Come Hither: Trade Shows Maneuver to Entice Brands, Buyers

Just as brands woo buyers with novelty and value and retailers lure shoppers with sales and “it” items, trade shows too are pulling out the stops to keep vendors and buyers coming back.

“Clearly, there has been a shake-out in the industry among both the retailers and exhibitors,” said Coleman McCartan, director of public relations for New York–based ENK, which produces the Brighte Companies, Fashion Coterie, ENK Vegas, Collective men’s show, WSA shoe show, Intermezzo Collections and others. “This has, of course, affected trade shows,” he said. “Some brands and buyers are opting out of trade shows or participating in fewer to cut costs.”

Dwindling budgets and a focus on at-once business mean buyers are relying more on regional shows or in-store visits from sales reps. Vendors, too, seem to be backing away from trade shows. According to McCartan, Intermezzo’s May edition saw its exhibitor list shrink—an occurence that has been echoed by many apparel trade shows. And it isn’t just the smaller, newer brands that are dropping out of shows. Quiksilver made headlines earlier this year when it bowed out of the January run of the Action Sports Retailer Trade Expo, a key show for the action-sports industry. Hurley, also a surf giant, will sit out ASR’s September edition.

There are similar shifts at the MAGIC Marketplace. Los Angeles–based contemporary streetwear brand Roar will skip the Aug. 31–Sept. 2 edition of the Las Vegas show.

Also in August, Christian Audigier will return to the MAGIC Marketplace with a 30,000-square-foot space at Premium at MAGIC, where he will exhibit his empire of brands, including Ed Hardy, Christian Audigier, SMET, Crystal Rock, C-Bar-A and Rock Fabulous with Dave Stewart. Last year, Audigier showcased his brands at his own Las Vegas trade show, When I Move You Move, at the Caesars Palace Convention Center.

Across the board, trade shows are feeling pressure to woo vendors and buyers and keep excitement in the aisles even as the economy continues to struggle. Trade shows large and small are finding ways to add value and remain viable—from complete overhauls of show floors and the addition of new categories and sister showsshy;—to new dates or renewed focus on support services.

Forging new partnerships

ASR, which has been in flux as the action-sports industry hunkers down, is undergoing a dramatic transformation on several fronts.

Most notable is the debut of Class@ ASR, a new licensed show in partnership with Jason Bates’ fledgling contemporary/lifestyle Class trade show. Billed as a sister show with an entirely new focus, Class@ASR will run concurrently with ASR Sept. 10–12 at the San Diego Convention Center. Focusing on upscale and contemporary swim brands—including Red Carter, Mara Hoffman and L*Space, as well as crossover fashion brands such as Howe, Stuuml;ssy, Converse by John Varvatos, Comune, Kill City and Modern Amusement—Class@ASR hopes to attract a new kind of buyer to San Diego. “The idea is to create a completely different environment than ASR and attract different types of brands. It’s a totally new style of product, and we think it will attract more of a boutique fashion retailer than ASR has in the past,” said Andy Tompkins, ASR’s chief executive and vice president of Nielsen Sports Group, which produces the show. Some ASR regulars with more fashion-forward offerings—such as Quiksilver, Insight, RVCA and Elwood—will also show at Class@ASR.

Another key change at ASR is booth pricing and options. For its upcoming show booth, ASR dropped its rates approximately 25 percent. “That was the first step to make sure our exhibitors could afford to return to ASR,” Tompkins said. “We also want to ensure that ASR offers a wide range of lines for our retailers. Our mantra has been ’one size does not fit all,’ and we are constantly looking for ways to tighten our floor and focus on business.”

Exhibitors are also being offered additional turn-key booth options, something the show began offering in February and plans to continue to evolve into 2010.

Beyond keeping prices down for exhibitors, ASR renewed its efforts to bring in the buyers its exhibitors need. Working in collaboration with the Surf Industry Manufacturers Association, ASR has put together a list of 200 “must-have” retailers and is dedicating significant resources to ensuring those buyers shop the show. “We’ve been actively reaching out to these buyers and have been able to influence hundreds of retailers,” Tompkins said.

Shifting dates, venues

Aaron Levant, founder of the Agenda trade show, found success in July after making major changes to his boutique streetwear show. After years of incubating his show as a satellite to ASR in San Diego, Levant made the jump to producing a stand-alone show with an expanded reach. Agenda’s new format, which included upgraded digs at the Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Conference Center in Huntington Beach, Calif., as well as a focus on melding streetwear with the action-sports market, went over well with vendors and buyers. The new dates, almost two months earlier than in previous years, also proved key to the show’s success for its 107 vendors and 3,500 attendees and made it the show at which many brands broke their Spring 2010 collections.

Capsule—the young trade show from New York–based producer, showroom and public-relations company BPMW—will mark its second Las Vegas edition Sept. 1–2 with a move from the Hard Rock Hotel to the Murano Ballroom at The Venetian hotel.

Edina Sultanik, a co-founder of BPMW, said the move will allow the previously menswear-only show the room to grow to include womenswear—and put it literally at the doorstep of Project Global Trade Show, the resident cool-kid show attended by top buyers. This season, Project is moving from the Mandalay Bay Convention Center back to the Sands Expo & Convention Center, located next door to The Venetian.

“This way we’ll be easier to get to,” Sultanik said. “We’re all about making things easy and convenient these days.”

Set to occupy 20,000 square feet, Capsule’s 108 exhibitors (more than double the size of its February edition) will include 20 women’s brands, including Society for Rational Dress, Sophomore, Samantha Pleet and Lorick.

Many of the brands heading to Capsule will be making their Las Vegas debut, said BPMW's Chris Corrado, who added that the new brands increase Capsule’s cachet. “We’re bringing a different mix of brands to Las Vegas that hasn’t been seen before. Our focus is on bringing together the right brands and the right retailers in a cool environment,” he said. The updated mix at Capsule is expected to double attendance at the show to 4,000 buyers.

Merchandising and social networking

The MAGIC Marketplace, the kingpin of apparel trade shows, will greet buyers later this month with a completely redesigned menswear show floor.

“Under the direction of Jon Kapelson, our new vice president of menswear at MAGIC International, we will take the men’s floor to a new level by sharpening our focus on category segmentation, strategic navigation and a modern aesthetic,” Chris DeMoulin, MAGIC International president and executive vice president of Advanstar’s fashion group, said in a statement.

Vendors looking to cut costs will have new turn-key booth options. MAGIC’s women’s offerings underwent their own transformation during the February show, which saw the debut of Premium at MAGIC, a new upscale capsule, as well as inclusion of the accessories show within WWDMAGIC.

And the trade-show giant will be using social-networking service Twitter to get the trend news out straight from the show floor. The MAGIC Marketplace will send a group of fashion journalists and stylists scouting for trends at Project, Pooltradeshow, WWDMAGIC, S.L.A.T.E., Street, Premium at MAGIC, Menswear and Sourcing at MAGIC. Via daily Tweets, the team will identify product picks, key trends, “can’t-miss exhibitions,” celebrity sightings and party information for all followers.

Retooling outreach efforts

Some trade shows are focusing their reenergizing efforts behind the scenes.

ENK spent the past 90 days doing a “massive cleanup and reorganization” of its entire database, which includes thousands of retailers and vendors, McCartan said. “It was a huge undertaking—we called every single person and company in our database—but now every piece of our data is up-to-date, and we can ensure that our outreach efforts are accurate,” he said. That’s important for a company that relies on phone calls, mailers and e-mail blasts to keep its clients informed of its 11 trade shows.

ENK also created a VIP program for retailers. The program, which caters to the 3,000 retailers deemed most important by its vendors, entices retailers with travel deals and additional services. “We focused on getting the biggest players—the ones that are making orders, doing business and trend-setting,” McCartan said. In turn, ENK will pick the brains of its VIPs to help it find new and hot brands for its show floors.

Even as trade show organizers take unprecedented measures to add interest and value to their shows, they say trade shows remain extremely relevant to the apparel industry.

“We have to understand that retailers and vendors have been hard-hit,” McCartan said. “It took a while to get to us, but now we’re feeling it, too. Regardless, trade shows are still an important part of how business is done.”

Roy Turner, show director for Surf Expo in Orlando, Fla., agreed. “This ability to bring a national audience of buyers to meet face to face with top companies—to actually see and feel the apparel, negotiate terms, and discuss business—has never been more important. The bottom line, if you will forgive the pun, is that trade shows save manufacturers and retailers money.”