Trade  fairs

Trade-fairs pre-date the Roman Empire, and in the Middle Age Europe, local traders could meet merchants from distant countries and trade goods (Allix, 1922; Rinallo, 2011). The term fair was first used in the Middle Ages and stems from the Latin word "feria", which means a religious festival that usually takes place near a church or convent (www.ufi.org).

During the Industrial Revolution trade fairs became a means for states, with England as the leader, to show the world what the country could offer of national industrial production, and to foster political prestige (Roche, 2000; Rinallo, 2011). At the end of the nineteenth century the most important trade-fairs from pre-industrial Europe experienced a change. They went from being goods fairs, where products were displayed and sold directly, to sample fairs where only samples were exhibited and delivery of actual merchandise happened at a later date. Germany was the first country to introduce samples, and was soon followed by France, Italy and other European countries. These fairs attracted both generic and business visitors (Rinallo, 2011).

In the 1950s the trade-fairs became more professional and specialized, and up to today the most important trade fairs are for professional visitors and are industry-specific (Golfetto, 2004; Rinallo, 2011).

Trade fairs today are “events that bring together in a single location a group of suppliers who set up physical exhibits of their products and services from a given industry” (Black 1986;

Rinallo, 2011). The International Union of Trade Fairs (UFI) define trade fairs as “market events of a specific duration, held at intervals, at which a large number of companies present the main product range of one or more industry sectors and mainly sell it on the basis of samples”. Trade fairs predominantly attract trade and business visitors (www.ufi.org). They

are important information sources as they reduce the search costs of visitors by gathering a large number of suppliers at the same time and place.

In the European Union the number of fairs are thousands, and as a result of globalization, firms in business-to-business markets attend a higher number of foreign trade fairs. The majority of global trade fair activity is concentrated in the older markets of Western Europe and North America. Smaller markets of Eastern Europe, South America and Asia are growing at a fast rate (Rinallo, 2011). In order for a trade fair to be recognized as international the number of direct foreign exhibitors must be at a minimum of 10% of the total number of exhibitors, or the number of foreign visits or visitors must be at least 5% of the total number of visits/visitors (www.ufi.org).

Numbers from UFI from 2010 show that exhibitions in 21 countries had a total of 1973 trade fairs and exhibitions (consumer fairs) with 575 597 exhibitors and 52,2 million visitors. 46%

of exhibitions were addressed to trade visitors, 39% to public visitors (consumers) and 15%

to both (www.ufi.org).

The world recession hit the trade fair industry hard in some regions. The Asia/Pacific region was hit in 2008 and reached its lowest turnover in 2009. Europe was hit by the recession in 2009. The fifth Global Exhibition Barometer from UFI shows that only 41% of survey participants recorded increased turnover in the first half of 2010. 80% of the participants could still feel the recession, and the majority of participants believed it can last until 2012.

The Middle East and Africa was less hit than other continents, and most businesses showed stable profits in 2010 compared to 2008 and 2009 (www.fieramilanonews.it).

The results from latest survey by UFI, the 7^th Global Barometer Survey, showed that the international trade fair market is recovering. Of the participants, three out of ten companies in Europe, four out of ten in America and six out of ten in Asia/Pacific reported a 10%

increase in profits in 2010. Half of these companies expect this positive trend to continue in 2011. Despite these numbers the economic crisis continues to affect half of the interviewed participants in these areas (www.fieramilanonews.it).

2.1.1 Consumer fairs

Consumer fairs (also referred to as exhibitions and public fairs) are a type of fairs that attract mainly consumers and the public as visitors as a contrast to trade fairs and the more industry

specific audience. According to UFI a consumer fair or exhibition can be defined as “market events of a specific duration, held at intervals, at which a large number of companies present a representative product range of one or more industry sectors and sell it or provide information about it for the purposes of sales promotion. Exhibitions predominantly attract the general public” (www.ufi.org). The amounts of fairs that address solely consumers are less than those addressing professionals (39% as opposed to 46%). The 39% includes all consumer fairs within all industries, and this number show that a fairly high amount of fairs address consumers and the public. Consumer fairs are thus an important marketing tool for companies, and should be taken into consideration when planning the promotional mix. As scarce research exist on consumer fairs, it is hard to say exactly what motivates consumers to visit such fairs. It is therefore interesting to investigate events that are of high importance within sales and marketing, but that we currently know little about from a research perspective.

Trade fairs targeting consumers experienced an incline in visits after the mid 1980s, however a slight decline at the end of the 1990’s (Kirchgeorg, 2005). In the society of today, with Internet and mass communication, it is easy for consumers to gather information about different products and alternatives from advertising or by visiting shops. Therefore the logic would be that there is no need for trade shows targeting consumers unless the purchase of a product carries a certain amount of financial or symbolic risk. Such purchases are buying a yacht or wedding apparel, or very expensive jewellery and watches. In such cases the consumers will be interested in comparing alternatives and process more information to avoid these risks. Despite this logic, consumer fairs have experienced success as a result of adopting an experiential formula based on emotional, sensorial and behavioural stimulations (Rinallo, 2011). Consumers visit fairs and exhibitions for hedonic reasons, and the exhibitors try to engage consumers and create unforgettable experiences. Some fairs are open for both the public and trade such as fairs for interior design and travel and leisure. These fairs can be problematic because the audience wants different things; the consumers want experiences while professionals want information to make purchases (Rinallo, 2011).

Research within the field of consumer fairs is limited, while there exist several contributions in the field of business-to-business fairs (Rinallo, 2011). Therefore this field very interesting to investigate and research will contribute with valuable knowledge as to how to attract visitors.