April 24, 2008
Natural Products Expo West has revised its show floor format in response to buyer requests. "Customers want to be more efficient in shopping the show," Brian Henderson, VP/director of trade shows, said. "There is so much that buyers need to accomplish."
The new show-within-a-show concept will allow retailers to visit 12 specific pavilions for seven separate product categories. The advantage, Kay Gazaway, VP of trade shows, said, is that buyers with limited time on the show floor can target the areas they are most interested in to shop effortlessly for the products they need.
The categories are food, supplements, personal care, complementary and alternative medicine, international, supply, and natural living. Some categories are further divided: Food has organic, specialty, vegetarian, and an organic wine and beer garden; supply has raw materials and store supplies and equipment services; and natural living has pet and natural living.
Additionally, plazas (stages set up within the food, natural living and personal care categories) will allow manufacturers to speak directly to retailers in a theater-style setting. "We envision everything from a fashion show in natural living, a makeover in the personal care plaza, and food demonstrations in the food plaza," Henderson said.
To make shopping the show easier, the pavilions have been color-coded as have the seminars for each separate track. "This new vertical show—with its pavilions, plazas, networking and educational seminars—adds depth in each category," Linda Cave Jones, VP of trade show sales, said. "It corrals a big show into something that gives you a complete experience in a particular field. Buyers can more easily visit exhibitors according to the particular categories that they manage."
Natural Products Expo West will take place from March 7 to 10 in Anaheim, Calif.; retailers can preshop the show at www.expowest.com.
Natural Foods Merchandiser volume XXIII/number 1/p. 5
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