Best Spring Fair since 2007

Retailers with a combined spending power of £12 billion heralded a boon of record-breaking transactions for many exhibitors at Spring Fair International, the biggest home and gift event in the buying calendar.

It is estimated that around £2 billion of orders will be placed by buyers as a direct result of their attendance at the show, which took place on February 7 – 11 at the NEC Birmingham.

At the close of the show, visitor numbers totaled 71,239 (unaudited), outstripping the previous two years’ attendance figures. Not since 2007 have so many retailers flocked to Spring Fair. International visitors also increased by 8 per cent to over 5,600 (unaudited) compared with last year’s event. More than 20,000 jewellery buyers attended The Jewellery Show (Halls 17 & 18) alone.

Over the five days, buyers keen to restock for 2010 visited the show’s 2,800 exhibitors, who launched more than 270,000 new products between them. Some suppliers reported their best-ever trade show.

Show organiser Emap Connect invested some £2 million in the production of Spring Fair International and The Jewellery Show, which was spent on the creation of crowd-pulling new features, customer service initiatives and marketing and PR campaigns. This built on the success of Autumn Fair International 2009, which signaled a retail revival and also saw an increase in visitor numbers from both the UK and overseas.

The managing director of Emap Connect, Louise Young, commented: “Spring Fair International 2010 has been a resounding success. Our feedback indicates that substantial orders have been placed. Retailers are keener than ever to restock and differentiate their offering.

“The retail industry is one of the UK’s biggest employers and if the high street thrives in 2010 it will help lift the country further out of recession. No one is resting on their laurels now thinking it will be easy, but exhibitors at Spring Fair have provided an outstanding range of products to give retailers the best possible platform for success in the year ahead.”

Louise Young, who describes newer, smaller businesses as “the creative lifeblood of the home and gift industry” was delighted that recently introduced initiatives resulted in some 500 suppliers taking stands at Spring Fair for the first time. An inaugural reception was held at the show for new exhibitors to meet the press and buyers.

Exhibitors across the show were delighted with the event. Stuart Illingworth, managing director of JDA member Widdop Bingham in Contemporary Gifts & Collectables, said it had been the company’s best show for four or five years and added: “The footfall has been huge and we have had an increased number of orders and increased values as well. It’s been fantastic. We have 33 members of staff on the stand and we still had customers writing their own orders or wanting to come back to see us because we were so busy.

“We have also had more international visitors. What has been great is that we have been a part of springfair.com and as the giftware sponsor it has given us a big export audience that we couldn’t have reached on our own. And we have opened lots of new accounts, which are the lifeblood of the company.”

Robert Talbot of JDA member Talbot Import Company was also extremely pleased with the results of the show. He said "The average order value was up a third, with total sales at the Spring Fair nearly doubled on last year. Also, we had people buying again who saw us in a new light, with many more asking to see the range through our agent network due to our presence on both teg.co.uk and the springfair.com and being the Fashion Accessories sector partner."

"This years success was also due to our having our biggest new range ever, coinciding with our 30th year in business. The orders reflected our diversity of the range, appealing to all ages, value for money and getting the fashion and colours right."

Stephen Thurlow from JDA member Alexander Thurlow commented: “We were very pleased to be moved into Hall 19 from the Volume Hall. We had a much better show than 2009. This was also helped by the organisers realising that as we were a Fashion led product there seemed no point now in continuing in the Volume Hall anymore and that proximity to the Fashion Accessories Section was now the best position for the five or so remaining Volume Jewellery exhibitors.”

Sangat Chandhok from JDA member Newcom Distributors reported: "Sunday got off to a slow start and it was not helped by the security guards stopping people entering Hall 18 from Hall 19 because they thought they did not have the right badges. When it was pointed out to them that anyone is allowed in as long as they have a badge, the problem was solved. Monday was a much busier day for us and the other days were steady. Customers were generally being cautious and placing smaller orders, saying they would prefer to repeat more often once the stocks sell out. Overall, our figures were up from 2009 and 2008 so it ended up as a good exhibition."