Trade Shows: Do
They Really Work?
Tradeshow Week Databook, 1999
reports 4,503 exhibitions and conventions overall last year generated
$100 billion in annual direct spending. Trade show exhibitors in 1998
spent just over $49,000,000,000 (annual projected growth rate through
2,000 of 7%). 123 million people will attend a tradeshow this year.
-- Leading trade show exhibitions, by SIC
(number of shows annually): Medical and Health Care (458), Computer
& Computer Applications (401), Home Furnishings & Interior
Design (300), Sporting Goods & Recreation (278), Education (264),
Building & Construction (238).
-- Trade shows serve as "the most useful source of
purchasing information" by business decision makers/buyers,
according to a Center for Exhibition Industry Research survey 91% of
respondents said that trade shows are the "most useful" source
of buying information, ahead of 12 other leading sales and marketing
tools, such as directories, news articles, direct selling, ads, etc.
--Trade shows offer captive audiences that
are primed to buy: 86% of show attendees called the shots or influenced
buying, 85% had not been called on by a salesperson before the show, 75%
left the show with at least one purchase (Tradeshow
Week’s 1999 Databook).
--Closing a
sale with an exhibition lead costs an average of $625 and takes
1.3 follow up calls, compared with the average $1,117 cost and 3.7 phone
calls needed to close a sale otherwise.
(Data
& Strategies Group, Inc.)
--Exhibition industry trends:
. Exclusive permanent company showrooms are
expanding (Nike, Sony)
--"Virtual shows" are emerging,
with attendees visiting exhibitions via the World Wide Web
--Largest single growth segment in the
exhibition industry is the computer and computer-related field.
. Techno-marketing is bringing new special
effects to the exhibit industry such as:
-
Robots – adult size state-of-the-art,
multi-lingual robotic personalities
-
Live, interactive holographic projections
-
Water screen projections
-
Floating light spheres
-
360-degree video/audio signs (4’ to 6’ in
dimension)
-
Remote flying saucers
-
Exhibitor’s active Internet sites projected
on exhibit booth large screens
--"Vertical buying teams",
representing management and employees, meeting at shows to make
on-the-spot group buying decisions.
--As vendors seek more direct exposure to buying prospects,
versatile exhibits and displays with
dramatic
graphics are expanding into a variety of such alternative sites as
airports, office building lobbies, job fairs, transportation terminals,
information kiosks and company consumer display centers.
Sources:
Center for Exhibition Industry Research, "1997 Guide to Exhibition
Marketing & Management, 2nd Edition"
Tradeshow Week Databook, 1999
Data & Strategies Group Inc.,
Framingham, Mass.
Back
to "Features" Menu |
Dick Wheeler
Professional
Exhibits & Graphics
1143 W. North Market Blvd. Ste 6
Sacramento, CA 95834
(916) 928-9800
website: www.proexhibits.com
email: purchasers2@earthlink.net
Associated articles:
Tradeshows: A Picture is Worth More
Tradeshows:
Trade
Shows: Attention-Getting Design is Key to Successful Exhibit
Follow-Up Techniques That Make Sales Soar
Why
is it So Hard To Buy?
Would
You Like Fries With That?
Make Your Advertising
Message Stand Out With Original
Stock
Photography -- Only $30 per single image -- $95 for panoramas.
Back
to "Features" Menu |
