As I am preparing for the Atlanta Gift Show at AmericasMart in January, I thought it might be fun to share a bit about how La Dolce Diva Bath & Body products get to a retailer near you!

The Atlanta Gift Show is a Trade Show that is open to wholesale buyers from retailers around the world. There are many such trade shows, but I am lucky enough to be living in a city that hosts one of the largest and most popular. The other being the New York Gift Show.

It is held several times a year, but the 2 largest markets are January and July. They last for about 5 days. La Dolce Diva has been exhibiting at the Atlanta Gift Show for the last 3 years.

The point of the show is for qualified  buyers to see multiple lines at the same time, new lines and ones they may not have seen yet. It is kind of like a shopping mall with wholesale prices (wholesale is what the retailer pays before they mark it up for their profit and sell to the consumer).

There are sections that have booths that exhibit a single brand and also buildings full of showrooms that represent multiple lines. The booth sections are broken up into categories. We are in the Body & Soul section which is mainly Bath & Body products.

The La Dolce Diva booth has been updated a bit since this picture was taken. I will take some new pictures at the show.

As you can see, the point of the booth is get the aesthetic of your brand across. You also have to remember that most booths have to set-up and break-down (put away) easily.

Several of the larger companies have far more elaborate booths, but I will say proudly that we hold our own and get numerous compliments on our display.

It is easy to get caught up in decorating your booth and dollars add up quickly, but you have to remember the reason you are there, to represent and sell you product the best you possibly can. Your booth has to be attractive enough for buyers to want to come in to see your product and displayed well for them to view your product in a logical manner. Most of the time, I, or one of my representatives, can greet and walk the buyer through the line. Sometimes we are all busy and buyers take a look around, if they like what they see, they make a note to come back. Or, they take a catalog and call you or simply fax an order in.

A booth of about 10 x 10 feet with a drape, waste basket, a table and riser, if requested, is approximately $3400. Yes, Three-Thousand-Four Hundred Dollars. That is before shipping the “booth”, airfare, hotel and food for you and your team. That is just the show fee. Lighting, electricity, booth cleaning and the like, are all extra charges. This is all in addition to the accoutrement you add to make your booth look FAB-U-LOUS!

See what I mean about being lucky to live in Atlanta? I just drop my booth off at the warehouse for the pallets to be delivered to the site. I drive to and from the show and sleep at home each night. But still, for a small business, it is quite an investment.

If you are a buyer, please visit us: La Dolce Diva, Inc. Bldg 3, Flr 4, Booth 2606, Body & Soul section. Look for the giant crowds!

If you will be exhibiting, we would love to meet you too, please drop by.

Wish us well in January! We are all hoping for a big turnout.

If you’d like to know more about how to exhibit at a trade show, please visit our sister site: Beauty & Your Biz: Project Trade Show 101

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008 at 10:40 am and is filed under daily diva. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.