- Preparing for the show
Home & Gift takes place every July in the market town of Harrogate in Yorkshire, UK. The 14 dedicated exhibition halls span the entire Harrogate International Centre site comprising a mix of permanent (and beautiful) buildings and specially erected marquees. Show sectors including Giftware, Jewellery and Fashion, Interiors and Accessories and Greetings and Stationery. According to the organiser’s facts and figures, the event attracts over 12,000 visitors across its 4 days. One of the key selling points for me was that 66% of these visitors are reported to be independent retailers, the very audience I try to target with my own label’s product ranges.
Coming from a contemporary craft background, Home & Gift was quite a big step for me both financially and emotionally. The trade shows I had experience of are smaller events, predominantly targeting independent gift shops and galleries where the owners are either designer-makers themselves or are passionate about the contemporary craft sector. However, my work has recently gone down a more commercial route (well one aspect of it anyway) so I decided I needed to try a more commercial trade event. Home & Gift seemed like a nice intermediate event, not too big and didn’t require me to get myself and my work in and out of London!
I had to do quite a lot of making and designing for the show (at the moment I still decorate and fire a lot of my tableware myself) and the paperwork for the show was quite immense! One thing I would say to anyone who hasn’t done a trade show before, you’re lovely work is not enough. You need to invest time and energy in pre-show marketing and making sure your trade information is of a good quality, if you don’t you are basically throwing money down the toilet – and these shows are not cheap!
I didn’t have anything to benchmark the show against with it being the first time I had done it. Seasoned attendees around me were saying they thought it was quiet but from my point of view I made some contacts at the show and all of the people who ordered off me were new – which was another of my targets for the show. Plus 2016 seems to have been a strange year for retail so I was pretty happy with the outcome.
Key things I learnt from the show were:
- In contemporary craft the price is not really the major factor in people buying your work. At Home & Gift price is definitely key and this is certainly something I’ll have to look at before next year’s show if I want to target larger or chain independents. Traditionally I have designed something, be it tableware or sculpture, made it and then priced it. For this audience I feel I need to set a retail price and then design based around that.
- I built my stand as I would at a contemporary craft event. I was really happy with it but felt for this audience there was too much for people to look at. I am used to people handling my work and reading the little comments hidden in the pieces – this didn’t happen here. Buyers seems to scan the stands in seconds and that determined whether they returned later to look more closely. I think maybe less is more at this show. Concise and cohesive not cluttered and carried away with putting everything I have ever done on display!
- The bigger retailers were definitely looking for work that they could visualize just picking off your stand and popping onto their shelves. Little capsule collections seemed to be the order of the day and this observation was followed up and confirmed by chats with more established designers.
- After the show
I went to Home & Gift before UPB took place but I will be back at Home & Gift in 2017, armed with the knowledge gleaned at the 2016 show and with the skills and ideas I have learnt on the course. It will be interesting to see what effect a few changes and some new ways of thinking will have on my 2017 experience. Exciting!
Find out more about Helen at the following links:
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Helen’s top three tips:
Investing in shows is always a bit scary I think, no matter what stage of career you are at. They are a significant investment and if you are the designer you need to develop a bit of a tough skin. Your work is not going to be for everyone but that’s a good thing, you soon find out where your work fits in the world and that helps you move forward. For anyone thinking of throwing themselves into a trade show my top 3 tips are:
- Really, really, really address that pricing!
- Be informed and confident about your products. You might have your concerns about a design but don’t project this onto your audience. If they say they love it give a big smile and say thank you
- Always ask for a business card or contact details of the people who stop to talk to you about your work (I potentially missed a really big opportunity because I was so star struck I forget to get the ladies details, numpton)
- (I know I said 3 tips) take a clipboard and make sure you drink as much as you can to stay hydrated. Not easy when you are on your own but it’s important
