Posted by

Barry Siskind

Community Manager

In a Canadian newspaper, The Toronto Star, I found an interesting article titled Internet Shaping our Shopping. – http://www.thestar.com/business/article/817013–internet-shaping-the-way-people-buy-retailers-told.

While the article is referring to retail sales a lot of what it has to say is directly attributable to exhibitions.

The article quotes Dan O’Conner, president of Retail Net Group of Waltham, Massachusetts, USA who was a guest speaker at the Canadian Retail Councils meeting. Here are some of the highlights:

More and more customers are surfing the internet and finding the products and services they want at a price they are willing to pay before they enter a store. In  our situation this would be an exhibition.

Consumers therefore have become more demanding, and (this I found really interesting), are not willing to pay a premium for environmentally friendly products or healthier foods.

The internet is also eliminating the distinctions between older and younger buyers as they all have access to the same information.

Once the consumer enters the store, or an exhibition, they want three things: quality, value and experience.

What this means is that we are in the midst of a fundamental change in the way we do business. If we are to maintain a customer centric business we have to adjust to a new breed of customer who has access to more information and choices than ever before in history.

While the article focuses on the Canadian experience, I am sure there are parallels that can be drawn in other economies.

It might be interesting to open the discussion on how the internet is shaping organizers view the future and what steps you are taking to ensure that your exhibitions remain viable.