ASR Cancels Its European Show

Action sports retailer show decides European expansion must wait

By Heidi Genoist -- Tradeshow Week, 11/22/2004

VNU Expositions' action sports apparel and accessories division, ASR, decided earlier this month to cancel its two-year-old European show. ASR blamed ongoing difficulties with timing and location, but insisted it hasn't given up on Europe entirely.

ASR Europe debuted in Anglet, France, in July 2003 with about 90 exhibitors occupying 3,000 net square meters (32,292 net square feet) and drawing 1,200 retailers. This year it grew to 120 exhibitors in 3,800 sq. m. (40,903 net sq. ft.), pulling in 2,644 buyers.

"It was a good jump, but our customers were still saying we needed stronger retailer attendance," said Kevin Flanagan, ASR group show director. "There were inconsistencies. For instance, it was in France, but we didn't have all the major French brands there."

ASR took an interest in the underserved European market a few years ago when EuroSIMA, the European branch of the Surf Industry Manufacturers Assn., started shopping around for a company to produce a tradeshow at the beginning of its buying cycle. EuroSIMA previously had been doing a festival-like event following the traditional ordering season.

"We looked at the market and evaluated it, and thought we could go in and do a tradeshow at the beginning of the season focusing on Southern Europe and unite that market, which had been fragmented in the past," explained Flanagan.

But a few obstacles in the way of this goal turned out to be insurmountable — at least for now.

According to Flanagan, the European action sports market is divided between the very large chains and very small boutiques that often are open only seasonally — unlike the U.S. market, which has places like mall specialty stores somewhere in between.

Add to that the European vacation season, with people taking as much as a month off at a time during July and August. The combination created a timing problem.

"The show had to be either before or after the holiday, in order to avoid holding it when everyone's gone," said Flanagan. "We elected to go before, which favored the larger exhibitors, who could get their lines ready earlier. But it was difficult for the little guys to be ready in time, so they were playing catch-up."

Location was a problem as well. The show took place on the beach outside Anglet, meaning tents had to be set up and an entire temporary infrastructure — everything from electricity to toilets — had to be created.

And while ASR acknowledged the Basque Coast is "the European action sports capital," it also admitted that the site favored the surf sector over skate and urban youth culture segments.

However, EuroSIMA couldn't endorse a show in any location outside Anglet because of an outside agreement.

Staying put left ASR with limited or no-growth potential. Besides being time-consuming and tricky to set up, Flanagan said, the beach location was already maxed out by this year.

The mounting problems canceled out the benefits of moving into the European market — but Flanagan is quick to point out that he and VNU still see the potential there.

For one thing, about 70 percent of the show's customers were crossover brands between Europe and the United States. Their increased awareness of the European market should help ASR's three American shows: spring and summer shows in San Diego and a fall show in Huntington Beach, Calif.

Dick Baker, CEO of Ocean Pacific and president of the U.S. SIMA, said all the groups involved in the venture felt there was a need for the show, but the timing and location hurdles proved too high to clear.

SIMA is now considering two separate meetings, he said: a marketing event to support the board sports industry, and an actual tradeshow to draw retailers from all around Europe.

The organization is now considering Barcelona as a possible destination for future shows.

"ISPO (an annual sporting goods trade fair in Munich) does a good job, but we all felt there was a need for a board sport show to feature all the key brands, and we still do ... It's now in the hands of EuroSIMA," Baker said.

"The (European) market was not ready to unify, and we hoped that ASR would be the catalyst for that," noted Flanagan. "But we'll look at other solutions like regional shows or partnering with other shows. We'll take what we've learned and apply it elsewhere when the market is ready."