eCommerce Expo, the leading event in the UK for all aspects of online selling, has exceeded its growth trajectory for the fifth year by achieving a huge 15% increase in visitors.
The event took place at Olympia 2 in London on Tuesday 11th and Wednesday 12th October, and on top of this growth of 15% in pure visitors, the show’s footfall was further bolstered by visitors to the neighbouring Call Centre & Customer Management Expo who also visited eCommerce Expo. These additional visitors equated to a 29% growth in total visitor numbers on 2010, and meant that there were 6,134 total attendees at the show (pending ABC Audit) looking for the latest solutions from the busy showfloor marketplace, networking with fellow practitioners, and attending the 12 high-level keynotes and 50 conference sessions.
eCommerce Expo was acquired by UBM in November 2010 and by delivering such staggering growth, the new owners have cemented its position as the UK’s number 1 event for ecommerce: with a new location, new investment, new suppliers and a ground-breaking free Conference and Keynote Programme
The commitment to the show was recognised not only through the sound of visitors’ feet but also exhibitors clamouring to re-book their stand positions for 2012. The event achieved a record 82% of exhibitors who confirmed their stand on the day for the following year – an increase of 23% on the year before. Group Event Manager Andy Kiwanuka commented, “By bringing eCommerce Expo to sit alongside events such as Internet World and TFM&A at UBM Live, the event was given the same level of UBM expertise in its content and organisation: we were able to secure leading exhibitors and speakers from the cutting edge of ecommerce; the marketing activity for the event was also a key focus with many new and vital media relationships formed. This year we also further cemented the crucial partnership we have with the IMRG and were able to work together to add enriching features such as The Excellence Programme which delivered 50 of the Top 100 UK retailers to the event.”
The exhibitors were also keen to share their praise for the exhibition:
“We’ve had a good quantity of visitors to our stand, with some great leads we’re now hoping to turn into business. The event organisation under UBM has been excellent, and we thought the eCommerce Awards was really well run, and provided us with ample opportunity to network with major retailers.”
Max Childs, Senior Marketing Manager EMEA, Adobe
“eCommerce Expo has delivered really good visitors – amazing, in fact; we’ve had well over 100 leads from huge names including Waitrose, Allianz and John Lewis. We brought 9 members of our sales team, and thought we might be overdoing it, but every single one has been totally flat out talking to potential customers. It’s been so worthwhile that we’ve already booked another large stand for next year.
Overall, eCommerce Expo has provided great traffic, excellent brand exposure and a huge quantity of leads, as a result of an amazing organisational team. UBM made helping us prepare for the show run seamlessly and the event couldn’t have gone better for us!”
Steph Abraham, Marketing, Commidea
“eCommerce Expo has been outstanding! Every minute of the show has kept us busy with great conversations with people genuinely looking to source solutions, not just browsing… It’s been the most successful show we’ve done all year… in fact, our Sales Director says it’s the best show he’s ever done!”
Michael Weston, GM and Senior VP EMEA, Lyris
Visitors too were keen to share their praise for the event. Head of IT for the Saatchi Gallery enthused, “eCommerce Expo has been a really successful show for both myself and my colleague; we’ve really benefitted from meeting with a number of great quality suppliers. We attended to see what’s new in the market and found a lot of new ideas. We will be bringing even more team members next time!”
“I’ve really enjoyed eCommerce Expo – there have been great topics discussed; it’s completely on trend with the industry. I came to keep up with what’s new in digital and I definitely feel that I’ve done that. The suppliers have been particularly excellent – if you’re searching for a supplier for any aspect of your ecommerce platform you can find them here! I definitely won’t be missing this one next year!”
GM Web Content & Operations, TUI UK
“eCommerce Expo has been an excellent show; it’s clearly well attended with a good cross-section of stands and suppliers. I think it’s really important to attend a show where you feel that you can anticipate the future of online, and I think that eCommerce Expo offers this.”
Head of Strategic Partnerships, Barclaycard
eCommerce Expo attracts senior level decision-makers who work across a range of industries and roles, including; Ecommerce, Marketing, IT, Business Development, Strategy, Fulfilment & Logistics, Finance and Digital. Feedback from visitors gathered onsite and through social media monitoring demonstrated that this event really is a cut above the rest when it comes to the latest content, the best suppliers, the quality of the free education programme, and the buzz on the showfloor.
Visitors to the event benefitted from even more free education sessions than ever before – over 60 sessions in total – the Conference Theatres and Keynote Theatre were extremely popular with 5,600 seats filled during the 2 day programme which comprised 4 themed Conference Theatres covering: digital & mobile marketing; ecommerce & mcommerce; payment & security; and fulfilment, delivery & retention – reflecting the fact that all stages of the ecommerce cycle are interlinked and require an holistic strategic approach to ensure complete customer satisfaction.
Highlights of the Programme included Facebook discussing Social Design and Social Commerce, eBay Advertising on Customer Behaviour and the Changing Face of Retail Media, Paypal on Payment Innovation and Mobile Commerce, and Google Mobile on How Mobile is Becoming a Driving Force in Retail Engagement. All sessions were filmed and the video footage will be made available to all visitors as an additional benefit to attending the event.
eCommerce Expo will be taking place next year on 3-4 October 2012 at Olympia 2, London. Press can register for free entry in advance, and there are full press facilities available at the show.
www.ecommerceexpo.co.uk
