Footwear Insight

Kelly Helfman, President of MICAM Americas, WWDMAGIC, Project Womens & Sourcing at MAGIC, and Belinda Pina, Head of Footwear Sales, Informa Markets Slated to be the first edition of the longtime Vegas show under its new part- nership with MICAM, MICAM Americas parent Informa Markets announced this month that its new show dates would be Sept. 30 to Oct. 2, instead of Aug. 17 to 19. (Initially the show had been slated for Sept. 29 to Oct. 1, but was revised to avoid overlap with the Yom Kippur holi- day.) In May, Informa said it would be partnering with wholesale e-commerce platform NuOrder to create a digital ver- sion of the trade show. What factors went into picking the revised Sept. 30 to Oct. 2 dates? The health and safety of all our attend- ees is of the utmost importance. We sent a survey to all of our retailers in May, and while many retailers signaled that they plan on attending tradeshows this season, many also stated they were uncomfortable with traveling this season. While we know pushing our dates back six weeks won't change everyone's mind, it does provide more peace of mind for everyone in terms of refining protocols and procedures within the buildings and facilities we will be using. Having more time to see what other shows have implemented, identify best and most efficient practices and fine-tune our safety measures hopefully creates more security for our undecided attendees. We all foresee the opportu- nity for Fall and Holiday buys taking place at our show given that so many deliveries were postponed and retail sales are already picking up. We think retailers will need to replenish inven- tory and will be seeking out immediate inventory in addition to placing final Spring '21 orders. A number of other summer shows have decided not to hold an in-person event this year. Was that ever a consideration? [In our May survey,] results came back heavily that the industry wants the event to take place. Between postpon- ing dates and investing in our safety and health measures, we feel very confident we can continue to serve our community so they can conduct business. We felt this time around, the hybrid of the phys- ical and digital was the right solution. How will the new virtual trade show operate alongside the physical trade show? Is it a duplicate of the real-world event, or is it designed as a virtual com- plement with a different experience? The digital event will complement the live event and will last for eight weeks, Sept 1 to Nov 1, versus three days. It's an accessible alternative for those cli- ents who cannot travel or do not feel comfortable doing so, and offers a sup- plemental experience to our live event. Buyers can utilize our digital event to view and discover products before and after the live event to enhance the buying process. Our partnership with NuOrder allows us to extend the typical live event experience to an eight-week format and will offer incredible con- tent, trend stories and media — far more than we can organize within our live events. The digital event will offer buyers a user-friendly environment with robust search capabilities by show, brand, product and type, mirroring the architecture of shopping on a website. Buyers will also be able to get very spe- cific in their product searches, leading to more brand discovery, and have the functionality to like products, create line sheets, connect with new brands, gener- ate orders and conduct transactions on the platform. Brands will have visibility in a myriad of ways and NuOrder brings their expertise in technology and a user database of 500,000 retailers to the table, which brings tremendous value to our customers through amplified brand exposure as well as providing a wide net for net new lead gen opportunities. Given that so many things are changing, what initial safety measures and other changes to the format are you planning for the September dates? Do the later dates alter any of the programing or experience? Informa is a member of the Global Biorisk Advisory Council (GBAC), so we will be adhering to all guidelines they lay out for large events. We have also established 10 pillars of safety we will adhere to for our events this year. Some of the areas we will address at the live event include contactless registration, spreading booths further apart, creat- ing 15-foot aisles, only utilizing 25 to 50 percent of our hall space for booths, grab-and-go food service, and enabling customers to preschedule appointments via our tools such as the MAGIC App. From an experiential standpoint, the show will look quite different, and we are looking into providing retail support instead of investing into the show floor experience to the degree we normally would. It goes without saying that the more retailers we have at the live event, the better the results and commerce for everyone. What do you see as the role of the in- person trade show for the industry? Business is about relationships — most importantly, relationships with our cus- tomers and partners. In order to have the most meaningful conversations and reinforce the friendships we share, we have to be in front of one another. The live experience is special because it's memorable and gives us all something to look forward to: a time for everyone to get together and really catch up with one another. We believe the future of the B2B channel will be a hybrid model of live and digital events. The chal- lenges of the current business climate and state of burgeoning opportunity in the online environment has compelled everyone to get into digital. We all must pivot and adapt in order to build better businesses and succeed. Let's get back to selling shoes! THE FOOTWEAR EYE footwearinsight.com June 2020 ~ Footwear Insight • 7 Kelly Helfman

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