Just back from a much reduced Cevisama, I was greeted by the news that both of the London KBB shows have been cancelled this year. Now it did not make much sense to run two kitchen and bathroom shows within 2 weeks of each other, and there was bound to be some fall out because of it, but combined with the fact that Cevisama was nearly cancelled in December due to lack of commitment, and the number of familiar faces who had not bothered to make the trip from the UK, it did make me think about the state of the industry and what purpose trade shows actually perform.
If you are going to exhibit, there is not much point in doing so, unless you do it properly, which means not much change out of £10,000 even for a small stand by the time the cost of the space, the stand build and the hotel and travel costs for staff are taken into account. For anything larger the bill is obviously proportionately more, so you need to sell an awful lot of tiles, adhesive or bathrooms to cover the cost. What’s more most customers do not actually order at a show, preferring to wait and order at leisure back at the office, meaning it is very difficult to prove that the stand has paid for itself. Nevertheless shows do serve a purpose, although what that is can differ depending on the stage that the company is at in its development. For a young company they can be an invaluable way of making contacts and meeting potential customers in areas where the business is underdeveloped. For the more established firm they serve as a sort of mobile showroom: a convenient way of showing new products to existing customers and reinforcing the brand message and presence in the market place, all of which would often cost more money to do in other ways. However if the clientele is not going to turn up due to the economic situation there is not much point in spending the money on the stand and it is an obvious place to look when making cuts. Ironically this year, people might have been more prepared to attend a UK show as for most people it would mean less time out of the office and crucially in the economic circumstances less expense. However that is now not to be.
