Sustainability to dominate the fair

Sustainability was the topic which dominated this year's Glee in Birmingham in mid-September. The Retail Lab, supervised by Romeo Sommers as creative director, had one of the key themes in its third edition: Saving the world: Nurturing, Nature and Animals. Incidentally, the second topic was Do it yourself (and have fun). Overall, the Retail Lab ran under the intentionally theatrical motto The Greatest Showroom - showcasing the latest trends and highlighting how a bit of theatre can entertain and engage customers, according to the trade fair's closing report.
According to event organisers, more than 550 exhibitors were present in five halls of the NEC exhibition centre in Birmingham. The offer was divided into eight show sectors. Elsewhere rebooking for the 2020 event reached 61 per cent during the show.
Including revisits, over 7 800 people visited the show, with visitors coming from over 40 countries. 40 per cent of visitors were new to Glee, with retail buyers with sole purchasing responsibility seeing an increase of 14 per cent year-on-year. 22 per cent of all visitors also had a purchasing budget over GBP 1 mio.
As an added bonus, the new Glee Connect matchmaking service helped exhibitors and visitors to strike meaningful connections with ease. Using AI technology, the connect platform was able to give all parties a higher return on time invested in their visit, organisers say.

It has been confirmed that Glee will be back on 15 to 17 September 2020, again taking advantage of its new Tuesday to Thursday slot at the NEC. While the show will continue to evolve and to reflect the latest industry trends, the big news is that a new pet show designed to meet the growing demands of the pet-buying market will run alongside Glee next year. Launched at a special drinks reception at this year's Glee, the Pet & Animal Wellbeing Expo (Pawexpo) will support suppliers and retailers across this rapidly expanding industry, helping to maximise sales and revenue opportunities while adopting a personal touch to the pet trade show experience with a fully curated offering.
Plans for Glee at Spring Fair 2020 are gathering pace. Born in 2018 and strengthening its position as an event for visitor crossover buying at Spring Fair 2019, the event is now a firm fixture in Hall 3…