Exhibitions Any Good?

[razzles]

Hi All
We are thinking about booking a stall at under 5’s & parent show at the end of September (indoors).
Having never done anything like this before, just after some views and other people’s experiences.
It is over 2 days and we are told to expect over 1,00o over the 2 days. There are two characters booked Dora the explorer, and Fifi and Bumble the next day. Its local about a 15 minutes drive for us, and we are told we can leave our over night, as there will be security there.

 

[LASS]

What do you sell?

 

[razzles]

Hi
Sorry for got add products. Organic products for Mother & baby & kids, (some dads products too). Shampoo's bodywashes, baby wipes, nappy sacks, Eco Disposable Nappies, nappy creams, creams, body lotions, toothpaste and other skin care products.
Show is aimed at parents with kids upto 5 years.

 

[Page]

Give it a go or you will never know.

Ensure there are 2 of you there some of the time and the other one can go around a get advise from others who will likley already be doing other events.

Meeting customers will give you feedback especially if make the effort to chat to them. Ask them for ideas and comments. Just like you have with this forum post.

It will be a very very good spend and time investement even if it only tells you that for yourselves this type of thing is not the way to go.

 

[Mister B]

I agree with Page, suck it and see. Unless you try, you will never know or understand the viability of exhibition attendance.

Take the first one as a learning experience and as an opportunity to do some extended market research. If you don't take much money, (which you potentially could,) then write the money off as a marketing experience.

I attend shows five or six times a year and although I have never made a vast profit, I have never failed to break even. More importantly, the attandance at the show has allowed me to undertaken vast amounts of real time invaluable market research

Mister B

 

[serendipitybusiness]

I agree with the guys here. You have a target market there i is worth it for the exposure in the first place, your products should be very popular in the current environment and you could get a nice trade with word of mouth alone.

Make sure you have some propaganda for them to take away and something to draw them into your stall. I did a chocolate fountain stall with my friend when she first set up her chocolate fountain business a few years ago and we were very busy.

She also go a few bookings from it as well.

 

[DanMartin]

Stand and deliver: Tips for exhibiting will be useful.

 

[.Spiralling.]

how much are you being charged for the stand?

When I do MBS shows, we don't bother with the smaller ones (we don't do the massive ones in London, but medium size ones I suppose).

If less than 2000 people come through the doors, we count it as a quiet show. expected footfall of 1000 doesn't seem like enough over two days to make it worthwhile, unless it's very cheap.

How big is the stand and what are you being charged? Is it a shell scheme or 6' table layout (the ones we do are not shell schemes, but you pay for a 6, 12 or 18' space.) If it's the latter, and they're only expecting 1000 visitors over two days I wouldn't suggest you pay any more than £100 for the stand. More than that and you'll end up out of packet. With the best will in the world, even if they get all 1000 (and it's unusual for these shows to get the total amount they "expect") they will not all visit you, of those that do, they will not all buy.

I sound really negative, but I don't mean to be. You just need to make sure that they have priced the stand accordingly, because with only 1000 through the doors over two days, you can expect to be very quiet most of the time (and I say this as someone who tends to have one of the busiest stands at shows).

 

[Write My Site]

I just did my first exhibition and came away with nearly 200 quality leads. Too early to say what the conversions are but it's looking like a very good ROI. The reason for that is that each of my sales is worth hundreds, in some cases thousands of pounds, so I don't need very many of them to make my money back. This could be a sticking point for you: how many lotions and creams do you need to sell to make a profit from the event, and is it likely given the relatively low footfall? If you're selling direct to the consumer I can't see it adding up, to be honest, even if you sell a product to every single person who walks through the door. If you're selling to trade and you come away with a handful orders for thousands of units it's a different story of course.

 

[Rosemary]

I'v done a few shows and found the best way to attact people to your stand is simply to stand out from the rest - have something that will keep the children occupied while talking with mum and dad maybe a free give away. Hand outs and enquiry slips are also a good way of catching the ones that don't hang around and you can call them when the show is over. If you say you will call make sure its withing a couple of days of the show. I'v known many people who have come away with loads of leads and never followed up on them or have left it weeks before they did and the potential customer was lost. Have a go. Remember to wear really comfy shoes because your feet will hurt like hell after two days.