Why should travel retail experts attend these events?
As I often say to my team, travel retail is what I call a “people business”.
It doesn’t matter how many different products you got in your portfolio or how good your sales skills are, you can’t win the war alone! You will always need relationships and benchmarks.
I will never get tired of repeating that serious travel retail experts aiming to have success must focus on transferring value to a well-structured network built by and around them.
Now, why are TFWA Exhibitions & Conferences so great? Why are these events so important for travel retail experts?
When you run a business, it’s important to have good relationship within the industry. The reason for this being because it helps you learn about recent trends and it lets you monitor what your competitors are doing. TWFA events are the perfect way to meet retailers and buyers from all over the world.
TWFA (Tax Free World Association) is an association “whose mission is to identify trends and opportunities, build awareness and provide a business platform for the global duty free and travel retail industry to prosper”. The main way they do that is by providing a platform to all key players in order for them to connect with each other.
Read further to know about the two most important TFWA events and opportunities.
TFWA Asia Pacific Exhibition and Conference
The TFWA Asia Pacific Exhibition and Conference takes place in Singapore in Q2. Through this event, travel retail industry is gathered in one place, providing various networking opportunities. Retailers and operators can share their knowledge and it is a great way to do business.
Benefits of Attending the Conference
This event is a cost-effective and time-efficient way to meet retailers and buyers aiming to do business in Asia. The conference allows attendants to communicate with more than 300 exhibitors, get to know the latest trends and build connections. In 2016, the total number of conference visitors was 2,905, 37% of which were key buyers.
Moreover, you can familiarize with the latest products from global and regional brands and set benchmarks for your business. Furthermore, conferences provide you a great chance to improve your business skills.
TFWA World Exhibition and Conference
The TFWA World Exhibition and Conference takes place in Cannes at the beginning of Q4; premium brands cannot miss it.
It provides an industry-wide forum and a chance to communicate with key influencers. In 2016, the event was attended by 4625 operators, agents and landlords. Out of the total number, over 1000 were from Asia.
What are the Benefits of Visiting the TFWA World Exhibition and Conference?
You can profit from a worldwide audience of buyers willing to establish quality business partnerships. By attending this event, you will get the chance to know the recent global trends in the travel retail industry. Along with this, you will be able to find new buyers or reconnect with the existing ones. You can catch up with colleagues and make new contacts. It is an easy way to unlock new business opportunities.
Additional services provided by TFWA
TFWA provides great opportunities to implement your marketing strategy (you have one, right?).
Start planning your next TFWA Exhibition and Conference in advance; study all the stats of the past editions, prepare your DEM (direct email marketing) campaigns, ask your graphic designer for the best stand design ever, and train you networking skills.
The services TWFA provides to exhibitors are the following:
- A list of buyers that will be attending the events. This will help retailers in sending out invites to their
- Statistics about past
- Standard stands. Most exhibitors prefer to have their own stands, in order to better leverage their brand
- Private lounge for negotiations with the buyers. This is accessible for TWFA members
Upcoming Events
The TWFA exhibitions and conferences are for both regional and global travel retail industries. Some of the upcoming events include:
- TWFA China’s Century Conference. It will be held on 7th-9th March 2017 at
- TWFA Asia Pacific Exhibition and Conference. This is will be held on 7th-11th May 2017 at Singapore.
- TFWA World Exhibition & Conference. It will be held on 1st- 6th October 2017 at Cannes,
I will be attending the next TWFA Asia Pacific Exhibition and Conference. See you in Singapore!
