The British Home Enhancement Trade Association has changed the venue for its upcoming joint open forum for housewares and DIY members because of what it calls "unprecedented demand for places".
Ian Bradley, senior category leader home living for Amazon, will be principal retail guest speaker at the event, which takes place on Wednesday January 23, now at the Regency Hotel, Solihull.

Mr Bradley, whose areas of responsibility include cookware and bakeware, tabletop, kitchen gadgets, laundry and cleaning, bathroom accessories, furniture, lighting and soft furnishing decorative accessories, will be sharing his views on the current market and the opportunities for suppliers.

The general theme of the forum is to highlight how suppliers can protect their brands and add value to their products through a series of initiatives and endorsements. These include registering their products in a design protection scheme (guest speaker, ACID), ensuring that products are tested and meet the current legal standards (Amstel Testing) and how through third party product endorsement (Good Housekeeping) additional brand value can be secured. Finally, Packology will be talking about the use of packaging as an effective tool when taking products to market.