CMP Asia chief Sutton urges online insights

ONLINE trading systems will make a bigger comeback in the next few years and threaten to steal business away from trade shows, says an expert in the exhibition industry. Speaking on the conference topic, "Development of Asia's Trade Fair Business", CMP Asia president and chief executive Mr Peter Sutton said trade fair organisers were paying too little attention to the development of online trading systems especially after the dotcom crash. He categorised trade shows into two main types, "show-and-tell" and "bazaar" events. The former includes IT trade shows and industrial shows which show and tell rather than provide immediate on-site sales. "Bazaar" events produce a lot of direct selling and orders at the fair. "While the bust of the dotcoms was quietly welcomed by many fair organisers, they will return in the next five to ten years and will challenge the value of some, especially bazaar, events as a new, alternative medium," Mr Sutton said. However, not all in the audience agreed. Time & Place Strategies Inc president Mr Francis Friedman, believed the "show-and-tell" type of events will be very popular on the internet instead.