Following a successful trial at Autumn Fair, the Curated Meetings scheme is scaling up for its official launch at Spring Fair on 7 February and 8 February at NEC Birmingham, offering more space, more meetings, and more sectors.

Curated Meetings are short, pre-scheduled one-to-one meetings between vetted buyers and relevant brands based on mutual interests, to drive new business opportunities together. Designed to offer a platform for bespoke, time-efficient contact, Curated Meetings delivered over 300, 15-minute meetings at Autumn Fair.

For Spring Fair, the Curated Meetings team has doubled, and the programme now includes brands across all sectors including home, gift, lifestyle, fashion, accessories and jewellery.

Leading retailers confirmed for Spring Fair include Geek Retreat, John Lewis, Nature’s Kids, Clinton Cards, Bloom & Wild, Denby Retail, Houstons, Frankly, Forest Holidays, Nest, Hampshire Cultural Trust, Fy!, Hw2, Midcounties Coop Food, Everything Outdoor, Lovey Dovey, Burton Blake, Applegreens, La Di Da – Interiors, The Rusty Fox, Museum Selection, Yorkshire Willow, Jackson’s Boutique Garden Centre, Bagstage, and White Chimnies Venue.

Buyers will ‘supercharge’ their sourcing experience by pre-scheduling the new brands they want to meet, see products up close, and talk directly to decision-makers able to forge great deals – and enjoy a £250 travel expense subsidy. The meetings will take place in a private, luxurious Curated Meetings lounge for uninterrupted conversations and complimentary food and drink. 

Monica Todd, product manager of Curated Meetings, said: “Mutual matching sets Curated Meetings apart – it’s not networking, it’s not speed-dating; meetings only happen when buyers and brands mutually express interest in exploring new business together. Our bespoke platform is made for turning product interest into meaningful face-to-face new business conversations.

“The buyers are high quality, decision makers vetted for purchase responsibility and budget spend – averaging £330,000 in buying power – across a range of retail types including online players, multi-store independents and large retail chains.

“The brands offer a wide range of product types, aesthetics, and materials. We know from Autumn Fair how well it works and what the tangible benefits are to both buyers and brands. Extensive research from the Autumn Fair trial proved that new business can be done in 15 minutes and, conveniently located in the NEC Birmingham, buyers and brands from up and down the UK and internationally can now easily access three hours of highly curated meetings over two days at Spring Fair. Curated Meetings is an exciting and innovative way of doing new business, which very much complements the rest of the Spring Fair.”

In a bid to open up new avenues of business and offer flexible buying opportunities, brands are not required to exhibit at Spring Fair in order to take part. They can arrange a minimum of 10 focused 15-minute conversations with active buyers, pre-screened for meaningful budget, purchase responsibility and interest in their products, to give every chance of placing orders on the spot.

At Autumn Fair’s Curated Meetings, 72% of participating brands had orders placed on the spot or within three weeks, and 100% of buyers surveyed expressed satisfaction with the scheme.

Interested parties should sign up for Curated Meetings before 7 December to secure meetings with new buyers at Spring Fair. For more details, arrange a call with a member of the team HERE or register to attend one of the two the Curated Meetings Webinars being held this week.  

The Supercharge your Sourcing Experience Retailers & Buyers Webinar is on Thursday (25 November) at 11am. The Curated Meetings team will share an in depth look at how the programme works and benefits retailers and buyers. The registration CLICK HERE

The Accelerate New Business with Curated Meetings for Brands Webinar is on Thursday (25 November) at 2pm. The team will explain how the programme works and benefits brands and suppliers.

CLICK HERE to register.

Spring Fair is the UK’s largest marketplace for the B2B home, gift, and fashion retail industry. The event is held from 6 February to 9February and features four key buying destinations: Home, Gift, Fashion and Design & Source.

For further information visit www.springfair.com/cm