The National Confectioners Association's All Candy Expo opens at McCormick Place West today for a three-day run. With roughly 450 manufacturers exhibiting an estimated 2,000 new edibles—including Snickers' limited-edition fudge bars, Reese's dark chocolate peanut butter cups, and Hershey's all-natural extra dark chocolate and pomegranate bars—the candy and snack show is the biggest of its kind in North America. And this year planners expect an even larger attendance than in the past.
"The candy industry is isolated from the current economic situation," said Susan Whiteside, a spokeswoman for the show. "The candy industry never sees huge increases or declines. We move along at a sales growth that's about 1 to 3 percent per year," regardless of the nation's ecomomic situation, "and we're expecting about 12 to 13,000 people at our show this year," which represents an increase over last year's attendance.
What makes candy recession proof? "For retailers, candy is a very profitable category," said Whiteside. "Everyone buys it, it's a part of holiday celebrations, it's also an impulse purchase. So in terms of things retailers look for, it's got a lot of good points going for it."
Although the economic climate hasn't dealt a tremendous blow to the candy industry, planners of the All Candy Expo still took current events into account when marketing this year's show. "One thing that has changed about marketing the show in the current economy is that we wanted to communicate that at a time when the country is experiencing economic hardship and the cost of doing business is greater, trade shows are a really good value," Whiteside said. "If you are a retailer who buys candy and you take one trip for the whole year [to the All Candy Expo] you see 450 vendors all at once. That's difficult to achieve any other way."
Whiteside added that exhibitors at the show enjoy the same kind of advantage. By attending the expo, she said, "exhibitors can see every buyer that they need to meet within a year, in three days, with one trip. So what we really wanted to communicate in our marketing efforts this year is that dollar for dollar, trade shows are incredibly efficient experiences."
To ensure that they capture buyers' attention at the show, Whiteside said, exhibitors have "put effort into upgrading their booths each year," and pay close attention to the layout of McCormick Place West. For example, the show hosts a buyer's club (a sort of V.I.P. room) one half level above the trade show floor. "Only our retail customers can go up there," Whiteside said, "and it helps our exhibitors think, 'What does my booth look like from above? How can I get extra attention from those buyers who are up there having their morning coffee?'" As a result, "our booths have gotten taller and more visual from different levels," Whiteside said. As an example, she pointed to the Cadbury booth, which has a rotating top that showcases the company's latest brands, so that onlookers from above can see the latest products in the confectioner's inventory.
Correction: The spelling of Susan Whiteside's name has been corrected.
