ERA's New Product Hot Spot Heats Up

Product. Product. Product. This has been the main theme on everyone's mind in and around ERA these past few months--and for some it has been this way for the past eight years. The Electronic Retailing Association launched its Invention Showcase in 1999 to provide inventors with a forum to understand the invention process and learn firsthand how to turn their dreams into a marketable, direct-response reality.

Hundreds of inventors have participated, and this year promises to deliver a whole new assortment of products. Michael Planit is chair of the showcase, which has been re-named the New Product Hot Spot (NPHS). Planit has more than 15 years of experience in the field of product development and marketing with a strong passion for inventors.

This year, NPHS will showcase a record number of products and will be a true focal point at the Annual Convention, centered in the middle of the trade show floor. "The past foundation that has been built has provided a terrific forum for introducing the Hot Spot concept to ERA members, but it is now our goal to provide a well-diversified platform for inventors, entrepreneurs and small companies alike to present new, innovative products to our industry," says Planit. "Our entire industry is focused around product, but not just any product, product that is innovative, fresh and which offers great value to the marketplace."

Several of these original products have been handpicked from the INPEX show in Pittsburgh. Others have been submitted directly to ERA, with applications reviewed by experts on the NPHS Qualifying Team to ensure that only the highest-quality products are accepted into this elite area.

ALL ABOUT THE INVENTOR
This venue provides the opportunity of a lifetime for individuals to showcase their wares in front of the biggest companies in a $330-billion-a-year industry, while at the same time providing an opportunity for ERA service providers, marketers and retailers to be involved with great new products. Nowhere else can an inventor receive such a thorough education on how an industry as complicated as direct response works--on how to pitch their products and get results. "There are very few inventor platforms that provide a pure opportunity to present product," says Planit. "Most platforms that exist for inventors extract a share of the economic gain of the inventor or entrepreneur in the success of their product; ERA is the only organization that provides a pure venue, a truly mutually beneficial arena for all involved."

From inventors to service providers to the marketers themselves, everyone who attends the Annual Convention will have product on their minds and now with the New Product Hot Spot, it's all within their convenient reach as well.

Sheridan Malphurs heads ERA's retailer member relations. She can be reached at (703) 841-8284, or via e-mail at smalphurs@retailing.org.