Anyone exhibit at The Total Store Expo?

tacofries

Hi all,

I have the opportunity to exhibit at the event in August. Has anyone attended it, or even better exhibited at it before??

Taco

Gloomtastic!

I’d never heard of it but it looks like it’s a biggie.

Are you ready for a huge worldwide stage at this point in your company’s development? Is your patent tight enough to protect it from copiers and how would you find out that it is being copied and marketed on the other side of the world? Have you got distribution contracts for worldwide territories in place? Is your cashflow able to withstand a huge influx of orders but a 90/120 day delay for payment?

They were my first thoughts on reading your post. If you’re still sure it’s right, you need to start ‘working the show’ now.

How are you going to tell retailers/distributors that you’re exhibiting there? What deals are you going to put in place to get business at the show. You’ll make loads of contacts but you need make the show pay for itself. Have you got enough manpower to have someone man the stand constantly and walk the show talking to other exhibitors? Are you going to bring all your promotional material with you or are you going to have it printed there and delivered? (A friend was exhibiting in New York years ago. It was cheaper to ship all his kit from the UK to the basement of the exhibition centre than it was to move it from the basement to his stand - do unions/mafia still have a hold in the big US cities? - check it out beforehand).

pedroeibar1

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

Are you ready for a huge worldwide stage at this point in your company’s development?

+1 on Gloom's post.
I’ve not done Total Store but have exhibited at many big B2B exhibitions in the US – Comdex, various industry fairs/conventions (including an annual one in the Boston Con. Center.), Atlanta, New York Armory, San Fran.,etc. I was based in NYC but the logistics are not much different, freight can still go missing. Never got much business at them, saw it as getting our name out there although they did generate a few leads. In sales return they did not pay, but the advertising/profile value was considerable; given the size of our business that was acceptable, but I would query the value for a small operation. Have you done any fairs here? Over 50’s in RDS?
We never had a bribe problem / issues with stands, always sent people out in advance to set it up – used local hired equipment/tables and staff took care of our branded stuff (heavy gear usually shipped in advance, posters etc in luggage). Be aware that prior exhibitors always get best choice of location, newbies are down the list. Location / traffic flow is important. Stand security can be an issue so don’t leave valuables about. You also need freebie branded hand-outs/trinkets. Pens, key-fobs, etc are minimum and clichéd. We used a card laminator – visitor gave two business cards, we laminated one as a luggage tag and kept the other for marketing/follow-up. Remember that voltage and Hz over there are different so you need to have compatible equipment. If you do visit other stands keep it very brief and at end of day, they are there to sell and do not welcome other exhibition visitors.
All that said, I cannot see how it could be cost justified in your case. IMO it is too soon in your business cycle to look at something like this. There also is a marketing conflict – you are trying to find a distributor/reseller but you have your own on-line business. Also, you have a single product, so the marketing cost per product is huge. (It would be like a guy with one room Airbnb taking a stand at a tourism convention and being next to the Hyatt/Holiday Inn, etc.) Instead I suggest that you spend time/money on trying to break into QVC and/or similar shopping networks. Have you spoken with EI?
In your position I would work on getting other products to launch stage before I would consider an international exhibition.

tacofries

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

I’d never heard of it but it looks like it’s a biggie.

Are you ready for a huge worldwide stage at this point in your company’s development? Is your patent tight enough to protect it from copiers and how would you find out that it is being copied and marketed on the other side of the world? Have you got distribution contracts for worldwide territories in place? Is your cashflow able to withstand a huge influx of orders but a 90/120 day delay for payment?

The quicker I can expand the less issue I will have with imitators so not too worried about IP. We have also been on show to the world for a few months already and by August everyone is going to know about us. I'm more worried about how it will sell on a retail shelf as it will be pretty reliant on product packaging. No distribution contracts for retailers but the hope was to exhibit, see who is interested and take it from there. Large orders are no problem.

Pedro, we will be getting the stand for free so not to much to worry about on the financial side of it. Regarding conflict of interest, its pretty common to sell in both retail, on your own website and also Amazon so it shouldn't be a major sticking point. I think will help retailers buy as it shows market validation. Did the Ideal Home Show twice and Bloom next week so have a good setup and fair idea how these things work. In saying that, this is a bigger event and it is aimed at retailers rather than end customer.

Debating if I'm too early or if it is too good of an opportunity to miss.