Aoife Ryan, Communications & Product Manager at Retail inMotion, gives us an insider’s view into how she targets, attends and navigates trade shows to scout out the latest trends, and finds the best new products to add to our portfolio.
I attend up to a dozen trade shows every year, always looking for the next great thing for our travel retail customers. They can become dizzyingly confusing unless you do your homework.
I take time to plan which shows are of most benefit to us – are they too focused on ingredients (cross this off my list) or do they just host the same exhibitors as everybody else (again, cross this off my list). I want to see new innovations, catch up with my current suppliers, be inspired by packaging concepts and come away buzzing with great ideas that we can translate into a fantastic travel retail product. Most shows now have their own dedicated app which is a great resource when you’re at the show – you can keep an online calendar of appointments, find your bearings when you get lost and keep searching for things that have caught your eye.
Preparation is key – a fully charged phone and battery pack, pockets full of business cards and the most comfortable shoes you possess. There’s a lot of walking at trade shows and you’ll certainly achieve your 10,000 steps a day goal with ease. Plan who you really must see and keep plenty of time free for impromptu chats when something catches your eye. Some of our best selling products have been sourced this way!
I find that I take a lot of photos at trade shows – business cards are great for contacts but visual aids really help to remind you of the products that you loved. They’re also great to arrange a show and tell to colleagues after the show.
Once I’m back in the office, the hard work begins. Samples arrive and are evaluated by our in-house tasting panel, pricing is checked and checked again to see if it’s right for us and then we build a presentation box of new product samples for our clients. If it all works out, you’ll see some of the new products on a plane or a train near you very soon.