Sourcing City Marketplace 2014 was declared another success by all that attended, and over 2000 high level business appointments were conducted over the two days. Indeed, the event was universally acclaimed as the best ever SC Marketplace so far.

After an inspiring opening seminar by Lance Sergeant Johnson Beharry VC, (the first living recipient of the Victoria Cross in more than 30 years) the hall opened for the VIP Guests to meet by appointment with around 100 suppliers.

The new ‘Runaround Sessions’ were declared a success alongside the formal appointments. It was clear people liked the idea of sitting in a focussed meetings by appointment and also having specified times where they could meet with the other hosts in the hall.

Sourcing City Marketplace is now established and universally acclaimed as the industry’s premier VIP Networking Event. The two day trade event is exclusively for individually invited promotional merchandise industry VIP’s from professional distributors with a turnover in excess of £250k. Suppliers were able to meet with leading industry distributors who had a combined turnover of over £300m, knowing that everyone in the hall was a serious buyer of promotional merchandise.

Traditional exhibitions tend to focus purely on product, and some would consider that conversations have become repetitive for experienced exhibitors & visitors alike. Suppliers have a more important story to be told, as every supplier has services & processes that can help a distributor be more efficient & profitable, …but the distributors do not always know. The concept at SCM is that supplier focus their conversations on a lot more than the small range of key products they have with them.

Throughout the event there was plenty of fun to be had alongside the focussed business conversations, as everyone enjoyed free pick ’n mix sweets, the Tony Fresco ice cream van, food and refreshments all day, the friendly girls on the tea trolley’s and massages from the Massage Angels. Many also attended the Purple Club Drinks Reception at the end of Day One.

Over 250 Supplier Hosts and VIP’s from the largest distributors attended the Platinum and Diamond Dinner’s, taking another opportunity to meet new people and to network effectively for their businesses. Two tables of ten also walked away with £250 each after winning the fun logo quiz.

Having grown and developed over the first four years, plans are now being made to take SC Marketplace to yet another level in September 2015. Don’t miss it next year!

Published on: September 30th, 2014