Having been selected to exhibit in the European Pavilion at IFA 2023 in the context of the EIC Overseas Trade Fairs (OTF) Programme 2.0, VITESY acquired valuable insights into European and North American markets, gained recognition and maximised their brand visibility. The Sales Account of VITESY, Carole Scudeler, highlights the positive business impact stemming from the participation in OTF 2.0 and shares insightful tips for a successful presence in high-level business events.
What is the business impact created following your participation in the trade fair? Is there any milestone achievement to announce?
CS: We established negotiations with two main categories of leads: 1) B2C Distributors from EU and North American regions, which are our focus areas at present, due to full regulatory compliance of all our products and our internal skills and language capabilities; 2) Multinational Brands specialised in the White Goods / Large Appliances sectors.
Many of the negotiations with B2C Distributors are at an advanced stage (Agreement definition and Initial Order negotiation) and will likely materialise into placement of substantial initial order between Q1 and Q2 of this year for the largest markets of the North American and EU areas. Even for those markets where we may end up signing with another distribution partner that we met outside of IFA, the fact that we have found an alternative distributor at IFA is allowing us to get the best possible deal or speed up the negotiation with our preferred partner.
On the other hand, to avoid cross-competition and prevent a dilution of our technology expertise, we are carefully selecting the best partnerships with the above-mentioned Multinational Brands, to make sure that the projects to be developed jointly are in our company’s best possible interest. Negotiations with such large companies are much longer and more complex, but they have progressed substantially since IFA.
To what extent did the EIC Trade Fairs Programme 2.0 help you in achieving your organisation goals and business growth?
CS: The quality exhibition of the EIC booth was key in giving us sufficient visibility during the show. Although the allocated space was very small (a small desk, two chairs and a video), it was well organised and visually attractive. Most importantly, the booth location was just in front of the main Southern entrance, which guaranteed huge traffic in front of the booth. The most interesting leads we collected were spontaneous meetings, not pre-planned ones, so booth visibility was a key factor in that. Additionally, the EIC allowed us to strongly simplify the participation to the fair and dramatically lowered our cost to participate, making the (soon to be concretised) ROI on the investment exponentially higher.
Pre-show support from the OTF team was very good, with workshops held well in advance and all deadlines and technical requirements clearly explained. While we had good internal knowledge of how to organise trade show participation already, and so many concepts and tips shared were already familiar to us, we have no doubts that they would have been essential for any company new to the trade show game!
What business aspects do you think exhibitors should consider when preparing for tradeshows, both locally and internationally?
CS: For a show like IFA, that gathers all the most important decision-makers of the region and the industry, it is important to balance two main functions of the event: 1) Finding new leads and; 2) Curating the relationships with existing leads and customers. However, doing the second function sometimes comes at the expense of the first because when you are talking with an existing partner at the booth, you may miss the interest of a lead or they may not have time to wait, nurturing existing relationship must not be forgot.
Our tip is to try to book fixed slots with existing partners, so that you have a degree of control over your agenda and can thus manage the spontaneous meetings with new leads (for example, by exchanging contacts and agreeing on a meeting later in the day). Operationally, it means also simple things, as saving in advance your business partners mobile phone numbers on your phone (not relying only on their emails) so that you can call them quickly when needed, without interrupting the conversation with a new lead.
What are your ambitions and future expectations for the company after this experience?
CS: We aim to grow 3x in 2024 compared to 2023, and a significant part of this growth is expected to happen in cooperation through the contacts we made at IFA. We consider important even those contacts that do not happen to turn into business partners this year already, because they are useful alternatives in case the partners, we decided to pick for the first year (i.e. Q1/Q2 2924 – Q1/Q2 2025) will not deliver the expected results.
Speaking of the OTF program in 2023, we were also selected for the international trade show GITEX in Dubai. That show was very useful for us, since the MENA area is strategic for the future development of our company once we have solidified our distribution network in Europe and North America. The EIC’s support was instrumental to the successful outcome of the show also in this case, with the added benefit that such a support is even more relevant in the case of trade shows organised outside of the EU, which requires additional preparatory work compared to events organised in the EU.
Finally, we have already decided that we will take part in IFA 2024 with a bigger stand. Hopefully, we will manage to show a new product at the event, but even if we will not have something too important to show, the networking nature of the event make it extremely valuable for our company to develop business avenues in the EU and North American regions.
Finally, could you offer any tips to prospective applicants?
CS: We strongly recommend investing in monitors for the stand, as videos always catch the attention of visitors that pass by, and use eye-catching words printed big on the walls. Videos do not need to be made specifically for the fair, but you may need to mix and match existing ones so that you can show the full range of the company. In our case, a very important element that made visitors stop by was putting in big and bold letters “FOOD WASTE”, so focusing on the problem, not on our product (Shelfy).
About VITESY
Vitesy was born in 2016 with the launch of the world’s first compact Biophilic Air Purifier through a Crowdfunding campaign. In the same way and with ever growing success, they launched their most iconic product NATEDE in 2018, as an evolution of our first product and in 2020 they enlarged the product range with our compact Air Purifier ETERIA. In the same year, they started a more intense B2B scouting and sales activity. Finally, after yet another successful pre order campaign, in October 2023 they are going to bring to the market their newest product SHELFY, which uses Air Purification tech to dramatically improve Fresh Food Shelf Life in refrigerators.
About IFA
IFA is one of the world's largest consumer electronics and home appliances trade show. For 100 years, IFA has remained at the forefront of technology and innovation.
Since 1924, IFA has been the platform for tech launches, showcasing detector devices, tube radio receivers, the first European car radio and colour TV. From Albert Einstein opening the show in 1930 to the launch of the first video recorder in 1971, IFA Berlin has been integral to the transformation in technology, bringing together industry pioneers and innovative products all under one roof.
About the EIC International Trade Fairs and USA Soft Landing Programme 3.0
The EIC International Trade Fairs and USA Soft Landing Programme 3.0 (previously Overseas Trade Fairs Programme 2.0) supports EIC Awardees to promote their commercialisation strategy in foreign markets and leverage business opportunities at the 12 most popular trade fairs, strengthening the EU innovation brand around the world. Selected EIC-funded SMEs, start-ups and scale-ups from EU Member States and associated countries have access to the Programme.
Check the EIC International Trade Fairs and USA Soft Landing Programme 3.0 or additional information. For stories, open calls and events, you may also visit the EIC Community Platform.
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DISCLAIMER: This information is provided in the interest of knowledge sharing and should not be interpreted as the official view of the European Commission, or any other organisation.