10 Effects of Mega Computer Exhibitions

I went to Singapore's IT Show on Saturday. It was like many other IT shows. An impressive amount of people turned up for the 4 day show. You wouldn't believe it but the papers are saying 700,000 which is equal to 17.5% of the entire population of Singapore. I didn't buy anything though because I was on a tight budget and I already bought an LCD widescreen 6 months back. There are shows like this every 3 months and they are a big deal. Here are 10 reasons why the industry is better/worst for it.

1) More people become interested in Tech Products
Going to a show means seeing many new shiny tech products promising the cool factor. Just seeing them creates techno lust in you. If you have no self control, you can blow away 1 year of wages there. At the same time, seeing so many people at the show brings the herd mentality into you thereby creating impulsively & irrational decisions. Even the most untech person gets a sense that he must go down to the show just because everyone is going there. At the very least to take a look at the brand new gadgets and always dropping prices.

2) Intense price competition from the main distributors
The main distributors/ manufacturers are the biggest players there. And they have very good prices to offer you. It is common knowledge that price wars start to develop from the 2nd day and peaks a few hours before the show ends on Sunday night. You can see the prices on the posters crossed out and lowered every few hours. Getting a 20-30% price cut from the first day price is definitely the norm during the last few hours.

3) Flow over effects for stores near by
700,000 people streaming into SUNTEC City convention Hall means big business for all the stores there. People tend to spend more when they are ready to blow away big bucks for IT stuff. Getting discounts they were not expecting means they actually have budget to spend even more.

4) Purchases are delayed until the show
With a show coming up every 3 months for the past 4 years, it is common knowledge that people wait for the show to make their purchases. As long as their computers do not break down yet, no one really bothers to visit the electronic superstores or Sim Lim Square (a 6 storey building full of tech related products)

5) Woe for retail players
All the waiting means that there is less business for small retail players. The big guys take the biggest booth space during the IT shows and can offer the biggest discounts since they cut out the middle man. And with such frequent shows, no wonder computer retail businesses are dying out. They now survive by moving to selling accessories that people buy when theirs wear out or to provide services that people cannot wait 3 months for.

6) Hold less stock and suffer less from depreciation
The big players know that the bulk of their stock is moved during the shows. They hold fewer inventory during the 2 months of inactivity and save on the high depreciation cost associated with tech products. This is another reason why they are so willing to cut the price during the last day of the show, they know that if they do not move the product now, they will be suffering a bigger loss from depreciation. Better to throw money away and gaining market share.

7) More people are employed temporarily for sales
The amount of temp sales jobs just shoots up during these shows. Guys are employed as sales people; Girls are employed as models. (The prettier ones that is) The hours are long but the pay is pretty good. Selling a laptop is about $20 in commission and the demand during the show is quite high so you just need to be at the right place at the right time.

8) Software takes a back stage
All the hardware with their flashy demo sets means that software becomes less important to the user. There are very little companies selling software as customers simply do not bother to stop by a booth if there is nothing they can try. Software being a tool usually do not look too appealing to use. There wasn't much people around Microsoft's Vista booth to be sure.

9) Things that are easily visible sell better
The top 3 products that sold well? HDTVs, Playstation 3s and Laptops. Sure there is already pent-up demand but because they were more visible and more able to create techno lust, they sold better. Period.

10) Amount Spent: S$48 million
Equivalent to 19,200 HDTVs or 24,000 laptops or 60,000 Playstation 3s. Cool eh?