Totally Show - article submitted by Camilla Hair Re-moulding retailing for the digital age is key to maintaining sales in locally-based stores. Visitors to Totally DIY & Tools 2017, taking place at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry from 14-15 February, will find a host of innovative products plus digital and other forms of marketing support available from suppliers. Additionally, BHETA will again host its Innovation Zone at the show. “As a nation


we’re an inventive lot,” says BHETA DIY Sector Director Paul Grinsell, “None more so than product innovators in our sector, who strive to come up with saleable answers for day-to-day problems. Bringing those ideas to market can be a difficult journey. In the BHETA Innovation Zone, we give inventors and fledgling companies a platform to talk to potential manufacturers and retailers.” The zone also gives retailers a glimpse of future profitable sales. The winner of last year’s BHETA Best New Product


award, Stuart Saunders at Tileution with his ‘Peel then Stick’ tile adhesive product, was once on BBC TV’s ‘Dragon’s Den’, but has found that winning the BHETA award has taken his business ambitions to the next level. BHETA’s Paul Grinsell reinforces the supportive nature of the award: “Ours is not a ‘Dragon’s Den’ approach. We’re here to encourage and foster product development and good business for the next evolution of entrepreneurs.” New exhibitors, new technologies Amongst the new exhibitors at the 2017 Totally show are


Pryor Marking, with the latest in product marking tools. “Our firm started in Sheffield in 1849 marking cutlery,” says sales director Alastair Morris. “ Our marking technologies are now used in industries at home and abroad, including aerospace and the automotive sector. We're bringing our hand-held marking tools to the show, which range upwards from a £10 hand stamp to the latest technology in laser marking and engraving. “Our hand-held kits can be used by manufacturers for part-number or security number marking, or by merchants and retailers to stamp their brand details against


theft and fraud. Merchants can also use the date and number marking kit to offer a security marking service to their customers,” Pryor’s Alastair Morris adds. Pryor Marking


offer a range of videos on their YouTube Channel which retailers can link to or embed on their own websites. According to figures featured by inbound marketing specialists HubSpot, the inclusion of video on your website’s landing page can increase sales


conversion by 80%, and some 64% of consumers are more likely to purchase a product after viewing a video. At Totally DIY & Tools, as a dedicated trade-only show, visitors can take time to discuss video and wider marketing needs with their suppliers. One-touch retailing Viewing product videos on mobiles prior to purchase is


part of the ‘one touch retailing’ trend identified by analysts Retail Economics in their whitepaper on ‘Ten Trends that are changing the landscape of the UK retail sector’. In response, many Totally exhibitors are now offering product videos, including Draper Tools, SnapitScrew and Tite-Fix, who showed at Totally for the first time in 2016 and are returning for 2017. The demonstration videos available on the Tite-Fix website


illustrate their approach to product development, as outlined by their strategist Holly Wilkinson: “We develop our products by understanding the problems that woodworkers have and developing precise products to overcome those problems.” Visually demonstrating the advantages of a product is a


central facet of retailing all kinds of products, agrees returning Totally exhibitor SnappitScrew: “In line with the video age, we’re supporting retailers through videos on our YouTube channel that they can stream direct to their own websites. We also have a stockist locator on our website to make that


essential commercial connection between retailer and consumer,” says SnapitScrew’s director Stephen Linnecar. Long-standing Totally exhibitor Draper Tools also uses video to support


10 ToolBUSINESS+HIRE


www.toolbusiness.co.uk


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