Furniture trade fairs ensure longevity of the industry and its stakeholders
Trade fairs help furniture manufacturers, dealers, and buyers in multiple ways, such as brand awareness, forging relationships with prospective clients, strengthening ties with existing clients, networking, assessing competition, and learning new trends and technologies. For furniture manufacturers, trade fairs bring new opportunities to expand their trade channel in the form of dealerships.
Dealers or channel partners can strengthen their bonds with suppliers and explore alliances with other manufacturers. For buyers, a furniture trade fair is a versatile platform for on-the-spot buying, getting a touch-and-feel of new trends, and planning for their future furniture purchases.
If you’re an interior designer, architect, or even a raw material supplier, a furniture trade fair shouldn’t be missed as new vistas are always on the cards. Moreover, many media houses, and online selling portals books stalls at furniture trade fairs to strengthen the value chain. Even if you’re a random visitor, a furniture exhibition will leave an indelible mark on you in one way or the other. And that’s because furniture complements our life.
As a manufacturer, you are always on the look-out for new machinery and technology that can assure sustained returns-on-investment (ROI). You might also be willing to contribute to the welfare of the environment by adopting eco-friendly manufacturing practices. Furniture trade fairs open-up these possibilities to you.
5 reasons why you should attend furniture trade fairs
Here are five reasons why furniture manufacturers, dealers, and buyers should attend trade fairs
1. Brand Awareness
No matter how new or old a player you are in the furniture industry, a trade fair can only strengthen your foothold on the turf. You should not forget that new manufacturers, dealers, and end-users always pop-up every now and then. Whatever your furniture forte, you must invest wholeheartedly in creating awareness of your brand.
Particularly, new furniture manufacturers and dealers will discover that a trade fair is arguably the best medium of increasing visibility. If your booth stands-out, then your brand will also stand-out from others. You may want to invest in attractive and informative brochures, catalogues, and flyers that talk of your furniture products in detail.
2. Fostering Alliances
In spite of numerous emails and texts that furniture manufacturers, dealers, and buyers exchange, the experience of a rendezvous is far more pleasing and fruitful. That’s what a furniture trade fair facilitates. Manufacturers invest heavily in their furniture making units, and are always keen on meeting prospective channel partners.
And if someone wants to invest in a furniture retail outlet or a dealership then over-the-table interactions at trade fairs become the stepping stones for those journeys. A win-win proposition for both the dealers and manufacturers, furniture trade fairs have historically been ideal launch pads for long-lasting business alliances. Buyers on the other hand get to see a variety of options, and return better acquainted with furniture trends and technologies.
3. Networking
For all the stakeholders of the furniture industry, trade fairs facilitate unhindered networking opportunities. Meeting old associates, channel partners, attending conferences, interacting with media-personnel, and trade fair organizers always prove beneficial. Most importantly, furniture trade fairs are attended by international brands, industry experts, and speakers – hence better networking and more business opportunities.
Well, the networking opportunities are equally available for researchers, journalists, web developers, and students. A mere exchange of business cards and pleasantries lays the foundation for future interactions.
4. Assessing Competition
Furniture trade fairs are excellent mediums to see what your competitors are doing, and how you have to match them step-for-step. For example, if your competitor’s booth is witnessing a good footfall, you might consider the option of visiting it personally and see what’s so alluring about it. It may be technology, innovative products, on-the-spot deals, and even live training that attracts more people towards a furniture brand.
The hottest takeaway in modern furniture is ergonomics -physical comfort in tune with nature’s guidelines. When you feel physically fit and carry a good posture, your brain starts producing the ‘happy hormone’. Ergonomics is a deciding factor of how you’d fare in the furniture industry. The more you raise the ergonomics bar, the better chances of you beating the competition. Crucially, ergonomics is always on display at furniture exhibitions.
5. Training and Education
When manufacturers, dealers, and buyers of furniture converge on a single platform such as a trade fair, training and education are always on the agenda. Better selling techniques, after-sales support, emerging technologies, new product ranges, and profitability are the pertinent points of discussion.
In fact, manufacturers also organize workshops on applicator training to help their channel partners in strengthening their grip on the market. Buyers and other visitors can also attend these educational drills to learn more about the furniture industry. Who knows, a random visitor to a furniture trade fair might soon be a part of the industry soon!
Conclusion
Furniture trade fairs should be encouraged, promoted, and never be missed out. The avenues that they open are just too good to be left unexplored. They only strengthen the furniture industry and its stakeholders to live long and reap long-lasting rewards.