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