Positive results despite the period. The pandemic has hit the footwear industry hard in Russia but MosShoes, one of the most important industry shows in Russia, has resisted thanks to the winning combination of on-site and online events.
“We have implemented the services offer, creating a synergy between the physical and digital proposals” underlined Tatiana Ozimuk, Director of the event. “Despite the doubts and uncertainties, we recorded very positive results, both for the September 2020 edition and for the one that ended last March.”
The event, which was held at the Gostiny Dvor exhibition center, is internationally recognized as a consolidated reference platform for the presentation of the latest trends in the footwear and accessories sector. Although the health emergency has inevitably reduced the number of visitors, especially those from abroad, the show remains an international showcase for men’s, women’s and children’s fashion, accessories and components, and preparations are already underway for the next edition. scheduled from 30 August to 2 September 2021.
Mrs. Tatiana Ozimuk, what can you tell us about the latest edition? Was it a successful one, considering the issues caused by the health emergency? With appearance of the Coronavirus, two parameters of the MosShoes exhibition have changed significantly: on the one hand, the number of foreign exhibitors, that significantly decreased, leaving only representatives of Turkey, and representatives of Germany, Italy, Spain, China, India and other countries that temporarily couldn’t participate in the exhibition; on the other, the number of visitors from the regions of Russia that decreased as well due to the risk of infection. In the previous editions, visitors coming from Moscow and the Moscow region accounted around 34% of the total entries; during the Coronavirus period this figure has increased up to 65%.
MosShoes, due to its timing in March and September, was actually kind of lucky: it was the last show taking place in March 2020 at Crocus Expo and, thanks to the fact that the Government separated exhibitions from mass events and allowed them to be held in compliance with special rules, it also was one of the first to take place in September 2020.
What was the impact of social distance and travel restrictions in the field of fairs organizing? For the MosShoes-Spring 2021 exhibition, the epidemiological situation in Russia was more favorable than for the MosShoes-Autumn 2020 exhibition. The main peak of diseases in Russia was over, active vaccination of the population began. Accordingly, 34% more visitors came to the 2021 spring exhibition than to the autumn 2020 exhibition, although, of course, we have not yet reached the before-Coronavirus period visitor figures.
With appearance of the Coronavirus and the reduction in the number of visitors from the regions, the organizers of MosShoes focused on the business program of the exhibition and in March 2021 for the first time held a forum of the shoe business “ShoesRetailCongress. Ways out of the crisis “, together with Retail.ru and with the support of the Russian Union of Tanners and Shoemakers (RSCO). The forum and exhibition were attended by leading experts and specialists of the leather and footwear business to analyze the specifics and prospects of the industry from different sides, as well as the changes that have occurred both in production and in retail. This event helped attract visitors from the regions, and the rate of regional visitors increased to 51%. The event was approved by representatives of the leather and footwear industry and it was decided to hold it during the work of each exhibition.
According to the market’s needs, what do you think are the fairs’ elements to be implemented in the future in order to succeed despite adversity? Do you believe digital events are a winning choice? It is necessary to add special events at the exhibition, which will help to provide exhibitors with goods for customers in more detail and information. For example, at future exhibitions, it is planned to conduct tests of samples of products of participating companies together with the ANO “Russian Quality System” (Roskachestvo) and widely inform the consumer before the exhibition and after the exhibition about the test results, and at the exhibition itself-to organize additional stands with the presentation of high – quality products.
With regard to on-line format, the idea came after the announcement of the pandemic and the closure of all exhibitions. Trying to keep the business, the company MosShoes, the organizer of the largest B2B exhibition for footwear, bags, accessories, leather and materials in Russia and Eastern Europe, has launched a new project — digital B2B platform for professionals in the leather and footwear industry – Mosshoes.Online.
What is Mosshoes.online? It is a digital b2b platform for the placement and implementation of current collections of men’s and women’s shoes, shoes for children and teenagers, bags, leather and accessories. Thanks to it, a company can present its own collection and itself, through an easy photo-uploading system. The visitor’s full profile is visible in real time and the company can control who’s entering the stand, rejecting the unwanted ones; a filter allows to place orders both for a new collection and from the company’s warehouse – moreover, online audio and text communication with clients without switching to third-party resources and every order can be comfortably exported to an Excel file. Obviously, through this platform it is also possible to attend online conferences and business programs.
What is the difference between Mosshoes.online and individual companies’ digital platforms? And what are the benefits of using this tool? Mosshoes.online provides participants with a wider audience of potential customers, and visitors with the opportunity to get acquainted with the collections of all manufacturers and suppliers. After the permission to hold exhibitions, the online platform was used in two ways: to inform visitors about the new collections of participants before the offline exhibition, and to provide the possibility of implementing the remnants of samples from previous collections of participants. But we faced a problem: progressive market participants have created their own online platforms, and it is difficult for others to take photos of collections and post them on the site. So, we found some way to solving it, by planning to allocate additional funds for the promotion of the online platform, offering market participants who have their own platforms preferential terms of participation on our platform, so that they can make sure that the exhibition platform provides a wider audience of potential customers and, lastly, by creating an assistance network in order to help the customer while creating photo collections and placing them on the platform.
On behalf of the exhibition management, we invite Italian manufacturers and manufacturers from other countries to participate in the digital B2B platform for professionals in the leather and footwear industry-MosShoes.Online. We guarantee significant discounts.
In addition to the online format, the organizers of MosShoes believe that in this difficult time, it is necessary first of all to develop information and service services for visitors, that’s why we are working on the development of the VIP-visitor program, now all the benefits provided by the program (special information support for the visitor, visiting the VIP – hall, etc.), that are valid for any visitor and we’re also expanding the number of hotels and lowering the prices for the hotel accommodation program.
www.mosshoes.com