Online Trade Shows: The Future Of Business Exhibitions

Submitted by: Zacharias Voulgaris

Online trade shows, also known as online business exhibitions, are a new trend that has been observed recently, as a business promotion tool. They are in essence the virtual counterpart of the conventional business exhibitions which have been used all over the world for decades.

Business exhibitions are places where business people of a particular industry gather to promote their companies to potential customers and collaborators. Interestingly, they remain quite popular despite the heavy cost they entail (for example in the UK the renting of the space alone is at least ?200/m2 and that’s just for a typical exhibition). This could be attributed to the fact that they do yield the desired results, to some extent, as they manage to gather targeted audience, often from distant locations (in the case of specialized and established exhibitions). What’s more, they are successful at giving the opportunity to the perspective clients to see first-hand what each company has to offer and to talk with its representatives about its products or services. In addition, business exhibitions are often quite informative through the abundance of information that they offer via presentations by various experts. Finally, business exhibitions, particularly the more established ones, are an excellent way to learn about the trends of a particular industry as well as find out about good investment opportunities.

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All these are among the perks offered by online trade shows as well. The most noticeable difference between the two, which also gives online trade shows an edge, is the cost. Online trade shows are significantly cheaper that the traditional business exhibitions and use minimal resources (making them have a very light carbon footprint). This is particularly important in this economy where reducing marketing costs seems to be a priority in several companies. Online trade shows also have another important advantage over traditional trade shows: accessibility. As they are on the internet, they can be accessed anytime from anyplace that has an internet connection. In a world where interconnectivity is highly valued and more and more people are online for more time, having an interactive presence on the web is becoming more important than participating in any specific conventional trade show. What’s more, online trade shows can reach a wider audience, establishing links to businesspeople that you would normally not see in a specialized business exhibition. It is much easier for someone to visit 3-4 online trade shows of quite different themes than to visit even just 1-2 traditional trade shows, due to the lack of the physical restrictions. This has a huge impact on the networking potential of the trade shows, something that is becoming increasingly important today.

So far we have seen several aspects of our lives become primarily an online activity (e.g. research, shopping, gaming, music, movies, and even some parts of formal education). Would it be far-fetched to expect trade shows to become a mainly virtual endeavor in the future? Some companies seem to think so. For example, BusinessGlobal has been a pioneer in the development and application of the relevant technology, offering online trade shows for a variety of countries and industries. Other companies have followed suit offering similar services for companies on a more local level. So perhaps it is not so much a matter of whether or not online trade shows will be the future of conventional business exhibitions, but of when this is going to happen.

About the Author: Zacharias Voulgaris is an expert in data analysis and web-related topics, with a strong interest in online marketing. He has authored numerous articles and 3 ebooks on computer-related topics, all aimed at a non-technical audience. Currently he works for BusinessGlobal Plc. –

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