Totally Shows pick up the pace

The Totally Shows are welcoming new sponsors to the show in February; Draper Tools, which is sponsoring the show lanyards and badges, Karcher UK, which is providing carrier bags and Insight DIY, which is sponsoring the ‘Insight Café’ which will be situated in the show’s central feature, the Retail Tool Box.

Insight DIY is the brainchild of Steve Collinge, who after many years working in the DIY industry for leading brands such as LG Harris, Cuprinol, Dulux and Akzo Nobel, knows exactly what suppliers need to successfully develop their business with the major retailers.

In September 2011, after two years in development, the website www.InsightDIY.co.uk was launched, a unique, comprehensive online resource, specifically targeted at manufacturers, suppliers, retailers and wholesalers operating within the UK home improvement market.

“The Insight DIY website acts as a portal for suppliers,” explains Steve. “They can access a huge amount of essential information on the key retailers in the DIY and garden industries – including the latest breaking news, regularly updated profiles, 1,000’s of in-store images, reports on the latest new store openings and a library of articles relevant to the industry. But more than that, subscribing to the site provides companies with unlimited access to the Insight Research Team, who are able to provide the information that suppliers really need, including buyers names and contact details. It is the type of resource that has simply not been available before in our market.”

Representatives from Insight DIY will be joining market experts from GfK Retail and Technology UK, the leading market research company, and the team from the British Independent Retailers Association (bira), in giving presentations to visitors during the show.

These market update and business advice presentations will be part of a mixed programme including product demonstrations from those companies in the show which have new products to show off, including Bartoline, Shurtape, Karcher, Worx Professional and EG Int.

On the exhibitor front, the shows’ most recent signings include Barrettine Products, Luxform Global, AP Lifting Gear, Dustbubble, Handi-Pad, Palace Chemicals, Led Lenser, IKO, Metalcoat Paint, Saffron Sphere, Canco Fasteners, recent DIY Week Gold Product Award Winner EG-Int, and the US brand Latexite, being introduced to the UK by Blackjack Surface Technology.

Several major product launches have also been announced; in decorative products by PlastiKote, Tor Coatings and Metalcoat Paints, in tools by CH Hanson and in hardware by D&D Technologies – all of the last three companies are new to the show this year.

The Totally Shows will run in Hall 16 at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) in Birmingham on Sunday 5th, Monday 6th and Tuesday 7th February. As in the previous two years the Totally Shows open days will coincide with Spring Fair International which will occupy the rest of the NEC complex and be open from 4th to 9th February.

Source : Builders’ Merchants News
www.buildersmerchantsnews.co.uk/news/fullstory.php/aid/5325/Totally_Shows_pick_up_the_pace.html