Industrial Trade Shows

Volume 16, Number 3 Article by Rooma Roshnee Ramsaran Fowdar September, 2004

Industrial Trade ShowsIndustrial Trade Shows: A Study of Related Activities :

For many companies, trade shows provide low cost access to new markets and markets that would otherwise be unapproachable. Because they attract thousands of attendees, trade shows have become a powerful marketing medium. However, firms rarely reap the full benefits of trade shows due to inadequate efforts put into pre-show and post-show activities like objective setting and evaluation of the returns.

This study assessed the extent to which forty-four textile firms in Mauritius engaged in pre-show, show and post-show activities. The findings revealed that Mauritian textile firms viewed trade shows as the second most important tool in the promotion mix after on-site selling. Objectives set by exhibitors for participating in trade shows include the identification of new customers, enhancement of company image and goodwill, building and maintenance of relationships with customers and promotion of existing products. While identification and formulation of objectives and preparation of displays and support materials were the main pre-show activities firms engaged in, recording buyer name and position and identifying buyer needs were the main during-show activities. The main post show activities trade show exhibitors engaged in were follow up through direct mail and through sales persons. The findings also indicated that exhibitors did not actually evaluate the effectiveness of trade shows in a systematic way. The most commonly used measures of effectiveness were the number of leads generated, and the feedback of the sales force.

With Likert statements, and related variables categorised into groups, it was possible to use Pearson's Correlation Coefficient to assess the strength and direction of relationships between different sets of variables. Four hypotheses were generated and tested using this method. The study indicated that participating in trade shows was the result of distinct firm characteristics. The larger the firm, in terms of number of employees and annual turnover, the more likely was its participation in trade shows. However, larger firms are not more likely to set objectives or be more systematic in the use of measures for trade show evaluation.

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