For example, the term Trade Fair, Trade Exhibition and Trade Show are often used to indicate the same type of event. They can be multi-sector ( General Fairs) or, as it is becoming predominant, single-sector. In this case they are often referred to as Specialized Trade Fairs. This guide deals with these events that will be simply called “trade fairs”. It can be useful to review other types of trade events and, irrespective of the names for which anyhow there is no univocal meaning, to determine – to the extent possible – some sort of categories. The list does not pretend to be exhaustive.
In fact, purpose and capacity are the factors that should underlie the decision on type and amplitude of the event, after consideration of other alternative means of trade promotion that have in common the same overall goal. A small regional fair in some instances can better suit a development objective than a large international fair.
- A specialized trade fair normally occurs at regular intervals in the same place, even if in certain cases the event moves from one location to another, organized under the same sponsorship. It is sometime also called Industry Fairs to distinguish it from the Consumers’ Fairs. While admission to the former is restricted to professionals of the sector, the latter is open to the public.
- Commercial Exhibition generally indicates the event organized by and for a representative number of companies and addressed to a specific target group of clients. Generally it does not take place recurrently, but is organized ad hoc to cope with specific marketing or industrial needs and objectives of the companies.
- A Private Exhibition is a display of products or services of one supplier targeted to a selected clientele, for example for the launching of a new product or for the positioning of the supplier in a new market area.
- Buyers’ Fair, similar to the commercial exhibition, is an event organized to promote businesses and facilitate contacts between suppliers pertaining to a homogeneous range of products (e.g. processed food, apparel, etc.) and invited buyers (e.g. distributors and buying offices of department store chains).
- Trade Mart indicates a sizable and fixed commercial establishment made of many showrooms to promote and sell products and services of one or many industries on a continuous basis.
- Conference Fair consists in a small trade show, mostly a display of a specific range of products that accompanies events whose main content are conferences and seminars.
- At the lower end (intended in terms of scope and investment required) a Market Fair, where producers display and sell their products to visiting consumers, is a business promotion event that can have important return in the case of micro and small enterprises especially in developing countries. Often local in scope and based on agricultural products and their derivatives market fairs, can also have a national size and attract consumers from communities across the borders.
- At the highest end the Universal Exposition (also called World Fair and World Expo) is the largest undertaking. It has a tradition that goes back to 1851, when the first one was organized in London, and its nature has slightly evolved in time, but it maintained the essential connotations. It is a display of technological advancement and it is future-oriented, addressing themes and issues of cultural relevance to humankind. Whilst trade is not the underlying purpose, it is a platform to emphasize the image of the host country and of those in the national pavilions.
Post a Comment