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Nicola Dagnino, Director at Italian line supplier Gruppo DP, an ever-present at EFTTEX, believes that the European show has two stark options facing it: regain its relevance or close.
Despite the show’s waning influence, Dagnino (pictured below left with Angling International Editor, Anthony Hawkswell) says the industry should fight to keep the show. “We need to protect EFTTEX because we need a show. It is a meeting place for the industry, but the formula has to change.”
Dagnino says he was pleased to hear that next year’s showcase in Barcelona will return to its traditional timing in June, but accepts that promoting the show in its current state is ‘very difficult’ because it is ‘not a very good show.’
“You have to question the promotion of EFTTEX. There is no cooperation between the show and EFTTA, the industry body for the trade in Europe and former organiser of the event. The organisation should be getting behind it. Lobbying must come after. EFTTA has a duty to look after its membership.
“What is the point of lobbying if you do not have a membership to protect or benefit from your efforts?”
Dagnino accepts that EFTTEX will never recreate its best days, but believes it could still add value to the industry. “We need better quality exhibitors. Small companies are not an attraction. If you don’t have good companies, no one will come.
“An exerted effort needs to be made to attract more manufacturers. There are too many wholesalers in attendance. The major manufacturers – the really big ones – are not going to return to EFTTEX. There is no reason for them to do so, but the focus should be on attracting more meaningful tackle suppliers.
“Big retailers are increasingly becoming more important than distributors but they are not coming to EFTTEX. We did not see one retailer from either Belgium or Netherlands at the show. The top 20 shops from the UK and across Europe should be there, but there is nothing for them to see.”
Dagnino added that the current EFTTEX is a pale shadow of the event of a decade ago. “In its heyday, we had up to seven salesmen manning the booth – now we have a smaller stand with three personnel. The quality of visitors is insignificant.
“There are multiple functions for a trade show: attracting new customers, touching base with existing business partners and doing business with fellow exhibitors. New customers are really missing. We need more people through the door.
A week after its appearance in Brussels, Dagnino was manning the Gruppo booth at the CGC Expo (right) in Weihai, China – a show that is in stark contrast to EFTTEX. “The cost of exhibiting in Asia is very cheap in comparison to the European event and yet is much more successful for us.
“There are a lot more customers there and we achieved more in terms of business. It underlined the fact that the European industry is nearly dead. Customers do not go there because they know suppliers work through the internet. The market is flooded with new products.”
Gruppo, owner of the ASSO, Perlon and Toray brands, is a seasoned visitor at international trade shows and, alongside EFTTEX and the CGC Expo in Weihai, is a long-standing exhibitor at ICAST in the USA – the world’s largest recreational fishing industry event – and China Fish in Beijing.
