As the Sydney Gift Fair opened its doors on Friday 18 February, many exhibitors were hopeful but didn’t want to have too high expectations of the first AGHA fair in two years.
However, the fair was a great success and feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.
Richard Hogan of Duomo World Collection says it has been a fantastic show and everyone has been pleasantly surprised about how good it was.
“We have had quite a few new buyers that we have not seen before including conference buyers looking for gifts as well as the TV shopping network,” he comments.
“Overall, there was a general feeling that most of the retailers were glad to be back buying in a face-to-face environment.”
He adds while there were less people coming through the show than you would expect normally, the quality of the buyers was there and as a result there were fewer ‘tyre kickers’.
“As the fair was smaller, the buyers were not as rushed—they could spend more time looking at the stands as there were less stands to look at and they would spend up to half an hour on the stand making the order. Buyers were interested in our imported Italian dog collars and leads, and our imported feather quills that we are known for have also been popular.”
As the only exhibitor from Perth, Peter Wagener from Euro Poles says Sydney Gift Fair has been the best trade show he has ever attended, with the right people coming through at the right time.
“The people that have been at this particular show are people that have wanted to be here and they have not been people that have been here just for the fun of it—they have been looking for different things to help make their businesses more comfortable; how can they give their customers a better experience and make them look good, which is what we do,” he explains.
The kind of people coming through has been quite varied, ranging from a buyer from one of the islands in Queensland who bought a bunch of deck chairs and umbrellas to a customer from Victoria buying floor coverings and interior designers from Sydney wanting wallpaper, while others were interested in Euro Poles’ illuminated artworks, which were on display for only the second time, says Wagener.
“We are left-field and people don’t expect to come to a show like this and expect to see a company like us here [as the only exhibitor from Perth] and it has definitely played to our advantage.”
For Odi Reuveni, director of Cup O Flora it has been a very successful show with lots of customers visiting the stand—some new customers, some old customers and even some suppliers. He loved seeing the entrepreneurial spirit is still alive and well despite Covid.
“The customers that have come to the show are happy to meet face to face and meet the people behind the brands,” he says.
“We have all been locked down for way too long and people are really happy to do what humans do—have a chat, smile and hear about the brands and the products. We had new products at the show including our first range of wall-hanging products. These have been very popular as this is the first time we have taken our products off the shelf and placed them on the wall.
“We also have some new designs as well as propagation stations that received strong reviews from buyers and also generated a lot of sales.
“Overall, the AGHA exhibition has been a great investment and I am already talking to the organisers about going back to the fair in August,” he enthuses.
