Ideal Home Show has shrunk?

itm2

Just got back from a signifcantly smaller Ideal Home Show than usual at Olympia - smaller floorspace, and hence more crowded and fewer exhibitors. It seemed like alot of the larger exhibitors that you would normally see at the show were missing. It was all a bit flat really.
Anyone know whether this was due to lack of interest from exhibitors, or less exhibition space being made available by the venue?

vikingaero

My friend used to exhibit his flooring at the Ideal Home. Cost is the biggest consideration. When he first started it was £5k for the tiniest stand and it has ramped up ever since. Because it's flooring he needs a decent sized stand even with using the walls. He has to release 2-4 members of staff to man it for over 2 weeks. Add on the cost of the stand and marketing, samples and promo material and it's a £50k undertaking for a small business. That's £50k of profit he has to clear to break even.

The biggest problem are that people go for a day out and not necessarily to buy, compounded by free tickets given out left right and centre.

Owain_Moneysaver

Perhaps it reflects the fact that new homes are getting smaller?

pelirocco

The Christmas one has always been small... In fact didn't they stop doing this one for a few years?

itm2

pelirocco wrote: »

The Christmas one has always been small... In fact didn't they stop doing this one for a few years?

We've been to the last 3 Xmas shows at Olympia and this was the smallest. In terms of floorspace, the Xmas shows have always been the same as the March shows (at least since the show moved to Olympia a few years ago).