Exhibitions a golden opportunity to increase business

In Johannesburg and Pretoria, shows and expos are the order of the day. The Johannesburg Easter Festival, which kicked off on 3 April 2009, is being held until 13 April at Nasrec, and the Rand Easter Show was held at the show grounds between 21 March and today, 6 April.

The Rand Easter Show expected more than 500,000 visitors and about 700 exhibitors from Africa.

Specialised expos are also taking centre stage, with the Wedding Expo on at the weekend, 4 - 5 April, at the Coca-Cola Dome at Northgate in Johannesburg.

The Homemakers' Expo is moving around the country and was held in Pretoria at the weekend with 250 exhibitors.

Expectant parents can visit the Baba Indaba over the course of the year, and gardeners were in attendance at Gardenex during the last weekend of last month.

Chris Gilmour, an analyst with Absa Investments, said expos could be a useful way to bolster sales.

People attended expos as they were looking for bargains, he said, although they might not always find these.

But although shows have the potential to bolster sales, the venue needs to be selected very carefully and there should be a draw card — such as a competition.

Gilmour said that there was a certain buying frenzy at shows, which could aid trading.

Digital Life 2009, during the last weekend of March, showcased the latest in consumer technology, digital products and services.

Greg Hirsch, Dion Wired GM, said the expo, based on sales, “was well ahead of our projections”.

“If you take the space of our stand into account, it traded better than a store would trade.”

The outlet, which exhibited for the first time, said that Apple computers, liquid crystal display televisions, computer hard drives and notebook computers sold very well.

“We estimate that about 7500 people visited our stand and the overall exposure that Dion Wired received from the expo was excellent,” Hirsch said.

Makro, which joined forces with Fujitsu, said trading was acceptable compared with in-store sales. Derick Kalan, Makro general merchandise director, said its stand had exhibited laptops, hard drives, and computer accessories.

“Relative to what sells in-store, trading was acceptable. However, our sense was that given the fact that this exhibition had a specific target audience, we felt that trading was not maximised.”

Makro, which exhibited at the show for the first time, said it would consider doing so again, but would use this year's experience as a basis.

Source: Business Day

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