HFPA seminar slated for October

Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 9/24/2001 12:00:00 AM

NEW YORK —

The Home Fashion Products Association (HFPA) will present a seminar on consumer and competitive trends in retailing on Oct. 4, from 7:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. in the Special Events Room of the 225 Fifth Avenue building here. Thomas Rubel, president, Retail Forward, Inc., Columbus, OH, will address the topic.

The session will focus on the consumer and competitive trends in retailing designed to shape the next decade for retailers and consumer marketing companies. The issues of globalization in retailing, alternative channels, deflation, e-business, private label and cost efficiency will be addressed, followed by forecasts of specific trends expected to be of impact to the home furnishings industry. The session will also emphasize some of the ingredients of successful strategies for the coming decade — intimacy, innovation and integration.

Rubel specializes in helping clients change themselves in response to or in anticipation of market and technological change. By focusing on customer expectations and market opportunities, he looks to help companies develop comprehensive and integrated strategies to achieve long-range performance goals. His objective is to tailor and redesign business processes and organizations to improve customer satisfaction, lower costs, improve quality, create greater effectiveness and generate greater profitability.

Rubel is often a featured speaker at industry conventions, including Food Marketing Institute, The National Association of Chain Drug Stores, Grocery Manufacturers of America, International Mass Retailing Association, and the National Association of Convenience Stores. Some of Rubel's recent clients include Procter and Gamble, Pepsi, Sears, Kmart and Gillette.