Collocated Tradeshows: Matches Made in Heaven?

Staff -- Tradeshow Week, 1/16/2006

Like peanut butter and jelly, some tradeshows just belong together. And considering that more retailers are carrying a little bit of this and that, many show collocations make sense to all involved — no matter how unusual the pairing.

Several new show collocations — including a hardware and housewares duo, pet and garden products side by side, and a trio of gifts, wellness and textiles events — caught the eye of Tradeshow Week editors (and countless show participants) because of their synergies and rare combinations.

But pairing shows isn't as easy as slapping together a PB&J sandwich. Show managers, after months of research, carefully fit together the selected shows, cross their fingers that the chemistry of the shows will work — and then hope for the best.

How many retailers would like to order power tools and chocolate fondue fountains on the same showfloor?

Quite a few, according to Reed Exhibitions and George Little Management.

The two show management firms in 2005 began collocating their respective shows — Reed's NATL. HARDWARE SHOW and Lawn & Garden World with GLM's Las Vegas Gourmet Housewares Show — at the Las Vegas Convention Center and Sands Expo & Convention Center, and the concept became a hit with chain stores that pride themselves on offering everything for the home under one roof.

Hence, the hardware show's tagline: "If it's at the home, it's at the show."

It makes sense that big-box stores like Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Costco and Target want to order merchandise from a big-box show with multiple product categories, said Rob Cappiello, a Reed industry vice president and hardware show manager.

"If the mega-show fits the mega-retailer, it's a great concept," he said. "It seems that the (hardware store) consumer is looking for more products that enhance the home," he said. Consequently, "If you look at any retailer that sells products for the home, you'll find housewares and hardware products. They all want a bigger piece of that home-enhancement basket."

GLM Senior Vice President Dorothy Belshaw said the two groups put their heads together and did some homework after they noticed that the lines between housewares and home improvement had blurred significantly in recent years.

"We compared our attendee lists for the May 2004 markets, which were held at the same time but in two different cities (with hardware in Las Vegas and gourmet housewares, formerly the Gourmet Products Show, in San Francisco), and discovered that, even with the date conflict, more than 1,000 retailers of housewares and home improvement products — many in the mass merchant, specialty chain and department store categories — were already shopping both shows," Belshaw said. "Traditionally, roughly 12 to 15 percent of all attendance at the Gourmet Housewares Shows has been hardware stores."

Cappiello said, "We thought that it was a bad idea ... that the buying teams were going to both shows."

To ease the collocation transition, the two companies used the same contractors for all major services, and shared shuttles, security and signage.

And the gamble paid off.

The 2005 collocated shows together spanned nearly 800,000 square feet, with hardware at 681,891 sq. ft. with 3,123 exhibitors and housewares at 114,400 sq. ft. with 467 exhibitors, according to TSW research. This year, Cappiello said, the shows are expected to grow to nearly 900,000 sq. ft. together (with 740,000 sq. ft. for the hardware show).

Attendees flooded the 2005 show-floors. The hardware show, No. 33 on the TSW 200, brought in 34,616 visitors (including exhibit personnel), nearly 53 percent more than the previous year. The house-wares show more than doubled its attendance from 4,500 in 2004 to 11,000 in 2005.

More than 7,000 registered hardware show attendees visited the housewares show, a tremendous advantage for show exhibitors, Belshaw said.

"For exhibitors, the benefits include increased volume of relevant buyers and access to new channels of distribution, which is a critical advantage in an increasingly competitive environment," Belshaw said. Generally, she added, "From all accounts, the collocation has been a win-win."

Plus, Cappiello said, the fact that the two natural competitors put aside their differences (for instance, GLM is a closely held firm, while Reed is public) allowed show executives to concentrate on retailer needs to push the collocation's success.

It was a relief that the two groups stopped "thinking about what exhibitors seem to match, and started thinking about the retailers," Cappiello said. "They're (GLM) thinking first of the ultimate customer, the retailer," he said.

And considering that stores like Target and Wal-Mart sell a myriad of product lines, additional show collocations are not out of the question for the hardware show, Cappiello said. "We're certainly open to the idea. It's always interesting."

The hardware/housewares bond will be further solidified May 9–11, when the shows will take place under one roof at the LVCC.

Starting in 2007, GLM will move the home textiles sourcing show Global Connections to Las Vegas to take place alongside gourmet housewares.

Additionally, due to the show's rapid growth and facility expansions in Las Vegas, Reed will rotate the hardware show to Orlando's Orange County Convention Center in 2007 and return to Las Vegas in 2008.

GLM plans to follow Reed's lead to Las Vegas and Orlando through 2008.

—Rachelle Crum

The thought of displaying pet products alongside garden supplies may not get tails wagging at first, but the World Wide Pet Industry Assn.'s SuperZoo and the California Assn. of Nurseries & Garden Centers' Garden Market Expo insist they are connecting the dots.

The shows have collocated in Las Vegas since 2004, and plan to continue the partnership through 2006. It's a decision the two groups made after reviewing consumer demographics and finding that there was some overlap in the markets.

Garden centers on the East Coast and in Europe were already carrying some pet products, including flea and tick treatments, ponds and dog food, said Doug Poindexter, executive vice president of WWPIA. The stores offered some of these other products to keep traffic flowing during the off-season, when the weather does not lend itself to gardening.

Also, both pet and garden centers were carrying pet-inspired giftware, said Margo Cheuvront, tradeshow operations manager for Garden Market Expo.

So, collocating sounded like a good idea. Plus, CANGC and WWPIA had seen some evidence elsewhere that it might work.

"We saw it done at Glee in the U.K.," Cheuvront said. "It promoted the Petindex area."

Petcare at Glee was added to the show's format in 2000 and was a huge success from its inception, said Angela Noon, Glee public relations consultant. The following year, Trade Promotion Services acquired PetIndex from Pet Care Trust, a long-established pet show with a strong U.K. exhibitor and visitor base. Since 2002 it has been known as Glee Petindex.

Noon said strengthening the pet sector within Glee was done to meet market demand and create a new environment for pet product manufacturers who stood to profit from the trend of garden centers adding pet departments.

"Parallel to this, the independent retail market has grown with many innovative products introduced as the humanization of pets increases," Noon said.

Glee Petindex attracts multiple and independent specialist pet retailers and garden centers alike, as well as veterinarians, groomers, aquatics specialists and buyers from all areas of the pet market. In 2005, pet-related buyers made up 18 percent of Glee's total attendance and pet retailers made up 10 percent.

Originally, the WWPIA discussed collocating its consumer show with one organized by the California Assn. of Nurserymen. However, the WWPIA's America's Pet Expo was held in April, during the height of the nurserymen's season, so it was not possible. The conversation was tabled for several years, and then revisited when the idea of collocating the trade events came up, Poindexter said.

The WWPIA chose to collocate with Garden Market Expo rather than another pet show because it was looking at a way to broaden the market, not just maintain it, Poindexter said.

"Another pet show would have the same exhibitors and attendees," he said. "This gave exhibitors the opportunity to sell to another channel they may not otherwise have access to."

Exhibitors in the United States, however, wonder if the associations are barking up the wrong tree.

"It didn't make any sense to me," said Don Gardner, owner of SpecPalms, a Garden Market Expo exhibitor. "It didn't drive me any business." Instead, he found the non-landscape oriented attendees to be a distraction.

"A lot of people came by and we had to decide with whom to spend time," he said. "I had to weed through more people."

Robert Crudup, president of Valley Crest Tree, is another exhibitor that does not believe in the more the merrier.

"Floor traffic is not the correct measurement of tradeshow success for us," he said. "It's about how many quality people we're able to get into our booth."

Regardless of the distractions, Gardner said his company was satisfied with its show experience.

"We didn't do much order writing at the show, but we wrote orders later," he said.

Bill Mintiens, director of sales for Ruff Wear, a producer of performance dog wear, and a SuperZoo exhibitor, struggles to see where garden ties in with pet products, but is not troubled by the collocation.

"The retailers we're trying to attract aren't interested in going to a garden show," he said. However, he did not talk to anyone who complained about the multiple shows.

Another pet industry group, the American Pet Product Manufacturers Assn., also acknowledges that there is some crossover between the pet and garden markets, but has not looked into collocating with such a show.

"A small percentage of our buyers come from garden centers, nurseries," said Andrew Darmohraj, vice president and deputy managing director of APPMA, which manages Global Pet Expo. "We see the most crossover with things like ponds. People buy ponds and then stock them with fountains and fish."

Next year, SuperZoo will return to its three-day format Sept. 20–22 at Las Vegas's Mandalay Bay Convention Center. Poindexter estimates 550 companies will exhibit within 90,000 net square feet, compared to last year's 507 companies in 88,952 net sq. ft. Garden Market Expo, which will stick with its two-day format, is expecting 400 exhibiting companies and a combined attendance of 14,000, Cheuvront said.

—Jillian Dauer

When shoppers were scouring stores for gifts in the just-passed holiday season, they frequently selected items intended to pamper the receiver — and maybe even their home, and who knows what else.

It's not always easy to define exactly what a gift is these days. That's why in recent years the gift industry has introduced personal care and wellness products, including scented candles to bath salts and comfy slippers, and decorative home accessories in its manufactured lines and retail shops.

No one has embraced these trends more than George Little Management, one of the nation's leading gift show organizers. Recognizing just such a demand, the White Plains, N.Y.-based firm in August started pairing its 74-year-old New York Intl. Gift Fair with its 9-year-old EX•TRACTS: New discoveries in beauty and wellness.

The shows took place concurrently in New York, but under different roofs: the gift fair at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, Passenger Ship Terminal Pier 92 and the UnConvention Center, Pier 94; and EX•TRACTS at Penn Plaza Pavilion.

The pairing's chemistry wasn't a coincidence, said GLM Vice President Penny Sikalis.

"Over the years, GLM has observed the lines between markets blurring, as evidenced by an increase in the cross-merchandising of product categories at retail, as well as the consumers' approach to purchasing becoming more lifestyle-driven," she said.

The gift fair is New York's second-largest tradeshow, ranking No. 25 on the Tradeshow Week 200. The August 2005 edition, at 617,069 square feet with 2,621 exhibitors, grew marginally from the previous year, according to TSW research.

EX•TRACTS spanned approximately 7,000 sq. ft. with about 80 exhibitors.

Along with offering exhibitors new cross-marketing opportunities, the collocated shows' seminar roster included a how-to program for retailers looking to incorporate EX•TRACTS products into their existing lines.

And in just two weeks, the semiannual shows will come together again at the venues for the shows' January counterparts. The winter gift fair edition is even larger, ranking No. 20 on the TSW 200 as the largest New York tradeshow.

In August, GLM will add a third show to the mix: the New York Home Textiles Show.

Sikalis said the fact that "the gift market has come to include a very broad spectrum of product, the traditional gift items, plus increasingly gifts for oneself and for the home," led GLM to the conclusion that the three shows belonged together.

EX•TRACTS and the home textiles show formerly took place together in the spring and fall. The April 2005 textiles and EX•TRACTS shows together attracted 5,300 attendees.

Exhibitors appear to embrace the synergies between the duo shows and expect the third to further enhance their experience.

Gift exhibitor Susan Maugenest, founder of San Francisco-based pet products company Cleopetra, said the slew of products available should help "someone (a retailer) who carries everything."

Plus, she said, the combined attendance from all the shows will mean more eyes on her products. "The more, the merrier," Maugenest said. "It's just more people to probably come and look. There's plenty of business for everybody."

EX•TRACTS exhibitor Doug Densmore, vice president of sales for the Dallas-based Xela Aromasticks & Stick Scents, said the collocations helped him — and his customers — manage their time wisely.

"I have found that it is best to run them all together," he said, "as my customers in prior years were not happy about having to fly into the city four times a year, and were looking for us at the gift show, which I do not do. We are a small, up-and-coming company, and do not have the funds to do four shows in New York every year."

Another EX•TRACTS edition, EX·TRACTS: Essentials for spa, home & travel, collocated with GLM's Intl. Hotel/Motel & Restaurant Show in November in New York, targeting the spa and travel industries. The shows were also joined by Kosherfest, which is co-produced by Diversified Business Communications and Lubicom Marketing Consulting.

—Rachelle Crum