Analysis
of business conducted by buyers at the second edition of IMEX America
at the Sands Expo® in Las Vegas last October reveals that buyers
placed – or expect to place - $3.3 billion of business as a result
of attending the award-winning trade
show.
The
figure is a 17.5% increase on the $2.8 billion achieved at and during
the months after the debut show in October 2011 (source: 2011
post-show survey).
More
than 1,000 hosted buyers and buyer attendees gave their feedback in
the show’s exit survey which, according to IMEX Group
Chairman, Ray Bloom, is “an exceptional response sample”. The
post show surveys are used extensively by the IMEX Group to generate
ideas and suggestions for refining IMEX America year-over-year and
the high response rate reflects the enthusiasm for the show from the
buyers.
The
post-show survey asked buyers a series of questions about
their aims, objectives and behavior at IMEX America, including “what
is the estimated value of orders you
placed at the show and the estimated value of orders you
expect to place as a result of the show?” - a question which
produced the $3.3 billion value.
Commenting
on the figures, Ray Bloom said: “This is a firm endorsement of the
high quality of buyers we attracted this year and proof, if any were
needed, that the show delivers real business value and produces
positive results for many months afterwards.”
The
post-show survey also revealed a number of other statistics
about buyer behavior at the award-winning trade show. The
introduction of a new, personalized hosted buyer email inbox on the
IMEX website was widely praised for helping buyers to manage their
communications with exhibitors. The new approach generated a single
email every day to each buyer which alerted them to their new
appointment requests. Of the 38,000 individual appointments
made by buyers, 20% were made as a result of the improved email
inbox. This new practice will now be rolled out to all buyers
attending IMEX in Frankfurt in May.
Hosted
Buyer, Bryan Bruce of HPN Global summed it up by explaining, “I’m
very impressed with IMEX’s focus on digital and what they’re
doing to allow us as hosted buyers….to communicate on the mobile
devices, on the web before the show, during the show and, of course,
way after the show. Really, for me, the difference-maker has been the
digital component of this show. It’s been very impressive.”
Bloom
concludes: “It’s clear from this data that IMEX America is
delivering on its promise of providing an active, high-quality global
marketplace in which the meetings, events and incentive travel
industry in North America can meet and do business. In the context of
on-going economic challenges in many parts of the world these figures
are welcome and positive news all round. The data also shows that the
efforts we’ve made to perfect business interactions, such as the
single email inbox and various other online appointment tools, are
widely appreciated. They clearly provide added-value and true
business efficiency at a time when buyers and suppliers want the
process of qualifying each other and then doing business together to
be as fast and seamless as possible.”
