Today’s post is about a fair that has been
done in London (UK) from the 7th of September until today. In this
post I will also talk about the Catalan presence and I will try to explain why
according to my opinion Catalan companies should have more presence in this
kind of fairs.
The fair is called The Speciality Fine Food
Fair 2014 and it has been done in Olympia, in London. It is a fair, as its name
indicates, about local and international food and drinks. In this year’s
edition there have been more than 1000 expositors from worldwide. In general it
is focused on small producers and distributors, not big companies.
In this fair just 4 expositors where from
Catalunya: BB Chocolate Group, Lets Chocolat, Mariscal & Sarroca and
Marques de Guadalmima. So, just few Catalan food companies have come to this fair.
To my mind, as I said above, the number of Catalan companies should have been
bigger. The reasons for that are that
this fair is very important in the food sector and because it is focused on
small companies it is perfect for a Catalan company. The average size of
companies in Catalunya is small and medium size so that The Speciality Fine
Food Fair 2014 is perfect for them. In addition, Catalan demand (and also
Spanish) is stagnated. Consequently, if a company wants to increase its
invoicing or, at least survive, the internationalisation could be a really good
solution. And a good way to begin the process of internationalisation is through
international fairs. But companies should choose the proper fair for them and prepare
them with time and with enough resources. What is more, because not all fairs
are useful or worth going as an expositor we should ask ourselves what a fair is.
In theory fairs are a place where demand meets offer. In other words, a place to try to sale a product or a service.
On
the other hand, fairs are a product, like any other that has to be sold. The
company that organises the fair has the incentive to say that companies should go to their
fair even if it is not true. So, companies should analyse whether or not go to the fair as an
expositor. Then, once the company has studied the possibility of going to a
fair and decides to go, it has to take into account that going to a fair is an
investment for the company, never expenditure.
Related to that, like any other investment, it is important to say that
the results of the investment could come up in the midterm. It is not common to
have returns the day after investing. However, going to the wrong fair or
without enough preparation, it could be a disaster for the company.
For next year’s edition, I really would
like to see more Catalan companies trying to find distributors and agents,
promote their products and try to sell them. I totally encouraged companies to
go abroad: the world is bigger than Catalonia or Spain...
