The Sydney gift fair this past weekend and into this week has ranged from awesome to dreadful depending on the person sharing their opinion.
That it is three different shows over two separated locations is a key frustration, with no obvious reason for a supplier being at Homebush versus the city.
For those with limited time, getting to the three events is challenging.
The geographic split diminishes the value of the show I think.
The other issue for me, from a supplier perspective, is a bigger geographic split. I’d prefer to see gift fairs concentrated to one city, and held twice a year, like in most other countries.
Gift fairs in Melbourne and Sydney add unnecessary cost to suppliers, meaning retailer buy prices are not as low as they might otherwise be.
So, for me, I’d like 2 fairs a year in one city, Melbourne or Sydney. I don’t care which. And, in whichever city, the fair to be in one location, not many kms apart.
Suppliers need a more efficient route to selling to retailers. The current approach benefits the trade show companies and their suppliers of furniture, shell schemes, lighting etc, costing the suppliers, and, ultimately, retailers too much.
The meson gift fairs in Australia really does ultimately hurt local retailers. Talk to suppliers in New Zealand, The United States and the United Kingdom. They all love 2 shows a year in fixed locations.
I agree. Having just been to Sydney it is a mess, very frustrating getting out to Homebush. Two shows a year. Big and with the best suppliers is all I need. I’d prefer Sydney of course but I’d be happy it is was in Melbourne.
I don’t even know why they do Brisbane and Adelaide. It must cost suppliers a lot of money.
The biggest problem for us in Sydney is trying to compare suppliers across two seperate locations. We do a walk around of Reed and Life InStyle on the first day and then go out to Homebush on the second day. We have to do all of our purchasing for AGHA there and then as it’s too hard to make the trip back out for a second time. We then go back to Reed on day three to place orders. Quite often there are suppliers with similar product across both fairs (eg fashion, homewares) and usually have to follow up suppliers after we get home which is not ideal for us.
Melbourne is a better set up with Reed and AGHA at the same location and going between the two fairs much more time efficient. Even though Life InStyle is at a seperate location, it is a smaller format and more niche so is quite a different offering to the other two.
As a retailer, have it at two different cities doesn’t bother us but would prefer it to all be in the one location at each city.
I am a supplier based in Queensland. AGHA was a waste of time this year in my experience. You’re right, Melbourne is a better setup.
I don’t understand why we can’t do what they do overseas and have 2 gift fairs a year in Melbourne. It makes the most sense to me.
Yes seperate locations in Olympic Park & Homebush is frustrating. Sadly our own time restrictions & the distance between fairs limited us & our spending to Olympic Park only. Would have really liked to visit a few suppliers at Darling Harbour but this was not to be.
I too agree that this needs to be resolved. Sydney is unworkable and inefficient. For that reason, I would prefer 2 shows a year in Melbourne, all in one venue. If suppliers cannot organise themselves for that then they will miss out. I went to the British show in Birmingham in 2019 and it was excellent. Seeing such a big show sheeted home to me the value of a single big show rather than the splintered events we see here at the moment.
The questions on Sydney are not new. We last went 5 years ago and commented at the time that it didn’t pass the “was it worth the effort” test. Covid meant we never went back, but the decision had already been made.
We are from Adelaide and Covid has raised another question, is it cost beneficial to attend an event that has not been part of the business calendar.
New shops continue to open and some operators have never been to a fair, so why start now ?
The Melbourne set up is far superior to Sydney. That said, it is a business event. Ideally it would be on a purpose built exhibition site close to the airport.
Colin, like anything in business, the more benefits from an activity that costs money the better. While buying is important for trade shows, for some, networking is as valuable – especially in this post lockdown period.
That said, the wholesalers who invested in better back office and smarter tech are seeing for themselves the value of trade outside of the expensive trade shows.
My software company used to do 19 trade shows a year. This year we will do two, and sales are ups significantly compared to when we were doing trade shows.