While the major trade fairs are still struggling to get back on their feet, B2B trade shows are making a comeback. The sector is changing, international competition is sharpening... and Brussels is positioning itself.
Belgian fans of four-wheelers are happy. January saw the return of the Brussels Motor Show after a two-year absence. Boosted by a resurgent car sales market - up by 15% in 2024 - the show recorded, at the time of writing, an increase of more than 25% in ticket sales compared to the previous edition.
In the coming weeks, Batibouw, Brussels' other major show, will open its doors. Last year, nearly 175,000 visitors eager to build or renovate their own homes pushed through its doors, 10% more than in 2023. So the figures are up again, and the organisers are hoping to capitalise on them this year.
The sector has come a long way.... A glance at the figures reported by our colleagues at L'Echo shows that between 2006 and 2023, Batibouw lost 56% of its visitors. As for the Motor Show, its ‘scaled-down’ version in 2023 had 40% fewer visitors than the previous editions of the same type, held in 2015, 2017 and 2019.
New models
It comes as no surprise that the Covid years in particular have dealt a severe blow to the organisers of these major gatherings. As well as cancelling all major events between 2020 and 2021, the pandemic greatly accelerated a trend that was already underway. Under the influence of digitalization, the way people meet, consult and consume information has changed dramatically, rapidly overturning the way trade fairs were conceived just ten years ago.
Challenged by these new realities, event organisers have evolved their model, constantly testing new formulas to re-attract visitors.
The same changes are at work in the trade show sector, where Brussels-based Easyfairs has become a specialist. It has become a major international player, with sales of 260 million euros a year, organising 110 shows a year across Europe, covering a dozen sectors. Around thirty of these are held in Belgium, including six in Brussels. ‘Today, the success of a trade show depends on being very close to its community,’ explains Anne Lafère, its CEO. It's all about getting to know the challenges facing professionals as well as possible, so that we can design content - conferences, debates, training courses, etc. - that really meets their expectations, whether they be commercial, technical, political or regulatory.
The right balance
Another key challenge is to reflect developments in the sector as closely as possible. ‘Among the players present must be both market leaders and innovative start-ups, enabling participants to project their business into the future’, the CEO insists. Without, of course, detracting from the show's commercial vocation. ‘Each show has its own balance between educational, networking and purely transactional activities, because it's also about filling out order forms,’ explains Anne Lafère.
Attendance at pre-Covid levels
In this respect, the manager notes that while digital technology has really taken hold in information and training activities, the same cannot be said for networking and closing deals. ‘The positive thing that Covid has taught us is that there is no substitute for physical contact. After the epidemic, the rebound was instantaneous’, she enthuses. ‘The attendance figures are very good. We're back to pre-Covid levels,’ confirms Gaëtan Lachapelle, General Manager Belux at Promosalons, the international promotion network for French trade shows.
Value proposition
However, digital technology has really changed the game and the role of a trade show is no longer exactly the same as it used to be. From being isolated moments for meeting and exchanging ideas, they have been transformed into the focal points of digital exchange campaigns that organisers skilfully nurture throughout the year. ‘After Covid, we quickly realised that conversion rates were much higher with audiences whose engagement we had maintained through virtual events,’ says Anne Lafère. This also encouraged the organising teams to invest even more, both in the creation of quality content and in digital technologies that enhance the user experience.
‘These days, no one goes to a show out of curiosity. Everyone has specific intentions, whether it's an investment, a technical problem to solve or an export market to develop. Organisers therefore need to offer value propositions that are qualified and relevant to these needs, and that go far beyond a succession of booths’, explains Gaëtan Lachapelle.
Trade shows as festivals
In today's fast-paced world, trade show organisers must avoid repeating the same concept year after year and create new experiences. ‘The younger generation are just as keen on face-to-face meetings, but they also want to combine business with moments of leisure. So to attract them, we have to be increasingly creative and ‘festive’ about our trade shows,' Anne Lafère observes.
So it's no
longer unusual for the same recipes used for major consumer events to be
applied to professional meetings. We're talking about bars with happy hours,
mini-concerts, conferences on non-professional subjects or booths revamped to
create a more relaxed, inspiring or energising atmosphere...
And Brussels?
As a seasoned professional, what is Anne Lafère's view of the attractiveness of Brussels for organisers? To start off,’ she insists, ’the choice of location depends first and foremost on the presence of a sufficient number of players - potential exhibitors or visitors - in the vicinity, rather than on the intrinsic qualities of a city. It's a different story when it comes to congresses, conferences and major world fairs. ‘In this case, the key elements are transport, hotel facilities and financial support from the public authorities,’ she points out.
While she welcomes the recent opening of new hotels in Brussels, she points out that in recent years the city has seen a number of leading trade fairs leave, notably for Barcelona. These include Seafood, for seafood products, and Label Expo, dedicated to labels and packaging. ‘Of course, the weather isn't favourable, but compared with our competitors, we're not putting the necessary resources on the table either,’ she laments. The Brussels Hotel Association was similarly touched by Label Expo's departure this summer. It points out that a business tourist spends on average three times more than an ordinary tourist, and advocates urgent reinvestment in the renovation of the Heysel palaces and the construction of a conference centre worthy of the name.
Gaëtan Lachapelle is also delighted with the success of Busworld, the bus and coach trade show with 40,000 visitors, whose next edition is scheduled for October this year. When contacted, the Convention Bureau of visit.brussels points out that it supported 609 event applications in 2024, at Brussels Expo but also at the Square in the city centre, in particular. Here again, we are gradually approaching the record figures recorded before Covid. The capital is also a world leader when it comes to international associative congresses - no fewer than 620 were organised in 2023.
Key events have included the recent World Cocoa Conference, AMI Plastics World Expos Europe, the European Hydrogen Week and the IAPP Europe Data Protection Congress. While the IAPP Europe Data Protection Congress has been based in Brussels for a number of years now, many others have seen their venues change year after year, depending on the interests of the participants. ‘Each edition of a trade fair is an opportunity for a ‘reset’,’ Gaëtan Lachapelle wisely points out. So nothing can ever be taken for granted, for host cities and organisers alike. The battle for attractiveness never ends!