Richard Gottlieb

The collapse of the trade shows

We live in a time of so much change that the very institutions we take for granted are going away. 

A trade publication this week reported that SHOPA, the School and Home Products Association, plans to file for bankruptcy. Nowhere as old as Toy Fair (it was founded in 1991), SHOPA's show never-the-less had become an important trade show for the school and office supply industries.

News of SHOPA's pending bankruptcy follows the shrinking last year of E3, the video game industry show, as well as by the decision of JPMA, the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association, to merge its mass market-oriented event into the historically specialty-market oriented ABC Kids Expo.

What does this mean for the toy industry? Here is what I think:

• Trade shows are not as durable as we thought.  They are like house plants that, if not nurtured consistently, die. So, don’t assume that you can fail to exhibit or attend a toy industry trade show and that it will just continue to be there when you are ready to come back. It may not be.
• The TIA, ASTRA, GAMA, CHI-TAG, and all other organizations that put on shows for the toy industry need to be constantly re-thinking what is happening in the marketplace and how they need to change with the times.
• There may be opportunities for toy industry trade shows to expand their coverage by reaching out to some of the exhibitors and buyers who attended these, now defunct, shows.  This is particularly true of E3 whose gaming hardware and software companies need a home and Toy Fair could be the place. 

This is a time of rapid change which may call for rapid response. Are we fast enough?

Posted by Richard Gottlieb on October 24, 2007 | Comments (0)