Economy vs. Premium Displays

Over the past 5 years it has become more and more important to compete on price in the trade show industry. I remember when the retractable banner stand first came to market. We were introduced to them by Expand International and sold many of them for what I recall to be around $550 each.

We still sell a lot of the Expand units, but we sell a lot more of the imports that are a fraction of the price. (as well as a fraction of the quality)

Today there are people who sell retractable banner stands online for as low as $100 each. All of these units are made in China and are printed on a very low cost banner material also made in China. If you have a need for a lot of them for a one-day event of if you really need a display and just don't have the budget maybe you can get lucky and these ultra-economy units could work for you.

The economy unit we sell at CDS Displays costs $299 and we sell hundreds each year and have only ever had two complaints. However one of the complaints came just this past Friday. A customer's unit simply "released" and would not roll up anymore. Of course I can tell from the condition that someone had dropped it, and I was able to fix the unit, but the conversation began (from the client) related to the availability of a better quality unit.

I informed the client that his company was buying their units from some sort of a quick sign franchise before finding us and that they were looking for a lower cost option when they came to us. I also informed him that we offer professional quality banner stands from both Expand International and Expolinc USA.

He asked me how much more would these premium units cost and I told him they would be $100 - $200 more per unit. He did not hesitate to say that from now on they will buy the premium units and that he would actually like a quote to swap his graphics from the economy to the premium display stands.

Please comment to share your thoughts on the difference between price and quality for this type of display product.

A Resurgence In Trade Show Attendance

Last month during the New York IBS (International Beauty Show) at the Javits Center in New York City we noticed a very significant resurgence in attendees. I personally have not seen a trade show crown like this since before 9-11-2001. Below are a few pictures that we took at the event to shows an example of the crowd.

Sure there was a big draw at this Milania booth due to the attendance of Real Housewives star Teresa Giudice, but this is a not just a coincidence. We have seen similar attendance increases at many other trade shows so far this year.

 

Of course it doesn't hurt to have a great looking booth like Milania and a celebrity in attendance to drive those crowds to your booth. The show was a selling show for Milania and a big success. They completely sold out of product and as you can see from some of these additional photos the shelves were full.

Milania display by CDS Displays - www.cdsdisplays.com 

How To Choose a Display Brand

At least once a week we are being contacted by another new display manufacturer that is looking to sign us up as a dealer for their products and systems.

Founded in 1983, CDS Displays was a pioneer in providing lightweight, custom, portable and modular display and exhibit systems. Back then there were only a couple manufacturers and very few dealers/distributors in the US.

Most of our competition was building everything out of wood and metal which was very heavy and had to ship in large wooden crates. We competed by offering products that were much lighter weight and very portable. These solutions provided our customers significant savings and flexibility.

Back in the 80's there were only a handful of brands on the market including Featherlite, Nimlok, Channel Kor, Tiger Mark and Skyline. Today there are probably close to 100 different brands competing for space in our showrooms.

It is nearly impossible to introduce our clients to all of the brands and options available. Our approach now requires a stellar interview process regarding our customers needs and goals for their exhibit program.

Not every company is budget conscience regarding their exhibit program, but if we try too hard to understand budgets we risk being viewed as pushy. The truth is that budget concerns is the best place to start when trying to decide on a brand or system to recommend. The following are the factors that need to be understood to help a dealer figure out which of the endless brands and products to recommend.

1 - Budget (How important is it to reduce shipping and storage costs?)
2 - Design (Do you need a completely customized solution?)
3 - Ease of setup (Would you ever set this up yourself or are you concerned with show labor costs?)
4 - Flexibility (Will the exhibit always be used in the same size and configuration?)

With this information an experienced exhibit consultant can surely find you a product that will meet all of your needs and concerns.

Introducing the Featherlite Medallion Display

A smarter, better looking display has sparked a resurgence.

2 years ago when we were invited by Graeme Nelson (President of Featherlite) to visit his hospitality suite at "The Hotel" in Las Vegas during the annual Exhibitor Show our sales numbers with Featherlite were at a 10 year low. CDS Displays has been a Featherlite Dealer since 1986 and had been one of their top dealers during many of those years.

Unfortunately with the flood of lower priced (and lower quality of course) manufacturers hitting the market combined with cost conscience, recession-stunned exhibitors it had become increasingly difficult to sell the premium brands such as Featherlite.

However, what Graeme had to show us in Las Vegas was exactly what we both needed to reverse the trend and rekindle our position as a top Featherlite dealer. We knew immediately that Featherlite had a winner and CDS Display's customers have proved we were right by adopting the Medallion as the new, must have addition to their exhibit programs.

The Medallion has even opened the doors to many new clients we had been trying to meet with for years.

Some early adapters included United Rentals (The largest equipment rental company in the world), Nuance, (makers of Dragon TM Dictation software) and Emhart Technologies (Stanley, Black & Decker Inc.) just to name a few. Here are a few photos of them.




Click here for more information on Featherlite Displays or the new Medallion Display line.

Corporate Display Specialties, Inc.
www.cdsdisplays.com

Find out why the Featherlite Medallion is setting the standard for lightweight portable trade show displays and exhibits. 

Trade Show Traffic Builder

A Simple Traffic Stopper - The Prize Wheel

You know that you have looked around to find the source of the "clicking" wheel with people cheering while walking the floor of a trade show. We all do it. I actually won a Playstation Portable at a show in New York. That's much better than a t-shirt.

We recently rented a Prize Wheel to the Dr. Pepper group and when it came back it had some great prize slots including NBA tickets. (and some t-shirt spaces too)

Some times the main prize can be as simple as an entry to a drawing for a large prize such as an ipad or a large dollar value gift or gas card while the rest of the slots are filled with small prizes like t-shirts or flashlights etc.

Everyone like a free chance to win something and the sound of the wheel spinning will bring more people to stop and look than you would think.



Prize wheels come in many different sizes and can be floor standing or table top units. The prize slots most often can be printed out on your desktop printer and adding color including a photo of each prize will add to the magic. See on our website Prize Wheel.

What actually constitutes a "Pop-up Display?"

The term pop-up display is often misunderstood since there are several types of displays that can fall into that category. To an experienced trade show industry professional a "pop-up display" usually refers to a standard 10 x 10 curved display that utilizes magnetic front panels that are either fabric covered or graphic printed. Pop-up displays often utilize their shipping case as a front counter or podium. The industry term for this is a "case-to-counter" conversion kit.

There are several newer types of displays that fall into the "pop-up" category including big fabric displays and flag frame displays. The difference between a traditional pop-up display and a big fabric pop-up display is that with the newer style, big fabric displays the graphic actually remains on the frame when the display is setup and taken down. Where the traditional pop-up displays need to have the graphics detached and reattached for setup and breakdown.

The flag frame style of pop-up displays also keep their graphics in place when setup and taken down. This obviously makes it much easier to and less time consuming to setup and break down the newer styles of pop-up displays versus the traditional pop-up displays. The main difference between a flag frame and a big fabric pop-up display is the graphics configurations. A big fabric display utilizes a large single graphic graphic where a flag frame unit allows for multiple graphic panels which adds a level of versatility and style.

How to Identify Dates and Locations for Industry Tradeshows

One of the most common questions we hear from clients is: "How can I find a list of tradeshows in my industry?" Of course we want to help our clients to find trade shows to participate in because that means more displays and graphics which is what we produce. For years we would do the research and follow up with the customers who asked with one or two recommendations. It was a lot of work and a frustrating task.

After many years of researching this information the hard way, B2B Communications comes along with a great resource known as "The Trade Show Calendar" which we quickly installed on our website as a tool for our clients to use self-service style. You can see the tool at http://www.cdsdisplays.com/resources/.

The Trade Show Calendar lets you search for trade shows by industry, location, date, and much more. The results include important data such as square feet of the show, number of exhibitors and attendance. Possibly the best feature is that the results also include a link to the website for the show itself.

This feature has been a great addition to our website and provides a great resource for our team internally and our clients. We hope you enjoy its value as well.