So, somewhere between 8 and 11 March you’ll probably be in Amsterdam at Fespa Digital. But should you be at Retail Design Expo at Olympia In London that week?
If you produce work for the retail sector should you be at Retail Design Expo at Olympia, London, in March 2016? Just take a look at the exhibitor list and you’ll see that for an increasing number of large-format and signage print service providers, the answer is ‘yes’. For what is still a new show - the inaugural event was only last year - this is becoming a ‘must attend’ for anyone involved in retail branding.
Co-located with Retail Business Technology Expo (RBTE) and Retail Digital Signage Expo (a new show), the event quite clearly sets out to be Europe’s leading annual event for innovation and inspiration in retail design, marketing, visual merchandising and shopfitting. It’s directed towards retailers, designers, marketers, visual merchandisers,
architects and shopfitters who want to find new ideas, or indeed suppliers.
Amongst the 100 or so exhibitors this year - from lighting designers and manufacturers, design consultancies, surfaces and materials suppliers, flooring companies, visual merchandising companies, display and fixtures manufacturers, furniture suppliers, shopfitters, trends consultancies through to POP designers, there are a good number of large-format PSPs. The panels within this feature give you a heads-up on why just three of them think it’s worth the serious commitment of exhibiting. But to be honest, the visitor profile speaks for itself. What PSP operating in the retail space would not want to get in front of such a captive audience?
Given the scope afforded by inkjet print - by UV flatbed technology in particular - getting capabilities and possibilities in front of potential clients in environments where they naturally gather is an imperative that is becoming more widely understood within the wide-format sector, hence the increase in PSPs exhibiting at this event. Sadly, no print-orientated company is addressing visitors within the conference and seminar programmes however, where it would be good to see the messaging continue. But that’s not only down to PSPs needing to be more proactive and vocal. It’s also to do with the perception of print, and the position/purpose of companies supplying it.
Irina Gaspar of Retail Design Expo organiser Legend Exhibitions confirms that no print company is joining the illustrious line-up of speakers for 2016, adding: “We spoke to key audiences - retailers - who said they only wanted to hear from other retailers. They do not want messages from exhibitors and suppliers.”
That’s an understandable stance if they just expect to be ‘sold to’. But what about a sector-wide ‘educational’ type talk on the creative possibilities of inkjet for instance? The answer, unfortunately, was still a resounding “no” - a shame as the three-strand show is set to attract around 18,000.
At a glance
Where: Olympia, London
When: 9 – 10 March, 2016
Times: 9.30am – 5pm
Registration: www.retaildesignexpo.com/free-registration
What’s on at the show
Designer Pavilion
Does what it says on the tin - there’ll be various design consultancies and architects on hand looking to form new partnerships.
Retail Design and Branding Conference
Two theatres with programmes led by designers, marketers, architects and trends experts including Arcadia Group, New Look, Telefonica, B&Q, Rockar Hyundai etc.
Shopper Marketing Conference
Supported by Popai, this is all about how to attract customers instore. Speakers include Coca-Cola and Unilever.
VM Conference and VM Workshop
Speakers at the conference include Liberty, Selfridges, John Lewis, Vivienne Westwood, Prada, Space NK, Oasis, Snow and Rock, Your Studio, Pitfield, International Visual and The Sound Agency
The workshops are interactive seminars that include sessions on colour, sound, scripts, sign-writing, space-planning solutions, lighting, special effects, an examination of customer service and buying patterns and store-refitting and re-focusing.
Graham Halley
Daw Marketing Solutions,
marketing manager
“Daw Visual Marketing Solutions is delighted to have booked an exhibition stand for the second year at The Retail Design Expo. This follows on from a very successful show in 2015 where visitors to our stand included B&Q, The Body Shop, Boots International and Tesco to name but a few.
“The show was so successful that we have doubled the size of our stand for the 2016 event as we expect the show to have a real buzz as the economy is starting to grow, and as companies like ours are developing new innovative solutions in point of sale and display media.
“Business has doubled over the past year and we’re now looking forward to further expansion across the UK. We are launching a new POS and trade large-format printing service (dawpointofsale.com) this month (January 2016). This new division of Daw will offer direct to substrate and roll-to-roll printing service across the signage and printing industry.
“Also, in 2015 Daw Visual Marketing Solutions achieved a milestone in its 25 year history by achieving ISO9001 quality assurance accreditation. This is all good to get in front on potential clients.”
Robert Hill
Graphica Display,
production director
“Graphica Display embraces the need to exhibit at relevant shows throughout the year. Although we did not exhibit the Retail Display Show last year we did attend to gauge the relevant footfall and visitor levels.
“We have now decided to exhibit this year with a considerable investment in our stand to help promote Graphica Display and all the large-format printing services we offer.
“We will be looking at the UK market for sales leads and relevant customers to service with our new £500,000 investment in a new Agfa Mira flatbed printer and a Blackman and White laser cutter and router.”
Richard Leach
Leach, MD
“Leach is returning to The Retail Design Expo in March 2016 having had a great show last year, at which we launched our new corporate ID. 2016 is our 125th anniversary year so expect the trust and depth of knowledge gained over an incredible history to be featured strongly on our stand.
“Our target audience of store designers, VM managers and retail marketing managers are really well represented among the visitors. Last year they were strongly attracted to our integrated package of graphic frames and LED lightboxes, high quality graphics and international installation. We expect this will be the case again as so few companies can offer a fully integrated service in this fast moving market.
“We have strengthened our product design and 3D team during 2015, so there will be more new products on show taking advantage of the latest technology in LED lighting, aluminium structures and large-format digital printing, all designed to create theatre in store and to make a major impact for the brands who invest in them. These products will include graphic lightwalls, curved fabric displays and ultra-slim LED lightboxes, all designed from the bottom up by the Leach team to guarantee that brand imagery is displayed to its maximum effect.
“RDE 2016 promises to be an exciting show and a very busy couple of days for the Leach sales and marketing team.”