IMHX: Trade shows important in financial crisis
8 April 2009The organiser of the International Materials Handling Exhibition (IMHX) has said trade shows have an important place during a global financial crisis as they provide a platform for developing customer relationships.
A recent poll on the Cranes Today website showed 57% of respondents were not planning to attend any of 2009’s main exhibitions, with 22% saying they would be at Intermat, 5% at CTT, 2% at ICUEE, 5% at BICES and 10% at ConExpo Asia.
But Quartz Publishing and Exhibitions Ltd said many companies are now committing more to nurturing customer relationships and the face-to-face nature of exhibitions lends itself to this.
“This shift in focus has put exhibitions back at the top of the marketing agenda because few promotional activities rival the power of the face-to-face contact achieved at a trade show,” said Quartz managing director Paul Michael.
Quartz said other benefits of exhibitions include visitors volunteering their time to attend, meaning they are in a “learning and buying frame of mind”; a large number of attendees having responsibility for buying; the ability to use a number of mediums to build knowledge of a company and product; and the chance to carry out market research, develop contact databases and entertain key corporate clients.
Michael added visitors benefit too by being able to see new products and market innovations, gain market information and find solutions that can benefit their company. “Only at an exhibition can you do all those things under one roof, in one day,” he said.
IMHX 2010 takes place in Birmingham, UK at the NEC on 2-5 March 2010.
