Warehouse club road shows are a great deal for vendors since clubs do not charge a fee for its floor space, essentially creating a store-within-a-store for the vendor. Road shows operate for a limited time, usually over a weekend, but can exist for up to eighteen days. Merchandise is sold on consignment, meaning the club only pays for what is sold. Road show cleanup is the responsibility of the vendor and/or its service provider. Road shows travel from club to club based on buyer direction so members in different locations can experience the unique merchandise.
Road shows offer new vendors the opportunity to test merchandise in the club environment while existing vendors are able to test and potentially expand its assortment with additional flavors or product varieties. According to BPI, 81% of customers say their personal experience with a product is what creates trust when making a purchase. Warehouse club road shows offer vendors a strong return on investment:
1. According to BPI's web site, www.bpibrand.com, "Warehouse club road shows build consumer brand relationships and create between 2,000 and 15,000 brand impressions per day. These impressions are not only high, but they are also targeted."
2. The cost-per-touch (CPT) of warehouse club road show is lower than other marketing programs. On its web site, BPI stated, "With the personal experience developed in these trial sales, club members are converted into lifelong customers of the product."
BPI works with food and non-food vendors and offers road show services nationally in the United States and Canada and recently began operations in Mexico and the United Kingdom. Susan Barry said, "Many vendors have only one shot at getting their product into the club channel and they need to invest in the process because the payoff can be pretty large. Vendors who lack the resources, the time, or the knowledge to execute these types of events will not be successful. So we give the vendors the services that they need in order to execute in the club channel."
BPI Brand Marketing offers a wide variety of road show related services that when taken together guide vendors through the entire road show sales and operating process. Those services include staffing, management, booth design and signage, creative planning, execution, equipment, props, shipping of supplies, staff training and uniforms and club management and buyer coordination. In addition, BPI provides a detailed road show summary report as well as consumer demographic data.
BPI Competitive Advantages
BPI offers a number of competitive advantages compared to other service providers and companies interested in executing their own road shows:
1. Operational Breadth – BPI can operate multiple road shows at the same time, regionally or nationally. Barry said, "We do it quite often. We figure out how much equipment we are going to need and how many supplies and we factor that into the planning process."
2. Detailed Budget and Plan – BPI prepares a detailed budget and plan for the vendor so there are no unexpected issues or extra expenses charged. For example, travel can be a large expense for companies handling their own road shows. BPI knows what its travel costs will be before the road show.
3. Avoid Staff Burnout – BPI's ability to successfully staff its road shows is a key competitive advantage. The staff that BPI provides is vibrant, unique and trained. However, vendors who operate a road show in-house may have difficulty with the staffing aspect. Hart-Barry said, "A lot of companies will send their own staff to these events which occur from Thursday to Sunday. These people need to then report back to their regular job on Monday. It's
very hard. You need a lot of energy in order to be at a show for four days. You're working almost 12 to 13 hours per day at these shows. These employees can easily get worn down."
4. Understand Club Needs – Vendors need to understand that the clubs are not going to assist with setup, operation or cleanup, but will expect all road show aspects to operate smoothly. Barry said, "We really try to push the standards of the club and what their expectations are and make sure we follow all the guidelines so that it's a
successful show both in the view of the vendor and the club. The club doesn't want people coming in and misrepresenting the product or looking sloppy. They want to make sure that food safety is not an issue. Sometimes you're in there at 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning to do setup. You need to know who to talk to and how to get things done without getting upset. It's easy to do once you know how to do it, how to get yourself set up and broken down and cause the least amount of confusion for everybody."
5. Operational Efficiency – BPI has systems in place to store and transport road show equipment from club to club, making sure the equipment and materials are in good condition. Barry said, "Vendors often don't have the resources or the warehouse space or warehouse staff in order to transport the equipment and the supplies. We have a warehouse that we work from here in New Jersey. What we do is we ship the equipment from club to
club. We bring the equipment back here, refurbish it, replenish supplies, and then re-send out the equipment to the next club."
6. Account Manager – BPI assigns an account manager to each client. This person is organized and accessible and is prepared to adjust to any circumstance that may arise in the planning or execution of a road show.
Keys for Success
There are a number of concepts and issues that vendors need to consider if they plan on having a successful road show program. Those keys for success include:
1. Training – BPI encourages vendors to come to the first road show and work with and train the staff on the message it wants club members to receive. The staff at that first location can then carry that brand message to the rest of the club locations in a specific region. Barry said, "Nobody can really get the enthusiasm about your brand better than a person at a company. It really helps to convey that to our teams because it really motivates them to want to sell the product."
2. Presentation – In the planning process, the vendor needs to understand and prepare to make the road show an exciting experience for the club member. Hart-Barry said, "It's about theatre. A road show should be bright and energetic. It should have sales people who are going to talk to the club members and not just hand them a sample."
3. Education – Since many road show products are new to club members, the road show environment needs to educate as well as entertain. Barry said, "It's not just selling. It is also education. A lot of these products are new or cutting edge and road show salespeople need to educate the club member about its uses and benefits."
For more information about BPI, please contact Stephanie Gallo at 732.775.6075 ext 1 or via Email at Stephanie@BPIBrand.com
www.BPIBrand.com
Road shows offer new vendors the opportunity to test merchandise in the club environment while existing vendors are able to test and potentially expand its assortment with additional flavors or product varieties. According to BPI, 81% of customers say their personal experience with a product is what creates trust when making a purchase. Warehouse club road shows offer vendors a strong return on investment:
1. According to BPI's web site, www.bpibrand.com, "Warehouse club road shows build consumer brand relationships and create between 2,000 and 15,000 brand impressions per day. These impressions are not only high, but they are also targeted."
2. The cost-per-touch (CPT) of warehouse club road show is lower than other marketing programs. On its web site, BPI stated, "With the personal experience developed in these trial sales, club members are converted into lifelong customers of the product."
BPI works with food and non-food vendors and offers road show services nationally in the United States and Canada and recently began operations in Mexico and the United Kingdom. Susan Barry said, "Many vendors have only one shot at getting their product into the club channel and they need to invest in the process because the payoff can be pretty large. Vendors who lack the resources, the time, or the knowledge to execute these types of events will not be successful. So we give the vendors the services that they need in order to execute in the club channel."
BPI Brand Marketing offers a wide variety of road show related services that when taken together guide vendors through the entire road show sales and operating process. Those services include staffing, management, booth design and signage, creative planning, execution, equipment, props, shipping of supplies, staff training and uniforms and club management and buyer coordination. In addition, BPI provides a detailed road show summary report as well as consumer demographic data.
BPI Competitive Advantages
BPI offers a number of competitive advantages compared to other service providers and companies interested in executing their own road shows:
1. Operational Breadth – BPI can operate multiple road shows at the same time, regionally or nationally. Barry said, "We do it quite often. We figure out how much equipment we are going to need and how many supplies and we factor that into the planning process."
2. Detailed Budget and Plan – BPI prepares a detailed budget and plan for the vendor so there are no unexpected issues or extra expenses charged. For example, travel can be a large expense for companies handling their own road shows. BPI knows what its travel costs will be before the road show.
3. Avoid Staff Burnout – BPI's ability to successfully staff its road shows is a key competitive advantage. The staff that BPI provides is vibrant, unique and trained. However, vendors who operate a road show in-house may have difficulty with the staffing aspect. Hart-Barry said, "A lot of companies will send their own staff to these events which occur from Thursday to Sunday. These people need to then report back to their regular job on Monday. It's
very hard. You need a lot of energy in order to be at a show for four days. You're working almost 12 to 13 hours per day at these shows. These employees can easily get worn down."
4. Understand Club Needs – Vendors need to understand that the clubs are not going to assist with setup, operation or cleanup, but will expect all road show aspects to operate smoothly. Barry said, "We really try to push the standards of the club and what their expectations are and make sure we follow all the guidelines so that it's a
successful show both in the view of the vendor and the club. The club doesn't want people coming in and misrepresenting the product or looking sloppy. They want to make sure that food safety is not an issue. Sometimes you're in there at 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning to do setup. You need to know who to talk to and how to get things done without getting upset. It's easy to do once you know how to do it, how to get yourself set up and broken down and cause the least amount of confusion for everybody."
5. Operational Efficiency – BPI has systems in place to store and transport road show equipment from club to club, making sure the equipment and materials are in good condition. Barry said, "Vendors often don't have the resources or the warehouse space or warehouse staff in order to transport the equipment and the supplies. We have a warehouse that we work from here in New Jersey. What we do is we ship the equipment from club to
club. We bring the equipment back here, refurbish it, replenish supplies, and then re-send out the equipment to the next club."
6. Account Manager – BPI assigns an account manager to each client. This person is organized and accessible and is prepared to adjust to any circumstance that may arise in the planning or execution of a road show.
Keys for Success
There are a number of concepts and issues that vendors need to consider if they plan on having a successful road show program. Those keys for success include:
1. Training – BPI encourages vendors to come to the first road show and work with and train the staff on the message it wants club members to receive. The staff at that first location can then carry that brand message to the rest of the club locations in a specific region. Barry said, "Nobody can really get the enthusiasm about your brand better than a person at a company. It really helps to convey that to our teams because it really motivates them to want to sell the product."
2. Presentation – In the planning process, the vendor needs to understand and prepare to make the road show an exciting experience for the club member. Hart-Barry said, "It's about theatre. A road show should be bright and energetic. It should have sales people who are going to talk to the club members and not just hand them a sample."
3. Education – Since many road show products are new to club members, the road show environment needs to educate as well as entertain. Barry said, "It's not just selling. It is also education. A lot of these products are new or cutting edge and road show salespeople need to educate the club member about its uses and benefits."
For more information about BPI, please contact Stephanie Gallo at 732.775.6075 ext 1 or via Email at Stephanie@BPIBrand.com
www.BPIBrand.com
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