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Marketplaces disrupt and dominate
Ed Scutt , MD of LiveBuzz tells how a spark of an idea has led to a career developing a platform to provide exhibitors with a simplifed retail experience
I find it difficult to think back to the days before Amazon : the convenience of being able to get most things I need - however random they may be - at the click of a few buttons in an easy , single transaction , conveniently without even leaving my seat . Likewise , scrambling around trying to find takeout menus you happened to have had stowed away ( either from somewhere you had eaten before or thanks to the gallant efforts of the local restaurant staff posting them through your letter box ) is a distant memory , pushed aside by Deliveroo and Just Eat . And do you recall wandering around every estate agent in town looking for your new property ? As fun as this half-hearted window shopping can be on occasion , we simply head to Rightmove . I could go on listing further examples .
What these companies did was so simple in hindsight ( or “ simples ” as another of our meerkat pioneers would say ): they helped define and cater to ‘ modern ’ consumers ’ shopping expectations by bringing
Ed Scutt , MD of
LiveBuzz
together suppliers in one place , conveniently online .
I am of course talking about the rise of online Marketplaces . Marketplaces have disrupted and now dominate many industries . Why has ours not caught on yet ? Or has it …?
In 2010 , as a fresh-faced software engineering graduate out on the road selling CRM , E-commerce and Content Management Systems , I was sent off to what was at the time one of the largest UK-based exhibition contractors , which was on the lookout for a CRM system .
I spent many months spec ’ ing out their business and this was the largest and most complex solution I had worked on yet . I built a good rapport with the MD , as he could tell I genuinely cared about getting their requirements right – critically understanding both them and their customers . As we had a farewell chat in a rainy Welsh car park and I joked about upselling him the e-commerce and CMS solutions , he paused his second back-to-back cigarette and , deadly seriously , told me “ Online exhibitor manuals , mate . That ’ s where it ’ s at .”
This ignited a spark in my brain that began what is now a 13-year career in our industry . And to this day that man is still the smartest person I know in it .
I went away and relayed this spark to a good friend of mine and we brought together those two ‘ upsell items ’ ( Content Management Systems + E-commerce ) and built these concepts into a single product . With a bit of industry-specific tweaking , we were then able simply to package this as an Online Exhibitor Manual . We were subsequently acquired by that company . This was two giant leaps forward for them ( an exhibition contractor ): to be able to provide their customers ( exhibitors ) convenience and simplicity , with an online manual ; and e-commerce . Up until then , they and other contractors were providing order forms inside printed exhibitor manuals , ready to be faxed back (!).
At the time , I had naively assumed we could plug other contractors ’ products into the e-commerce , but both my lack of knowledge of the intricacies of delivering to exhibitions - and politics - stood in the way .
Some 11 years ( and a lot of industry knowledge ) later we were acquired by a technology company . Intricacies are now less daunting , and the politics of being owned by a single contractor are removed . We have taken the second leap with our online exhibitor manual and e-commerce platform and opened it up to facilitate working with as many contractors as possible . A marketplace for exhibitors to purchase ( almost ) everything they need at the click of a few buttons in an easy , single transaction , conveniently without even leaving their seats .
It ' s been a long journey , and over a decade of development to build a platform that can appropriately cater for contractors ’ requirements , but the rate at which many forwardthinking organisers are taking up our marketplace goes to show that exhibitions are now providing their consumers with what they expect , just as Amazon , Deliveroo , Just Eat , Rightmove and our meerkat friend do . I wonder what the next decade will bring .
Winter — 45