Posted March 25th, 2009 by Exhibitslist Team
Exhibitslist was recently at a large medical exhibition in Europe and were surprised to see the differences in exhibit building methods. At the end of the show many of the exhibits were built and all that was left was a few skids, a crate and some job boxes. What is the difference? In Europe nearly all the exhibits are rentals!
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Why has the business model developed so differently? Is it economics? Is it a lack of storage facilities? Or is it a push to quality? It seems to us at Exhibitslist that while rentals are oftentimes more expensive per show, they allow for more creative exhibits. Exhibits that are custom built for multiple shows often have to be reconfigurable to many different sizes. A custom rental can be configured into whatever is necessary for the need of the show. We noticed that the teams that were building the exhibits were quite large. A 20' x 30' exhibit had a team of 7 exhibition stand builders working on it! Often times a similar custom built North American exhibit can be installed by 3 or 4 installers.
Is it time for the North American industry to change? It likely will take a long time for that to happen. There are entrenched business practices in North America that revolve around storage, drayage, installation practices and pricing and more. But the business model in Europe is one that slowly will be coming over the pond.
Do you think that rentals are the way of the future? Why are European methods of construction better?
