BASICS FOR ORGANIZING TRADE FAIRS: A GUIDE FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES PART 1

How trade fairs have evolved

Tracing the origin of trade exhibitions might be the work of archaeologists rather than of historians.
While it is said that their roots are in the medieval European fairs, very ancient documents talk of trading places where merchants were selling or bartering a multitude of goods. A reference can even be found in the Bible (Book of Ezekiel, about 600 BC). 

Market places developed around crossroads of long-distance trading routes, such as in the case of the Phoenician city of Tyre, as early as the 8th century BC. Ancestors of trade fairs are also the ancient bazaars of the Middle East. The “Thousand and One Nights” collection of tales – translated into Arabic in the 8th century, most likely on the basis of much older traditions of Indian and Persian origins – gives vivid descriptions of the bustling atmosphere of such commercial areas.

It was anyhow during the period towards the end of Middle Age in Europe that fairs started to flourish and acquire some connotations similar to what exhibitions are today, when cities began to develop together with the progressive urbanization of people. Previously, under the feudalism, the economies were largely autarchic. Products were consumed locally and little trade occurred outside the communities attached to castles and monasteries. Marketplaces anyhow existed also in those times and fairs were taking place generally to celebrate religious festivities or the completion of seasonal phases of agricultural works. The word “fair” in fact comes from the Latin “feria”, which means “holy day”. The differentiating factor between market and fair can be related to duration: markets were regular and frequent happenings, fairs were commercial events organized on special occasions.

Not all fairs however originated from religious or cultural festivals. Certain trade fairs were created by royal decrees to benefit cities and other agglomerations of people, and also charters were granted to already existing fairs. In this way the authorities, through income taxes, kept control of the proceeds. By and large preindustrial fairs were based on privileges granted by the civil or ecclesiastic authority to governing aristocracy. The significant growth of the cities, where people consumed without producing, helped to increase exponentially the trade traffic of food but also of non-food products: textiles and clothing, tools and pottery, hides and skins, leather products, horses and hunting dogs, some jewellery, arms and horse harnesses, etc., were sold alongside spices and other agro-based products. The old small markets for the barter of products of the neighbourhood were becoming larger events to deal with trade in increasingly valuable goods, fostering at the same time the circulation of money.

 

Trade was of course at the core of the fairs, but a variety of people started to mingle with traders and customers, like acrobats, magicians, charlatans, inventors and minstrels. In this extremely lively, heterogeneous and noisy environment, many activities were taking place and news and information exchanged, making the trade fairs a melting pot of cultures and social classes. It may appear that everything was chaotic, and indeed it was, but with the progressive control on the fairs by the municipal corporations and guilds (the ancestors of professional associations) rules were established to protect, to the extent possible, traders and buyers from fraud and extortion or even from cartels. Special magistrates were supervising and regulating the functioning of the market by establishing time and place of trade, controlling and divulging prices for the most common consumer goods, checking the calibration of weighing and measuring tools, ensuring the legality of the coins used for payment and, in some cases, even the compliance with hygienic rules.

The market was less spontaneous and random than one can imagine: place, opening and closing time, duration and space for stalls and exhibits (well defined and pedestrian only) were regulated. At least this was the case in some major fairs.

proved to be a powerful means to position growing urban settlements at the crossroads of trade traffic and contribute to their economic development, so they enjoyed a flourishing period. But the danger for the fairs was around the corner. More traded products went back to markets allowing weekly and even daily transactions. The natural evolution was the birth of “shops” which, during the Renaissance, made the fortune of some cities because of their capacity to attract travelers. Multi-sector fairs started to languish and only continued at the periphery of the most advanced part of Europe, far from the main trade centers.

Later on, the “industrial revolution” brought about a new physiognomy of fairs, which came closer to the concept of the modern trade fairs. The factors were mostly two: the increased production needed to expand the market and the industry was able to easily and 'limitlessly' replicate goods. This constituted a major turning point in the history of fairs as the old “stocks” fair system – when goods were sold directly and the manufacturer had to transport bulky quantities of goods and take the risk of having to sell the unsold ones at discount price, without profit or at a loss, so as to avoid transporting them back – was replaced by the “sample” fair system. 

 

Manufacturers were able to display only specimens for later delivery. “Industrial exhibitions” became popular during the period of the industrial revolution when the authorities understood that such events were able to foster domestic entrepreneurship and enhance the competitive advantage of their towns, countries and regions.

Meanwhile the industrial development brought about major changes in conducting business. Inventions such as the telegraph and the telephone and new transport mode through railway and steamers bridged the distances between sellers and buyers. Specialized commercial houses, making available international networks, flourished.

In the context of a free trade world, about the end of the XIX century, fairs had almost disappeared. It was only in the aftermath of the First World War that the powerful role of fairs to revamp the shuttered economies was rediscovered. The number of fairs grew rapidly up to the point that by 1925 an international association was created, the “Union des Foires Internationales” (UFI), bringing together the cities and organizers of major fairs. It was a matter for the organizers of being on the map, and for the countries of obtaining visibility, market expansion and competitive advantage assertion. Not surprisingly, countries that moved later into market economies – Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union and China – have immediately created trade fairs.

It seems that trade fairs have always been the response to changes in market patterns, economic recessions and “political” interference to trade. They also leveraged on economic expansion and contributed to it. The 1960s witnessed a trade fair boom as many trade associations were formed or expanded their role. It became standard for each industry to have associations and annual trade fairs, which helped showcase and execute strategies. With the introduction of marketing concepts in business, trade fairs were extensively and increasingly used as a prominent part of marketing strategies. Today they are also a key element of the communication strategies.

It appeared that, entering into the digital era with the Internet global village, the destiny of trade fairs was doomed as they were replaced by other types of communication for the business. The reality has so far demonstrated that trade fairs have not lost their “raison d’être” and, on the contrary, the new media and technology have contributed to increase their efficiency and outreach. Organizers are anyhow challenged to make the events increasingly attractive and appealing and to compete in terms of marketing strategies and distinctive features.

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