The Giftware Association honed its skills at hosting Meet The Buyer events with their third event this year, held at ‘The Bond’, Digbeth, in the heart of Birmingham’s creative quarter, on August 17.
Suppliers such as The Great British Exchange, Shrieking Violet, The Silver Studio and The Spice Kitchen were presented at this beautiful venue, where they met face to face with buyers from The National Trust, Stratford Garden Centre and Manton’s Cards.
Simone Rose, Business Development Manager and organiser of the event said: “We have worked hard on this event, listening to feedback from our previous events we decided to scale it down and have a more intimate approach where proper conversations could be had, and the buyers could meet the people behind the product.”
Of the many products on display are cards, wrap and stationery, architect-designed chess boards and playing cards, educational children’s books and original wooden board games to jewellery containing real flowers and beautiful fragrant cooking spices.
CEO of the Giftware Association, Sarah Ward, said ‘It great to see such a diverse selection of products available and diverse size of companies too. The buyers who attend trade shows sometimes see so many of the same things it’s hard to make a decision, so having a display of nearly everything covering gift is good for them to be more selective and find out more from the manufacturers about each product. It’s also great to see so many new faces, as it becoming clear that these types of events are becoming crucial to the industry as getting your company in front of the right buyer can be paramount to having a successful year”
It’s clear that this formula is working with feedback from Emma Lawrence Design saying “This was a fantastic opportunity to meet buyers with dedicated time allocated in order to show them your products without the distractions of a large trade show. This facilitated positive relationships which will hopefully lead to future orders. It is always helpful to meet other sellers too and learn from them. It was well organised and in a great venue which provided space but with a warm, friendly feel.”
New members Splimple commented: “We recently joined the GA. and this sort of event makes the GA stand apart and demonstrates they are working hard in their member’s interests.”
The full list of participating suppliers included: Allsorted, Arora Design Ltd, Artscape Publishing Ltd, Cardology, Cofi Coo, Devancer Ltd. Emma Lawrence Designs, Laura Darrington Design Ltd, Le Chateau Textiles, Northumbrian Candleworks, Peppermint Grove Austrlia, Perkins & Morley Ltd, Really Wild Cards, Shrieking Violet, Skyline Chess Ltd, Spice Kitchen, Splimple, Tactic Games, The Art File, The Great British Exchange Ltd and The Silver Studio
