Sydney Pool Spa & Outdoor Living Expo draws a crowd of quality consumers
The recent Sydney Pool Spa & Outdoor Living Expo at Rosehill Gardens has drawn a serious audience of eager pool and spa consumers.
SPASA Australia COO Spiros Dassakis says that last year’s expo saw a record breaking 25 per cent increase in attendance, and while overall numbers were marginally down on last year, exhibitors reported a better quality audience at this year’s event.
“We were delighted with the turnout for the event and our members were extremely happy with results from the show,” says Dassakis. “NSW is Australia’s largest state for pool building and it is encouraging to see that consumers come to the expo to find a pool builder, buy spas and more importantly to do their homework before they buy.”
He says that visitors were encouraged to bring their house plans and photos for one-on-one consultations.
“They responded with exhibitors constantly engaged in serious discussions and many follow-up site inspections were booked as a result of the show. The spa companies were also kept busy with a large number of orders taken at the expo as consumers took advantage of the many specials on offer at the show.”
Sold out show
The show was a sellout with 93 exhibitors participating in the expo which was a record for the Sydney event and reflected the strength of the NSW market.
A new initiative at this year’s event was the walk through landscape design feature co-ordinated by the Australian Institute of Landscape Design Managers (AILDM) in the outdoor exhibit area.
“The concept was extremely popular with visitors able to see and interact with products in a real life environment. The companies and sponsors that participated commented that it has worked extremely well as it encouraged far more engagement and discussion with visitors than a normal exhibition stand,” he says.
AILDM also had design experts on hand who were kept busy providing one on one design advice to visitors.
The seminar sessions were again a highlight of the show with many having standing room only. The busiest sessions were the A-Z of Buying a Pool or Spa presented by SPASA and the landscape design sessions by Ecodesign. Other sessions that focussed on technology for maintaining pools and energy savings were also well attended and reflected the desire from consumers to do their research before they purchase.
