Trading stand solutions for summer event traders

The great British summertime is dotted with events aimed at tourists and people enjoying the hot weather be it a music festival, fair, country show, sports event or other event. There are a group of people who do practically all of their business for the year at these events and others who maybe sell online or from a store year round but get some extra income by trading at these events. Many sell general items like drinks and ice creams or, being the British summer, Umbrellas and Pac-a-Macs. Others sell more niche products often related to the event itself like t-shirts with bands logos on at music events or documentaries about aircraft at airshows. All of these people need a trading stand to trade from of course which rather than just somewhere to stand has a number of purposes. What mustn’t be forgotten is that a trading stand is a marketing tool. Firstly a trader’s stand should attract the eyes of punters from a distance and tell them what’s on offer from as far away as possible. When potential customers get to a stand the look of the stand says something about the brand and the graphics can give information on offers and exactly what products are available, for example and ice cream sellers may have a stand that features the flavours that are available or tells people that it is all ‘Real Dairy Ice Cream made freshly in Cornwall’ At outside events the stand is of course also a shelter, for the seller of course and also for buyers, a stand with plenty of room from either the rain or the sun, whichever is prevailing, may pull in customers looking to avoid the wet or heat. Having to queue in the rain isn’t going to entice people. So summer event traders should ideally have a stand that attracts the eye, gives lots of information, looks professional but also must be suitable for indoor and outdoor use and they will probably want something that is easy to setup and put down. A trader’s stand could be one bespoke stand made by a specialist of course, they look good and can be made to any size and shape but have some disadvantages as well. Bespoke trade stands are often fiddly to put together with components that have to fit together in just the right way and may take some time to assemble and dissemble even when the owner is used to them. The size and shape of a bespoke trade stand is also not usually very flexible with only one way it can be setup, this isn’t very useful for a trader who one week is on a big plot in a field in Sussex and the next week is on a small 6’x3’ stand at the Birmingham NEC. The other problem with most bespoke stands is that when it is out or date or if part of it is damaged the whole thing has to be chucked and started with over again. Modular systems can either be true modular systems with parts designed to fit together and adjust or just a mixture of different components and display systems. The mixture of display components can actually have more flexibility, you may have a couple of branded gazebo structures along with a pop-up display as an example where you only use the branded gazebos at outside events normally or where you have no shell-scheme and then decide how many you need based on space. With items such as a gazebo where the canvas is branded or a pop up display with printed removable panels they are easy to renew with new panels or canvas if these get damaged or become out of date, you may need to change them every year with new prices or offers. Roller banner display stands are a popular option for smaller stands and also to place where they are most likely to catch customers’ eyes such as facing along an aisle. Modular displays as well are often based on removable printed panels that you can have printed at any large format printer and can change when needed. Modular systems fit together in such a way that you can choose how many panels and pieces to use based on how much space you have and some include floors and roofs as well which are optional. One last point: if you are going to be using your trading stand outside make sure you have your large format printing of any panels, posters, banners, canvas and flags on to durable materials and with ink that is UV cured so it wont fade in the sun