Tanna Wyatt, president of the GLDA.

The annual Gem & Lapidary Dealers’ Association (GLDA) gemstone and jewellery trade show in Las Vegas is a relatively small and inexpensive affair when compared to the huge JCK Las Vegas show that it precedes by a day or so. It has no participation from industry heavyweights and it is no trend-setter or market barometer, the way the JCK show is. Surprisingly, the show continues to attract repeat exhibitors and repeat visitors every year. The secrets of its success, Tanna Wyatt, president of the GLDA, explained, include good communication and catering to the specific needs of both exhibitors and buyers. Also, she adds, though absolute numbers are much smaller, the GLDA show has a larger number of buyers per exhibitor booth than the JCK show.

There are merits in remaining small too, according to Wyatt. “You couldn’t give me a show the size of the JCK one. Buyers and sellers feel at home and comfortable here. Because it is small, exhibitors have a better chance with incidental traffic. If buyers come with friends, they shop each other’s exhibitors as well. And with 8,000 pre-registered buyers and plenty of incidental traffic, we have more buyers per booth than the JCK show. Our buyer company-to-exhibitor ratio is between 10 and 15 to each exhibitor. At the JCK show, the buyer traffic would be only retailers. We let everyone including wholesalers in. The kind of buyer who might spend just $20,000 to $50,000 can also come in here. But we also have Tiffany and Zale and Home Shopping Network coming in.”
According to Wyatt, big buyers like Zale and Tiffany like that the show is comfortable and easy to shop. “Half the exhibitors don’t know who the big buyers are and so they get treated the same as everyone else. The big companies find that refreshing. Prices don’t go up just because they’re the big buyers – and they already have the lowest prices because our exhibitors are the most competitive. Even for the big buyers, the fact that we offer cash and carry is an attraction. They see what they’re buying and don’t get surprised later when the actual order comes in. Shop NBC likes the show and films buyers while they’re transacting business.”
A key difference, Wyatt points out, is a difference in buyer profile. “Our buyers are not the average JCK buyer. Our buyers are among those who, for the last 30 years, have wanted cash and carry facilities at trade shows. Our buyers have commented that they like shopping the show – they like the ambience and comfort level. They can get the kind of pricing they’re looking for. A big show like the JCK is difficult to shop. Lots of exhibitors get missed. Buyers too can’t see everything. Tucson buyers who don’t do JCK come here,” she says. Wyatt hurries to state however, that there are many exhibitors and buyers who do both shows.

Offering an easy-to-shop ambience.

Success Mantras
According to Wyatt, the show makes great efforts with exhibitors too. “Communication and personal contact are among the keys to our show’s success,” she says. “We give the exhibitors good value. We undertake some heavy advertising and follow this up with email and fax contact. We always contact both our exhibitors and buyers. We have specific matches for buyers. We also make the whole buyer visit as painless as it possibly can be. We pre-register everyone – if someone’s registered in a previous year and we have all of his or her details on record, the registration can be done over the phone. It’s that easy.
“We also throw in lots of extras for exhibitors, like a free hotel room along with their booth fees and good services. We keep costs low for exhibitors so they can make some money. It costs an exhibitor four or five times more to set up at a big show like the JCK. Given this, we can’t possibly grow to be a giant like them. Even if there’s pressure for more exhibition slots, we will keep the show to a maximum of 750 booths, which is enough to satisfy buyers – giving them enough variety and choice.
“Right now, we have approximately 500 exhibitors with about 600 booths. We expect to fill both ballrooms (in the Mirage Hotel, where the show is located) in the next two years – which translates into another 100-125 exhibitors. We are looking to attracting another large group – like a national pavilion. If we did get such a group, we would look at expanding the show to more than our 750-booth limit. Even then it wouldn’t be more than 800 exhibitors. Also,” she adds, “a smaller show means there’s much less competition for the exhibitors.” Wyatt thinks the GLDA’s philosophy of staying relatively small will yield good results in the long run. “Our show quality will get better and buyer traffic will get better. As it is, buyer traffic doubled every year for the first four or five years of the show. Over the last four years, buyer traffic increased between 50- and 75 per cent every year. This year, for the first time, we’ve had a four-day show for both ballrooms.” (The show expanded to include a second ballroom as exhibition space last year, but the extra show space was for a limited time.)
According to Wyatt, exhibitors range from the very small to large. “We try not to get in too much of the lower end – we don’t let in costume jewellery etc. We also turn exhibitors away even if we have space if they’re not right profile for us.”
The show itself, according to Wyatt, is both a networking platform and a facilitator for immediate business transactions. “That works better for both buyers and sellers,” she says. “It’s more dynamic if you can actually buy and take your goods. It generates more interaction between buyer and seller. As an exhibitor, you have the flexibility of offering immediate discounts for cash on the barrel. And you don’t have to worry about collecting payments. This also generates successful incidental traffic. Buyers come specifically looking for new suppliers. We also offer credit card services to foreign exhibitors so buyers can pick up their goods with credit. We also have our own database of between 16,000 and 20,000 buyers – a database that is revised and purged every two or three years.”
Cash and carry, according to Wyatt, is very popular with both exhibitors and buyers. There are very few memo deals. Buyers call all the time for specific information on exhibitors, she says. And we step in to ensure that transactions run smoothly. If a buyer feels he or she wasn’t given the merchandise they wanted, we can’t do anything legally, but we contact the exhibitor and ask them if they can set things right. If there are too many complaints about one exhibitor, we don’t have him back. Usually the exhibitor makes it right with the buyer.”
The cash and carry facility also facilitates niche trading, Wyatt says. “We have unique pieces here. You can actually see them – not just replicas or images on a computer. So we have a combination of mass market and niches.”

Cost-competitiveness is Key
Foreign exhibitors, Wyatt says, who are the most cost competitive, usually find it difficult to get into other shows, are welcomed with open arms. “Just bring a passport and business card and you’re registered. Operate a tight ship but we are fair with them. We have a seniority list. If someone has very good merchandise, they move up on our priority list. And the buyers come back because they want the direct costs of foreign exhibitors.”

The cost-competitiveness of overseas exhibitors, Wyatt says, drives a great deal of buyer traffic. “In Tucson, the show was the best during bad times because buyers realised they could get the best deal there. In 1982-83, during the recession, the Tucson show did well. After 9/11 Tucson was really good. We tell exhibitors they have to be able to compete in our show. Don’t waste money if you can’t match our other exhibitors’ prices. So it is
very competitive.”
Wyatt then takes a blunt line. “The JCK’s big customers are the American manufacturers and so they have enough pressure to get the organizers to push the foreigners to a sideline. We promote them. They bring price competitiveness and variety. We also have a foreign buyer database of between 6,000 and 7,000.”
According to Wyatt, the same pressures that tend to keep overseas exhibitors out, also work against the cash and carry system. “The big shows don’t allow selling on the show because it disadvantages the American companies. That way, the buyers are more secure ordering from an American company because they have recourse to the law in case things go wrong or if they feel actual delivery doesn’t meet expectations. We let in the Hong Kong people in during the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) scare – and we did it with proper precautions.

Right mix of mass market and niches.

Super Service
“We tell buyers whether an exhibitor has a good record or not. Likewise we tell exhibitors don’t accept cheques from people we know are not good etc. Like a personal Pay Pal comfort service. We warned one HK company but they sold to one person anyway and the cheque bounced. But they spotted him back in the show and our security got the guy. So we try to protect both sides.
“Service is everything. I look at the buyers in a sense as more of being my customers than the exhibitors because if you don’t have buyers you don’t have a show.”
So good has the show been that the GLDA has now announced a winter show beginning in 2009. “The New York show changed its dates from January to March and so there’s a slot open for a show. We like doing a show in Las Vegas – we get lots of feedback. Lots of exhibitors asked why we couldn’t do two shows. We’ve obliged them. Lots of them want to come and do Tucson and our new Las Vegas show in one go – it saves money on their US market effort. Also, Las Vegas is really trying to facilitate conventions and make things easier. The city has the capacity to expand and meet demand. The MGM city centre project is going to be huge. The cost of exhibiting or doing business here won’t go up significantly – as it did in New York.”
So what does the future hold? Will the gem and jewellery convention survive and thrive in the future? “I’m not sure about the great big shows,” she says. “But I feel fairly confident that we will have a market as long as we want to do business. The internet, according to me, is an aid to conventions and not a threat. But the bigger shows where people don’t feel they’re getting value for money, will have a problem. It is a job being a buyer at a show like the JCK. I’m not saying they’ll go by the wayside, but the exhibitors who do those shows are going to struggle. The money they spend gets harder to justify. We want to do a show that makes both exhibitors and buyers happy and this one is just right.”