Member Article

The Baby Trade Booming as consumer spend at UK’s biggest Baby Show at record high

The Baby Show, the UK’s leading parenting event for new and expectant parents, is experiencing one of its most successful years since launching 15 years ago in 2002.

The Baby Show, with MadeForMums, takes place three times a year – October at London Olympia, March at London ExCeL and May at Birmingham NEC. Over 70,000 new and expectant parents flood the events annually, with over 200 exhibitors showcasing their latest products – with food and feeding products, buggies and pushchairs, sleep aids, cots, gadgets, accessories and car seats being amongst the top sellers.

The UK’s biggest brands such as Chicco, iCandy, mothercare, Tommee Tippee, Stokke, Lidl, VTech and Britax all exhibit, while many new and emerging brands find it is a fantastic platform for introducing their ideas or products to this ever-growing market.

The Show has proved so popular, organisers, Clarion Events have this year launched Baby to Toddler – a two day event taking place in London ExCeL 18th – 19th November and the Birmingham NEC 2nd – 3rd December.

Susanne Rauberger, Show Manager says: “The Baby Show has grown and grown in popularity over the past 15 years since it was first launched and this year we sold exhibition space at the show quicker than ever before – testament to the success of the event on ROI for our exhibitors. It is a must-attend event for any parenting brand looking to build their audience, raise their brand awareness and most importantly, make sales. Demand has never been higher.”

Average visitor spend at The Baby Show at Birmingham NEC in May was £643 – that’s a 58 per cent increase over the past three years - while post-show research revealed that visitors estimated spending a further £551 on items they saw at The Baby Show. 90 per cent said that the show exceeded their expectations while 81 per cent said they were likely to attend the show again if they had another baby.

The Show, organized by Clarion Events, is currently experiencing an almost 30 per cent rise in consumer spend year on year. 2014 to 2015 saw over £30million pent by visitors across three shows while for same shows for 2015 to 2016, over £39million was spent.

Thomas Bateman, Head of Marketing at iCandy one of the UK’s most respected pushchair brands says: “The Baby Shows have become a core part of iCandy’s year and is invaluable to us being able to connect directly with our consumers and offer expert advice on our product range. We’ve seen the show grow and been fortunate enough to be able to showcase our products to the new and existing parents that flock there every year. 2016 was our most successful year ever and we’re already forecasting for 2017 to be bigger still - with the launch of our all-new Raspberry and the arrival of our sleek ‘Dusk’ limited edition Peach.

“We understand that having a baby is an extremely exciting and special time and The Baby Shows are a chance for us to share that experience with our customers first hand. In addition to this we’ve also been able to create the iCandy Fashion Show which has become a must-attend attraction of the show for many people and has allowed us to demonstrate our creativity, passion and design flair to the maximum. We’re looking forward to our biggest ever show in Olympia and even more to come in 2018.”

The Baby Show attracts regular celebrity visitors keen to stock up their nursery on supplies for their little ones. In attendance in 2017 so far include author and vlogger, Giovanna Fletcher, author and musician, Izzy Judd, Good Morning Britain TV presenter, Laura Tobin, Love Island star, Cara de la Hoyd, TOWIE star, Amy Childs, TV personalities, Chanelle Hayes and Danielle Lloyd and Hollyoaks actor Ayden Callaghan and his Cbeebies presenter partner and blogger, Sarah-Jane Honeywell. The next show is expected to attract Fearne Cotton who will be speaking in a live Q&A about her new book, Yoga Babies.

The Baby Show at London Olympia is open from Friday 20th – Sunday 22nd October from 10am until 5.30pm each day.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Katherine Adams .