SHOW PREVIEW
NEW OPPORTUNITIES AND SAVINGS AT SPRING FAIR
Ascential Events senior head of sales for Spring Fair, Zoë Bonser tells DIY Week what the 2018 show has on offer for independents
What’s new at the DIY & Home Improvement section at Spring Fair in 2018? With its successful launch in 2017, we are excited to be expanding the DIY & Home Improvement sector into a much larger space at the 2018 show, to enable us to continue working with DIY industry leaders, as well as new exhibitors, to create a high-end showcase for retailers small and large.
In addition to a raft of new exhibitors that will join the show for the first time, we’re excited to welcome Decco as an additional key partner for Spring Fair’s DIY & Home improvement sector. Decco will be exhibiting at the show bringing some of their supplier’s brands, joining the likes of Stax and BIRA. But it’s not just new suppliers and new product launches that retailers can expect from the DIY & Home Improvement sector. Another aspect of ‘newness’ that retailers will find particularly informative from a trend forecasting perspective, will be our freshly-launched interactive feature, The Atelier. For this, we’ll be working with industry-leading trend forecasters and platforms WGSN, Pinterest, One Click Retail and Coloro to give retailers a unique glimpse into what consumers will be demanding over the coming years across in terms of colours, patterns and shapes, which will be particularly key for the DIY sector.
What response did you have to the debut and what learnings have you implemented for this coming year? We received a fantastic response after we launched the DIY & Home Improvement sector at Spring Fair earlier this year. Households are investing in larger-scale improvements and there is a great opportunity for retailers, of all shapes and sizes, to capitalise on
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this trend by stocking a range of tools and hardware products. With other sector-specific shows – like the National DIY Show – not taking place in 2018, there has been huge demand for us to expand the area next year. Even before the National DIY Show’s announcement, we had a large portion of exhibitors rebook on-site at this year’s show, which was really encouraging.
And,
following that news, we have an even more diverse range of exhibitors that will have a presence at the NEC in February.
Many of the industry’s leading brands will be there, including Dulux, Cuprinol, Sikkens, Amtech, Charles Bentley, Barrettine, PlastiKote, A. Perry & Co. and Rolson Tools, plus many more.
Why should independent retailers in the DIY market attend the show? If you’re an independent DIY store, maintaining and growing footfall is likely to be a major challenge in 2018 to keep up with the larger players and the constant rise of e-commerce. As such, it’s clear that independent retailers need to look beyond a traditional range of products by diversifying into new categories to increase footfall and ultimately generate more sales. Spring Fair will enable independent DIY store owners to not only find the latest DIY and home improvement products, but also men’s gifts, greetings cards and houseware items, for example. While other shows tend to focus on one sector, be it gifting, greetings, tableware, home interiors or fashion, Spring Fair has 14 sectors covering all aspects of the gifting sector, providing unrivalled cross buying opportunities.
The beauty of Spring Fair is that it delivers something for everyone and independent retailers can source a huge, eclectic mix of merchandise that will enable them to attract new customers. Another example is the new
Glee concession, which will enable independent stores to identify new garden and outdoor living suppliers, as well as providing an inspirational hub of trends and insights, which smaller retailers will see as an invaluable resource.
For retailers – particularly smaller independents – taking time out of the business can be very hard to do. Why should they make the journey to attend Spring Fair? This is where Spring Fair’s scale really comes into its own. Even if a smaller retailer can only spare one day out of the business to attend a trade show; where better to go than Spring Fair where they can see, touch and feel new product launches from thousands of UK and international brands, and more importantly meet potential new business contacts face-to-face?
It’s also a great chance to
source inspiration for current and future trends, which is arguably more important for independent retailers as they are competing against the larger players and e-tailers, not to mention challenging and changeable economic conditions. The show also runs various business workshops and Meet The Expert sessions, so smaller businesses can get tailored advice that will give them useful insights. From a benefit perspective, in addition to the exposure to the latest product launches and trend insights that will keep independents on the front foot, our new ‘Spring Fair Voucher’ initiative offers retailers £100 off an order of £500 or more when they open an account with a new supplier at the show. The voucher can be used with up to 10 participating exhibitors and is only valid at Spring Fair 2018, thus offering a potential saving of £1,000. So far we’ve seen a great initial response from exhibitors who are keen to get involved and
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accept the vouchers – we expect more and more to sign up in the coming weeks.
In terms of ease and convenience, Spring Fair is directly accessible from Birmingham International’s train station and airport, so those on a tight schedule can literally walk straight into the exhibition halls and hit the ground running. The Spring Fair website also provides planning tools to ensure no time is lost at the show.
Spring Fair 2018 will take place February 4-8, at NEC Birmingham. For more information visit
www.springfair.com
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