industries.
Our team works with brands to develop swatch cards, memo samples, hanging samples, waterfall samples, wallcovering samples, commercial printing and complete sample fulfillment programs.
If you're coming to High Point Market this fall, it's a perfect time to start thinking about what happens to your products after Market ends.
A great showroom can introduce your collection.
A great sample can help keep it in front of designers long after they leave High Point.
Attending High Point Market and interested in improving your sampling program? Connect with Acme Sample to discuss your current samples, upcoming collections or fulfillment needs.
