Gift Shows Put Brakes On Third-quarter Growth

It looks like Santa and his reindeer won't be arriving early for show managers this year, as tradeshow growth in July, August and September remained stagnant.

While net square footage increased 2.6 percent, the number of exhibiting companies was down by 0.7 percent and attendance was up 0.2 percent over the same period in 2004. Last year, net square footage was flat with 0.1 percent growth, but the number of exhibiting companies increased by 2.7 percent and attendance by 1.4 percent, according to the Tradeshow Week Quarterly Report of Tradeshow Statistics.

Third-quarter gift shows, in particular, saw declines, falling 2.2 percent in net square footage, 3.5 percent in exhibiting companies and 2.8 percent in attendance. Non-gift shows, on the other hand, saw net square footage rise by 4.8 percent, exhibiting companies by 0.8 percent and attendance by 2.5 percent.

Some blame changes in the nation's retailing industry for a drop-off in the gift category. "More new stores are opening, but the experienced retailers are closing," said Stacey Heiss, marketing director for Western Exhibitors. "So, one is canceling out the other."

Heiss said that, in many cases, the children of longtime family-run businesses aren't taking over ownership when their parents retire. Rather than sell their shops, they shut them down. At the same time, younger, business-savvy entrepreneurs are opening new retail stores.

"They want to start fresh," Heiss said. "When you buy a business, you buy the clientele."

Western Exhibitors produces six gift shows each year, including the semiannual Seattle Gift Show in August. Although the number of stores represented by attendance figures has remained stable, Heiss said the body count is down. This indicates that businesses are reducing the number of staff they send to tradeshows.

"The owner may be the only one coming to the show and making decisions," she said.

Timing proved to be another factor for third-quarter gift show results.

"The first quarter, the first half of the year, always looks good," said Julie Ichiba, group show director for VNU Expositions, producer of eight ASD/AMD shows a year. "People are buying merchandise for the next holiday season right after the holiday. By the time July comes around, it's too late for holiday buying, because stores need to be stocked and ready."

Gift shows generally are held semiannually, to coincide with the winter and summer buying seasons.

VNU's semiannual ASD/AMD Trade Show — Las Vegas in conjunction with ASD/AMD's Las Vegas Gift Expo and the ASD/AMD Jewelry Show at the Mirage and ASD/AMD's New York Variety Merchandise Show Fall both took place in August and experienced reductions in every index tracked by TSW.

"We always had a month between the Las Vegas and New York shows, but this year we only had one week, which hurt," Ichiba said. "The shows were too close for exhibitors to get the orders out from the previous show."

Ichiba estimated 100 companies consistently exhibit at all eight ASD/AMD shows.

Helen Brett Enterprises also manages eight gift shows annually: four in New Orleans and four in Memphis. While the New Orleans Gift & Jewelry Show/Fall wrapped up before Hurricane Katrina hit, the August version of the Memphis Gift & Jewelry Show was heading into its third day when the hurricane came ashore, said Dave Harrington, show manager.

Neither attendees nor exhibitors were fazed by the non-hurricane-related storms Memphis received the first two nights of the show, but on the third night when Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, people began to worry.

"Everyone was watching the doom and gloom on TV," he said. "I had to ease exhibitors' fears."

Despite his best efforts and promises of a sunny tomorrow, some exhibitors left early — a concern even in a normal year. Although attendance was up 42 percent in Memphis on the first day and 11.8 percent overall, Harrington said his biggest problem each year is people leaving the show early. This year was no exception, especially after the hurricane.

"Some exhibitors say they do their best sales in the last hour of the show," he said. But when the last day comes around, there are others who can't wait to pack up their booths.

Harrington estimated that 38 companies continually exhibit at all eight Helen Brett shows.

The evolution of the Internet, coupled with more cautious spending habits, also had an impact on the retail industry.

"People are buying less, but more often, which is why you need more than one show a year," Ichiba said. "They're not sure what to buy, and they don't want to buy too much and have it sit on their shelves."

Heiss agreed, and added that show managers should train their exhibitors to realize that the orders customers give them at the show will not be their only ones of the year.

"Because of the Internet, everything can be bought and shipped within days," she said. "There's no longer the sense of, 'If I don't get my order in within six months, then I won't get the product on my shelves in time.'"

Also being cut out are the middlemen — the distributors who often both exhibit and buy at tradeshows. Ichiba said some wholesalers, and even some retailers, are going straight to China for their products, hoping for a larger profit margin.

Even if customers aren't ordering as much merchandise at the show, being there is still a necessity, show managers insist.

"You need to see what's new and touch it, feel the quality of the product," Heiss said. "We are all about quality as consumers, especially with gifts. When we're looking to give a gift, we want to give someone something with substance."