REVIVAL IN TRADE

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 33, 2 November 1933, Page 18

REVIVAL IN TRADE

Encouraging Signs INTEREST OVERSEAS British Industries Fair The confidence which many authoritative observers are expressing in the outlook for British industry Is given distinct encouragement by the latest official reports upon preparations now in hand for the 1934 British Industries Fair. Although the fair will not open until February 19, the Department of Overseas Trade has already received applications for a little over 85 per cent, of the space occupied by exhibitors at Olympia and in the furniture section at the'White City at the last fair. In a number of trade groups—chemicals, furniture and basketware, and pottery and glassware—exhibitors have booked more space, seven months’ ahead of the opening date, than the total area occupied by all exhibitors in those groups at the 1933 fair. Returns in respect of the textile section at the White City are not yet available. Extensions at Birmingham. In the “heavy” Industries section of the fair, at Birmingham, advance bookings of space by exhibitors aro so far ahead of those last year, or, indeed, of any previous year, that the exhibition area is again being enlarged. In 1920, when the Birmingham section was inaugurated, the exhibits occupied 85,000 square feet. At the 1933 fair, indoor exhibits alone occupied 244,362 square feet, while approximately 50,000 square feet were devoted to outside exhibits. Plans have now been approved having as an ultimate objective a permanent exhibition building at Castle Bromwich with a total indoor area of 1,000,000 square feet, of which 500,000 square feet will be available for exhibits. A 99 years’ lease of the site has been negotiated. Work is now proceeding upon extensions which will add, at least 55,000 square feet of indoor area In time for the 1934 fair, this immediate enlargement being part of the larger plan which will be completed gradually. The additional space to be provided at Birmingham for the 1934 fair will be set aside for the gas, electricity, building, and engineering groups in. which the demand for more space is especially pressing. Travel Concessions. Another welcome sign is that traders in the principal Continental countries are manifesting increased interest in the fair. Reflecting this fact, representatives of leading Continental railway administrations, in conference with representatives of the British railways, have adopted a simplified plan providing for new travel concessions to encourage attendance at the fair by Continental buyers. Notably, for the first time in the history of the fair, the French railway administrations have agreed to through booking facilities at reduced rates for visitors travelling from or through France. Austrian, 1 Belgian, Dutch, French, German, and Swiss railway administrations have agreed to issue through return tickets to London and/or Birmingham at reduced rates varying from 25 per cent to 33 1-3 per cent. Reciprocal concessions are to be granted by the British railways to British visitors to Continental trade fairs which receive official recognition. Witliin the last two years there has been a marked increase in European travel concessions in connection, with the fair. International collaboration, which is now being extended, in simplifying and standardising the concessions will greatly facilitate the convenience of overseas visitors. The readiness of the Continental railways administrations to co-operate to this end is itself a testimony to the growing importance of the fair In the eyes of the overseas’ buyers. Admission Charge. In 1933, for the first time, buyers visiting the London sections were charged 2/for admission. In previous years admission had been free. Buyers were admitted to the Birmingham section of the last fair, as formerly, without charge, but the public admission charge was increased. The .admission charges made in 1933 naturally tended to reduce the numbers of visitors to the fair. In view, however, of a general desire to restrict attendances to trade buyers, rather than sightseers, a very large proportion of exhibitors approved the charges. At the 1934 fair the buyers’ admission charge will be continued in London and introduced at Birmingham. Upon payment of 2/- buyers will receive a badge. This will admit them, as frequently as they wish, to both the London and Birmingham sections throughout the period of the fair. The charge emphasises the essentially business-like character of the 8.1. F. In the considered opinion of the Birmingham fair management committee, it will probably reduce the number of general attendances at Birmingham as it did in 1933 at London. It is felt that it will not reduce attendances by bona-fide trade buyers. It,will help them by preventing overcrowding and waste of time which are inevitable when exhibitors are occupied in explaining exhibits to sightseers, as distinct from buyers. Business of Fait-. Insistence upon the convenience of the buyer and upon the main business in hand, which is business, rules the entire organisation of the fair, and, probably, goes far toward explaining its remarkable success. Started in 1915, as a very modest and quite temporary effort to draw attention to the resources of a strictly limited group of British industries which were' called upon to manufacture, in the war emergency, certain goods formerly imported, the fair has become an annual institution. During the last twelve years its growth, in size and scope, has been continuous. It is now easily the largest national trade exhibition in the world. Repeatedly it has outgrown the exhibition areas provided for it. Exhibits now cover almost the entire range of British manufactures. Not only manufactures from the United Kingdom, but the primary and manufactured products of the Dominions and colonies, and even the great services, such as banking, insurance, and shipping, are represented. Value to Buyers.

The fair hns proved of immense value, to trade buyers, and especially to those who come to it from overseas countries. It saves their time and it keeps their knowledge of the latest industrial developments up to date. Under one roof, the buyer can see and compare the respective merits of a range of products which it would take weeks of travelling to see a,n<l discuss if he were compelled to call upon producers at their own works and offices. The very latest designs and products of British industry are always conspicuous features of the fair. Indeed, the fair stimulates the development of new nnd improved products, for exhibitors in all the trade groups vie with one another in efforts to show special features nt the fair “for the first time.” Again, the fair is expressly organised with a view to saving the buyer's time both by convenient arrangement of the exhibits and by putting him in immediate touch at first-hand with the "actual manufacturers of them, or the sffie agents ter

them. Exhibits cannot be shown by anyone else. Thus duplication and overlapping are avoided, and in negotiations with exhibitors, the buyer has the assurance that he is at the source not. only of first-hand, authoritative information, but also of the most advantageous trade terms obtainable. Solving Buyers’ Problems. Direct contacts between buyer and producer at the fair have proved of immense benefit to both. The buyer receives valuable help iu making his needs and problems known. The producer, on the other hand, is helped to adapt his production intelligently to meet buyers’ needs and problems. The fair is not designed as a show for sightseers, although in point of fact it is one of the most stimulating shows which anyone interested in the ramifications and achievements of modern industry could find anywhere in the world. Its aim—and everything possible is done to concentrate rigorously upon it—is. to select and display those products which the buyer, who must keep abreast of trade developments, imperatively requires to see, and to bring buyer and producer into first-hand contact under conditions which, in a unique way, facilitate their business rolationshius. to their mutual bcneiit.