industry: poor follow -up of business leads by exhibitors. ... each other's online and face-to-face business. ... decade
Alliance interest was databases, contact details of potential exhibitors, potential visitors and potential advertisers. The agreement between UBM Asia and Alibaba seems to go one step further: they plan joint operations, with the Malaysia International Furniture Fair (Kuala Lumpur, 1-5 March) as a pilot. Key element in understanding why both moguls are so eager to scratch each other’s backs is O2O, Online to Offline.
Is O2O the next big thing? Countering Achilles’ heel of MICE industry UBM Asia and Alibaba B2B have joined forces to counter the Achilles’ heel of the exhibitions industry: poor follow -up of business leads by exhibitors. One partner has the business contacts the other one is eagerly looking for. And the other partner has the tools and technologies that may – once again? – radically change the role of live communication. In December 2015, UBM Asia and Alibaba B2B announced a strategic alliance to enhance each other’s online and face-to-face business. In their home market China and in India, both are leaders in their industry. Most probably, they became leaders by constantly innovating their core business, so it should not come as a surprise that they met on their way. In the past decades, at least a dozen of show organizers started a love affair with companies from the e-business. In most cases, the common
Christophe Landuyt Christophe Landuyt is a senior consultant and trainer at Expo-id, based in Brussels. As a seasoned trainer, he works in Europe, Asia, Central America and the Middle-East to help SME’s use trade shows more effectively. He can be reached at
[email protected]
66|Event Venues & Avenues • January - February 2016
The real interest for UBM and Alibaba to work together, is a need for brand extension for the former and an opportunity for new business for the latter. Until now, the Alibaba wholesale platforms have been mainly a thing for larger, longer established companies. Alibaba was looking for means to get in touch with (and convince) small and medium sized companies to use their online platforms and digital products to venture in foreign markets. Until now, Alibaba’s efforts were met with reluctance from the new target market. Somehow, they must have noticed that in the eyes of an SME manager/owner, a trade show organizer is perceived as a much more trustworthy business partner. No wonder Alibaba started courting a company that had just received the Most Reliable Show Organizer award. UBM wants to extend the experience or at least the transactions beyond the limited time frame of the live event. And here Alibaba comes in handy: they have all the technological know-how an entrepreneur needs to open up international markets without sacrificing too much peace of mind. UBM brings in 2 million addresses of potential users – either buyer or suppliers - for Alibaba platforms. Alibaba brings in the technology and tools to counter the Achilles’ heel of the entire exhibitions industry: an easy-to-use follow-up tool for trade show leads. UBM hopes Alibaba’s transactional platforms will get more of its exhibitors to effectively do (new) business. Check out if and how it works at one of these events: MIFF (Kuala Lumpur, 1-5 March), Hotelex-Fine Food (Shanghai, 29 March-1 April), MM&T (Hong Kong, 30 March-1 April).
