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CHICAGO, March 12, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The International Home + Housewares Show and the International Housewares Association (IHA), the global sponsors and organizers of the IHA Global Innovation Awards (gia) program, today announced the 2018 gia Global Honorees for Retail Excellence. The Global Honorees are:

The global gia jury, consisting of four retail/visual merchandising experts and seven editors and publishers of co-sponsoring housewares trade publications from around the world, selected the gia Global Honorees from the winners previously chosen in their respective countries by the national gia sponsors. In addition, the Martin M. Pegler Award for Excellence in Visual Merchandising was awarded to Harrods of the United Kingdom and the gia Digital Commerce Award for Excellence in Online Retailing was awarded to Paper Plane of New Zealand.

The gia program was created by IHA and International Home + Housewares Show to foster innovation and excellence in home and housewares retailing throughout the world. Since the launch of gia in 2000, there have been over 400 gia retail award winners, from 47 countries on six continents.

The competition is structured on a two-tier level, national and global, evaluating retailers within the following categories:

• Overall mission statement, vision and strategy
• Store design and layout
• Visual merchandising, displays and window displays
• Marketing, advertising and promotions
• Customer service and staff training
• Innovation

Co-sponsoring the country-specific gia award programs with IHA are housewares trade publications worldwide, which sponsor national gia programs in their respective countries. This year, 27 national gia winners from 26 countries were selected by co-sponsoring trade publications with targeted distribution in over 50 countries on five continents. All winners were automatically entered in the global competition at the International Home + Housewares Show in Chicago, where the global jury selected the final gia Global Honorees.

Both gia national winners and Global Honorees are recognized and prominently featured at the International Home + Housewares Show. A festive gia awards dinner was held at the Radisson Blu Aqua Hotel. In addition, introducing the national gia winners to visitors and exhibitors of the International Home + Housewares Show, there is a special gia display in the Hall of Global Innovation, in the Lakeside Center Lobby, and large gia winner banners span the walkway connecting the Lakeside Center to the Grand Concourse.

SOURCE International Housewares Association