ARE JEWELLERY TRADE SHOWS DYING?
“After a while I then thought it
may be necessary for us to still have
a presence here,” he adds. “The first
year back a couple of customers
who I hadn’t seen (who I usually
saw at shows) said they thought
I went out of business. When you
are a small business and don’t have
the budget for things like PR, this
to an extent is a PR exercise but the
prime objective is to take orders
and get new contacts.
“Although I would say the
value in coming here is not what
it used to be, and there is so much
competition with the internet and
the modern way of doing business.
I think is it still so relevant?
Probably not - the footfall is
down and being here overall is
expensive. You have to weigh up
the benefits and what it is actually
costing you.”
Pricing concerns, compared with
the value of actually attending, are
also shared by Spencer Dryer, of
BQ Watches, who thinks that the
last few years for the show have
been “difficult”, and the number
of people attending has, in his
perception, diminished. “The first
day was busy-ish but with the
internet and everything it is not
the same as it was,” says Dryer. “I
22 JEWELLERY FOCUS
think our attendance here is going
to be seriously looked at - I would
like to keep coming here but it
does have to be looked at whether
it is still viable. “It is really
difficult and if I was the person
running this show - with money as
no object - I still would not know
what to do to try and fill the hall
with retailers and watch brands,”
says Dryer.
In defence of the show, Fotoulla
Michael, head of sales at IJL,
said in a statement (IJL declined
to participate in a telephone
interview): “Overall, we have
had a pleasing response from
exhibitors and visitors to IJL
2018. It felt lively and bustling,
with an apparent appetite to
buy and it was wonderful to
welcome a host of well-known
jewellery designers. Top UK and
international manufacturers were
very much in evidence and we
greatly enjoyed shining a spotlight
on the fantastic past, present and
future of the Jewellery Quarter in
Birmingham.”
Michael described the general
feeling of the show as “bullish”
and said the three days were
“steady” in terms of attendance
and business. “We were extremely
‘‘
Anecdotally the
ratio year on year
of exhibitors was
similar although
visitors were
slightly down
on day three and
the exhibiting
presence in
general was
steady but we did
notice a slight
reduction in
certain sectors –
unsurprisingly
perhaps - retail
services and some
sole traders.
‘‘
FEATURE
Fotoulla Michael,
head of sales at IJL
pleased to see an uplift in both
the quantity and quality of our
Diamond Club attendees as well
as buyers overall,” she added.
“Anecdotally the ratio year on
year of exhibitors was similar
although visitors were slightly
down on day three and the
exhibiting presence in general
was steady but we did notice a
slight reduction in certain sectors
– unsurprisingly perhaps - retail
services and some sole traders.”
HOW IS THE SPRING FAIR
FAIRING?
Jewellery & Watch Birmingham,
a constituent show of the annual
Spring Fair at the NEC, has long
been considered the ‘opposite
number’ of IJL in the UK. Between
the two shows, the entire market
for national jewellery trade
exhibitions was sewn up - for
decades. But Andy Twigg, director
of lighting company Parify, says
he thinks the Spring Fair has fared
“even worse”, describing the
hall as “dead” footfall wise and
lamenting how many exhibitors
have pulled out in recent years.
There were 216 jewellery
exhibitors at the show this year,
less than half the number at IJL
October 2018 | jewelleryfocus.co.uk