RETAIL EXPO MEETS INDUSTRY PLAYERS’ NEEDS

19 August 2008

Last week's Retail Expo Australasia, 12-14 August, Sydney, attracted key decision makers and resulted in strong business deals and genuine leads for exhibitors.

"We had a tremendous response from many high quality visitors – far better than we could have imagined," said Graeme Smith, Managing Director, Keyboards Australia, who looks set to secure multi-million dollar business deals as a result of the trade event.

Attracting thousands of retail representatives from all segments and tiers of the industry including CEOs, directors, store managers, merchandising managers, franchisors, IT managers and marketing managers, this year's Retail Expo Australasia impressed some of Retail’s most renowned figures.

"I cancelled my flight to dedicate a solid few hours to source the latest retail solutions for our outlets," said Katherine Sampson, CEO, Healthy Habits and speaker at the National Retail Forum, which was held in conjunction with the exhibition.

"We've been trying to source technologies such as the latest LED screens and when I visited Retail Expo Australasia I found everything we were looking for under one roof – it was fantastic."

Used as a launching ground for exhibitors' new products, Retail Expo Australasia showcased the most sophisticated retail technologies available. Goodson Imports, Syscan International and the Retail Alert Group, showcased a revolutionary RFID item-level RFID solution, and Toshiba TEC Australia demonstrated its latest POS outlet, which boasts environmentally friendly power consumption methods. Other exhibitors included Wanzl, POS POS, and MYOB Australia.

"More than 220 local and international exhibitors participated in this year's Retail Expo Australasia and visitors certainly weren't disappointed. Retail Expo attracts serious buyers so it is imperative industry leading companies attend to present their products and services to target markets. Retailers truly can't afford to miss Retail Expo Australasia – we already have big plans underway for next year's show," said Peter O'Flynn, Exhibition Manager, Retail Expo Australasia.

The 2009 Retail Expo Australasia will return to Melbourne, 11-13 August 2009, and is set to be the most technologically advanced Retail Expo to date. Featuring Retail 2020 – Store of the Future – a revolutionary concept area which will transport visitors to the future shopping with high-tech products and sleek shopfit designs – next year’s event will build on 2008's success.

Planning is also underway for 2009’s National Retail Forum.

The 2008 National Retail Forum received considerable industry support and was proudly sponsored by Cisco. The Australian Retailer’s Association (ARA) and the Australian Centre for Retail Studies (ACRS) were conference partners for the National Retail Forum.