REVIEW: The Gadget Show Live Professional

We find out what the toy industry thought of the show's first ever trade day.

The event's first ever trade-only day, the Gadget Show Live Professional, attracted 4,735 trade and press from the UK and Europe, with an additional 104,579 consumers visiting the NEC, Birmingham – a 50 per cent increase on last year’s show.
After receiving positive exhibitor feedback on the trade day, marketing manager for the Gadget Show Live Professional, Helen Marriot revealed it is here to stay. She tells Toy News: “People seem very happy that we’ve added it in and on the whole we are pleased with how it went. We will definitely be continuing with it.”
The next Gadget Show Live has been confirmed for April 10th to 15th 2012, with the Professional day on April 9th.
In 2010, only two hours were set-aside for exhibitors to network and do business before doors opened to the public. “It’s very difficult to have business discussions in a consumer environment, especially where people might want to talk about sensitive subjects like trade prices,” Marriot says.
Marriot explains to ToyNews that the organiser was keen to see more toys on show next year, adding: “They make the event fun by giving children a hands on experience of playing, which is very important for the event. They also fit the TV programme’s profile as a family show.
“It would be great to see more quality toy manufacturers get involved. With all the expensive high end tech on show, there needs to be affordable gadgets consumers can take home and the toys are perfect for this.”

Strong growth for online sales

Online sales in March were 14 per cent up on last year, according to the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index with shoppers spending a total of £5.1 billion online.
And the widening gap between multi-channel and online-only retailers continued to increase in March. Those with both a high-street and online presence witnessed a 19 per cent growth on average compared with March last year, while online experienced just 6 per cent.
The Index has seen 18 per cent growth during the first quarter compared with the same period last year, – the strongest first quarter performance in three years.
Chris Webster, head of retail consulting and technology at Capgemini said: “The 18 per cent growth in the Index during Q1 is indicative of a new trend. Consumers are indeed tightening belts, but they are still shopping, and have simply become more strategic in their buying habits.”

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Winning Awards. Award winning retailers tell us what it means for them

A nomination at the Oscars can boost box office takings by the odd few million, so what can a nod of approval from the retail industry do for online retailers? We speak to award winning retailers John Lewis, Prezzybox and Seraphine, and discuss the benefits of being nominated with dance gear favourite Pineapple.

In any business, an award can bring financial benefit or a pat on the back which impacts how that company is seen by other businesses, consumers and those within the company itself. For organisations, large and small, winning awards matters.
With online retail becoming one of the fastest growing industries in recent years, new awards have sprung up to recognise excellence in the field of e-commerce and are attracting entrants from huge organisations to tiny start ups.
Getting nominated
The UK.COM Awards are one such web specific awards group which recognise ideas, design, functionality and content of a site. The judging panel, put together by Directors Of .COM Founder Leon Bailey-Green, includes Sarah Beeny, TV presenter and Mysinglefriend.com Founder, and BBC Click’s Kate Russell.
For Pineapple, whose website has proven a real pull and a success, being nominated for the Best Original Idea for a Creative Website at the awards is an exciting time according to the company’s Caleb Newman.
“Although it has been a great year for Pineapple, it is encouraging that our hard work in developing a fun online presence for our dancers has been recognised in this way. We are in a stellar group of nominees, so to be nominated is already an achievement,” he said.