Survey Finds Second Day at MAGIC Most Productive
The sheer sprawl of the MAGIC Marketplace, with its nearly 1 million square feet of show space and its more than 100,000 attendees, makes it seemingly hard to quantify.
But retail marketing agency BDS Marketing of Irvine, Calif., made some inroads toward understanding the massive trade show. The company surveyed more than 670 attendees walking the convention floor Aug. 29–31. It asked questions about attendees’ work habits at the show and about their concerns. The full survey will be released the week of Sept. 19.
According to the survey’s initial findings, 50 percent of the respondents, manufacturers and retailers said the second day of the show was the most productive. Respondents said the top three reasons why they attend MAGIC are to prospect new business, to buy merchandise and to network.
BDS also asked questions regarding the growth of the market for private-label clothing. More than 30 percent said retailers manufacturing their own clothes has made the marketplace more competitive.
The survey found that 60 percent of manufacturers were concerned about whether their products will be displayed properly on retail floors. Twenty-five percent of retailers said they were interested in manufacturers providing selling specialists to merchandise goods and train sales people on how to sell products. —Andrew Asch
