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A look in the review mirror of 2016
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A look in the review mirror of 2016

It is customary, at this time of year; one takes a look at the last months and reflects upon what has happened. Well I’ll do the same and share some of the highlights of 20/CENT Retail’s 2016.

As usual I have been to several trade fairs, but I can also say there has been some nice developments for this blogger/entrepreneur.

 

All in all a good vintage for trade events

The good surprises

The year started with a nice revelation, Saveurs et Métiers’s first edition was a success. I was very pleasantly surprised by the new event on Belgian soil and I expect the future will be bright for this trade fair.

Getting out of my usual ‘food events’ was a good move I thought, and I was right. SILMO and Equiphotel in Paris were nice discoveries. Both shows presented wide varieties of exhibitors, but mostly I was amazed by the concepts. Both events, in their own way, could attract attention just with their method to present the latest trends in their industry.

The (usual) confirmations

ISM, Tavola, Conext, SIAL, Ecommerce Xpo, Paris Retail Week and dmexco all proved again why they deserve a place on my agenda. The organizers of these events should be happy as during my visits I didn’t notice major organizational issues, but most importantly I could achieve my usual goals when visiting trade fairs, meaning learning, networking and doing business.

Perhaps better to forget these flops?

Sadly not all events were synonym with success this year. As I feared from previous visits, Entreprendre and Franchising didn’t seem to attract tons of crowds. Also the exhibitors didn’t seem very inspired this year.

And I can say the same about Shopping Innovation Expo. Also a quiet event, were exhibitors didn’t strike me with wonderful proposals or innovative ideas. Both events took place in Tours et Taxis; and maybe this location was cursed in 2016 as my final flop of the year goes to I Love Horeca. The content was ok, but visitors had probably better things to do than visit this show. It’s a bit sad in a way as I welcome an event of this category in Brussels.

 

But 2016 was also much more

What pleasantly surprised me is that several times during the year, I was contacted by some pr agencies in a more intelligent way than in the previous years. Now I expect these guys made their homework and didn’t just send me their invites or client info just to boost their numbers like some of them used to do. But I could genuinely feel that my efforts pay off, and there is a genuine interest by more and more people in 20/CENT Retail’s pages. Also the number of visits on this blog speaks for itself and I can only thank you guys for that.

 

Thanks and see you next year

There has been some achievements, some disappointments but all in all we all made it through 2016. And I guess it means I will continue my efforts in 2017.

 

in the blogosphere

 

 

Your comments and questions are welcome via blog@20100retail.be or via 

Retro2016