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SEE PAGE 6
www.tradedays.co.uk •
@tradedaysuk
JUNE 2014
IT’S ABOUT TIME! TRADE AND PROFESSION BACK NEW INDUSTRY EVENT
Welcome to YOUR new event... the countdown has begun to the opening of Trade Days (Sunday/ Monday, October 5th & 6th – NEC Birmingham) – the new event for businesses like yours who retail, wholesale, manufacture or supply products for the mobility, independent living and assistive technology market. As the name implies, it is a ‘trade-only’ event created at the request of the Trade who demanded its own event that is relevant, more focussed and tailored exclusively to retailers’ and suppliers’ needs. They asked for a different kind of exhibition and environment where they would have all the time they need to do business and where they knew every exhibitor was there to do business with retailers like themselves. Retailers and the trade wanted a forum where business and retail owners could access free practical educational sessions and training for themselves and their teams. They wanted an event which allows them to network among their peers and look for ideas to help them grow their business. Show Director, Matthew Butler
Trade Days is your event, brought to you through a partnership between multi award-winning healthcare event organiser CloserStill Media and BHTA Engage and supported by THIIS Magazine, Medtrade, Medilink, Disabled Living Foundation and a number of other very influential organisations. The registration for the event opened this month online at www.tradedays.co.uk and already more than 500 retailers have registered their place. More than 120 exhibitors have booked into the Trade Days exhibition including some of the biggest names in the industry as well plenty of new companies with exciting innovations. (See pages 4 & 5 for the latest exhibitor list). Event Director Matthew Butler is encouraging retailers and their teams to register their place early so that they get all the news about the event as it is announced and plan their visit carefully to take advantage of the exclusive deals, buying and training opportunities. “Trade Days will be unlike any other event that retailers in this market have been to”, said Matthew
“Firstly, we are confident every member of the team will be able to takeaway at least one thing from our 50+ free seminars that they will be able to implement straight away whether in the office, showroom or workshop. (see pages 6 & 7 for details of the training and seminar programmes). “We will also make sure that they have all the time they need to talk business in a professional environment with new and existing suppliers. We know that retailers will find new products to benefit their business and their customers and there are plenty of companies exhibiting that do not go to other shows and of the 120 companies currently booked into the Trade Days exhibition, 60 of them were not at Naidex last month,” Matthew added. Special trade-only offers Matthew is confident that a visit to Trade Days will benefit retailers financially too. “Unlike any other show in the UK in this marketplace, the two days are going to be all about driving business, margins and profits. Exhibitors will be able to present themselves and their products on their stands with just one audience in mind - the retail and distribution trade. As a result, there will be plenty of tradeonly deals on offer, deals that will only be available during the two days of the show – there will be a book circulated to registered attendees upon arrival with offers worth thousands of pounds of savings exclusively offered for the two-days at the show.” Jonathan Hearth, Managing Director of Electric Mobility Ltd said: “Electric Mobility is really excited by the opportunity ‘Trade Days’ presents to reinvigorate the value of exhibiting to our trade customers.” Anthony Kiff, Managing Director of Wilcare added: “Trade Days is a fresh new approach which is just what the industry needed and it ticks all the boxes for us as it is targeted to attract the
Why I’ll be at Trade Days By Alastair Gibbs, TPG Disableaids This year I attended Naidex for two full days, having pre-arranged meetings with a number of companies and individuals. On the whole it was reasonably successful but on two occasions I found myself cutting short the conversation or quickly changing the topic when either a healthcare professional or a service user came within earshot. Now don’t get me wrong, I do like to interact with these folk who are, after all, my customers. But there are some types of conversation that should only occur between manufacturer and distributer. It is of no relevance to these customers if we have supply issues or quality observations on the products we purchase for re-sale. It is also only professional to not burden our customers with what goes on in the background. For these reasons I would urge all retailers / dealers / distributers to make use of Trade
Days. It is an ideal opportunity to have those in-depth conversations, to attend commercial presentations and to learn from networking with other companies. All without the fear that a customer may hear part of the conversation and get the wrong end of the stick. With an intense programme of presentations over the two days from which to select your preferred topic and the opportunity to compare your current supplier with others in a similar field, side by side, it just seems to make very good sense. On a cautionary note I would also add that as this is the very first ‘Trade Only’ event, if we do not support it with enthusiasm, it may never happen again. From my point of view that would be a great opportunity missed.
Knowing that everyone you see and speak to is in the trade, just like yourself, will make it so much easier to do business. Richard Holland-Oakes, Recare
We will definitely be attending and the inclusion of a Sunday will make it easier for many other retailers to attend too. Great idea. Kevin Snowball, Managing Director Simplyhealth
We are all looking forward to visiting Trade Days this October where we can spend time with new and existing suppliers. A long-overdue concept. Jemma Dunn, MT Mobility Limited
Trade days provides the right environment for businesses like ours to be able to sit down with existing and new suppliers and have the time to talk properly about how we can move forward together. Phil Moore, The Care Team
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Registration now open at www.tradedays.co.uk/free-trade Partners: