Trade show news

Why did the show not work?

It was very very tempting to write a rosy coloured review of this year’s SASGAM Show and to tell people it wasn’t really that bad.

After all, the exhibitors went to a lot of trouble and spent a lot of money to design spectacular stands, many had to go to innovative lengths to get new ranges past customs in time for the show; there were plenty of interest to see and some visitors travlled from all over the country to attend.

But, that would not be fair.

Not fair to the exhibitors who expected to write orders to cover costs. Not fair to the visitors who expected to write orders for stock that would justify the cost of being away from their stores for the day. And certainly not fair to the SA sport and outdoor industry, as that will give the impression that this is the best it can offer.

It will furthermore fuel myths that are certainly not true:

• Myth #1: There are no more independent retailers left to attend shows;
• Myth #2: Retailers are not interested in attending trade shows;
• Myth #3: The SASGAM Show was always quiet and trade shows are dying worldwide

We can safely stick our necks out and call these fallacies, because two industry trade shows, held in the same city over the same weekend, as well as statistics from previous SASGAM and other shows, back us up.

Myth #1: No independents

There are about 3 500 independent retail buyers on the Sports Trader mailing list. More than 2 000 of them are in outlying areas, where they will not often see brand representatives or sales agents ... they therefore have an excellent reason for visiting a trade show. Many independents in the main centres have closed — but many more opened in outlying areas.

Myth #2: No retail interest

SAFTAD (SA Fishing Tackle Agents and Distributors), held a show for fishing tackle traders over the same weekend at the Eskom Convention Centre. There was such a demand for space that they had to accommodate exhibitors in aisles and foyers and there were so many retail visitors, that some complained about the crush on the Sunday.

And yet, this show had no official organiser — the show is organised by a committee consisting of exhibitors — and no advertising is done, except through information published in Sports Trader and by issuing invitations to retailer customers.

It got a life of its own over the past 7 years and just grew and grew, because every fishing tackle distributor wants to be at a show where buyers from more than 200 fishing tackle outlets spend at least one, often two to three days, to place orders with the 41 exhibitors (full report in Tackle Trader).

Afterwards, several exhibitors held mini-shows in other provinces, which were also well attended.

The SASGAM Show was indeed visited by buyers from more retail outlets than the fishing show — representatives from 350 stores — but most visitors to SASGAM only wanted to see a specific category of exhibitor.

It is also significant that 63 of the SAFTAD show retail visitors were general sport and outdoor traders who did not bother to visit the SASGAM Show. Representatives from 37 sport and outdoor stores travelled from areas outside Gauteng — some so far as Namibia, Zimbabwe, KwaZulu-Natal, Western Cape, the Northern Province, Northwest and Free State — yet, they did not deem it worthwhile to visit the SASGAM show.

The fishing show started a day after the SASGAM show and news travels fast in the industry. These retailers therefore preferred to spend all their time placing fishing tackle orders.

It has become a tradition that the Johannesburg leg of the countrywide shows of Durban distributor, Akals, are held over the same weekend as the SAFTAD tackle show. As before, the show was packed with retailers viewing their new cycle, outdoor and fishing ranges ... many whom also visited the SAFTAD Show, but not SASGAM.

Why visit one, not the other?

Retailers travel across the country to visit trade shows — often at considerable cost if accommodation and travel costs for several buyers have to be paid — because it offers the chance to see most distributors of certain equipment categories and compare products

Visitors to the fishing show could expect to place orders on 41 stands, because all exhibitors showed fishing-related products.

SASGAM visitors could see:

• Apparel & footwear 17 stands (32%)
• Sport exhibits 10 stands (30%)
• Overseas exhibits 16 stands (30%)
• Outdoor exhibits 4 stands (7%)
• Store design 1 stand (1%)

In other words, although there were 54 exhibitors, visitors interested in seeing one specific category would, for instance, have only 17 exhibitors to visit.

When one looks at what the visitors expected to see, and compare it the number of exhibitors, reasons for the visitor dissatisfaction becomes clear — despite some excellent exhibits.