Merchandise World, the UK’s leading and biggest promotional merchandise trade exhibition took place on Wednesday 12th and Thursday 13th February 2020 at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry.

 

Merchandise World had 1599 distributor visitors over the two days, which was over 18% up on last January, and 218 top quality exhibitors from the UK & Europe. All stands in the show hall were sold out with a waiting list remaining and, based on the high level of exhibitors committing to return, the next New Year show again at Ricoh Arena in February 2021 is also expected to sell out.

 

The impressive visitor numbers included distributors arriving from as far afield as Ireland, Scotland, Europe and even the USA.

 

The winners in the MW Promotional Product Awards were presented with their awards at the show, and all finalists and winning products were displayed on the BPMA stand. The new ECO World stand was a highlight with birdsong intriguing visitors as they looked through the eco items from a large proportion of the exhibitors. This, alongside many new & hot products featured throughout the show hall, ensured that the visitors discovered plenty to sell in the new year.

 

There was no printed Show Guide, but all of the show information was on the Merchandise World App, including a feature which indicated to the exhibitors which visitors were actually in the show hall.

 

Another highlight was the BPMA Awards Dinner where around 450 guests were able to celebrate the awards winners and enjoy the excellent and entertaining host; ex-England & British Lions rugby player, Martin Bayfield.

 

Everything about Merchandise World is designed to be in the best interest of the promotional merchandise industry and there is a strict visitor policy to only attract professional distributors. Many exhibitors expressed how pleased they were with the visitor quality and quantity, together with all of the other aspects of the event.

 

To view the Photos of MW20NY: please click here.

 

PS: Some silly stats: The catering cost £42,000, over 5,000 drinks, 3,000 sandwiches & packets of crisps eaten, 80kg of pick n mix sweets enjoyed, around 100 visitors were successfully transported from and to the airport, and over 100 people relaxed with a free massage!  To ensure that exhibitors who could not get away from their stands did not miss out, there were ‘Roving Tea Trolleys’ delivering hot drinks and snacks to the exhibitors on the stands.

 

 

About Merchandise World

 

Merchandise World is now clearly established as the UK’s leading and biggest promotional merchandise trade exhibition and the place for the industry to come together in January/February and September each year. This industry leading event is a unique concept which combines a traditional exhibition, a networking event and optional appointment booking for specific meeting times.

 

All sales & administration teams, management and directors from professional distributor companies from across the UK & Ireland are invited. Our invited visitors can choose to informally see the latest and best-selling products from the industry’s top suppliers in a traditional exhibition format or hold business review or planning meetings by appointment with exhibitors. There is no limit on to the number of company personnel able to attend from any invited distributor company, and they do not have to be members of BPMA, Purple Club or Sourcing City.

 

The entire UK & Ireland promotional merchandise market spend is in excess of £1Billion and Merchandise World has tremendous support from the industry with around 1,600 top quality professional distributor buyers having attended individual events.

 

We look forward to you coming to the next Merchandise World which is the perfect time for professional distributors to find new suppliers, reinforce relationships with existing suppliers, to see new products, to be reminded of top sellers, to discuss trading plans and to discover new opportunities.

 

Merchandise world is jointly owned by the British Promotional Merchandise Association (BPMA) and Sourcing City.

 

To book or find out more about our next two Merchandise World Shows below, please contact: Liz, Katie or Ella on: 0844 504 5006 (Overseas Callers: +44 (0)1252 701034) or Email: info@merchandiseworld.co.uk

 

Next Shows:

  • Wednesday 9th September 2020 at Marshall Arena, MK Stadium, Milton Keynes
  • Wednesday 27th & Thursday 28th January 2021 at Ricoh Arena, Coventry