Dubbed the ‘Australian Jewellery Fair 2022 Kickstart’, Gary Fitz-Roy, managing director Expertise Events said: “There is no doubt that while the jewellery industry has survived the past two years relatively intact, the vision for how it maintains and fully recovers post-COVID needs to be at the centre of everything we do as an industry”.
As was the case with almost all international jewellery fairs in 2020 and 2021, the International Jewellery & Watch Fairs in Sydney were cancelled, and, as a result, “like almost every business, COVID has forced us to rethink what events are needed to assist the reconnection, and we have decided it’s important to present a consolidated new event to kick start 2022.
“One that is timed correctly, located correctly, and packaged correctly,” Fitz-Roy added.
The new show will run at ICC Sydney from 11 to 12 March; dates that Fitz-Roy said were carefully selected to “unite the entire industry”.
An earlier date than March would not allow retailers enough time to properly assess Christmas/New Year trading results for re-stocking purposes and it falls after the Valentine’s Day sales further allowing retailers to assess product levels.
More importantly, Fitz-Roy said, “therefore we deliberately avoided the month of February so that we have the chance to attract a national audience because, as you know, the WA border will most likely remain closed until sometime mid-late February.
“With borders looking to be open by March across Australia and New Zealand, we anticipate even greater national attendance rather than state based only visitors. A mid-March date will also be ideal for New Zealand retailers who have a pent-up demand and, we know they are keen to visit Australia and meet with suppliers.”
He is expecting support for the new show from the buying groups with Nationwide Jewellers already throwing its backing behind the Sydney show. Nationwide has a large New Zealand membership.
New show allows jewellery retailers to: • Assess Christmas and New Year trading;
• Assess restocking requirements post-Valentine’s Day;
• Prepare confidently for interstate travel because of a later date;
• Attend from New Zealand given a two year hiatus;
• Visit from West Australia to the east coast because borders should be open;
• Avoid the gamble of non-attendance in Melbourne;
• Have a better reading on consumer confidence by March |
“We considered Melbourne however; jewellery events in Melbourne have had very mixed results and never succeeded to the right level required to commercially run. It’s a fact that Victorians have a long history of travelling to Sydney for jewellery shows but unfortunately NSW retailers do not freely travel to Melbourne.
"And it’s worse at the moment because it is fair and reasonable to say many suppliers and buyers are concerned about what could happen given the Victorian government’s reputation throughout COVID. It wasn’t worth the gamble of a Melbourne show, and our advice from buyers and suppliers alike was ICC Sydney at Darling Harbour,” Fitz-Roy explained.
He also believes that consumer confidence will be much stronger by March, following the seasonal highs of both the New Year’s holidays, and Valentine’s Day.
In January, Gary Fitz-Roy, managing director Expertise Events, told Jeweller that “The opportunity to meet face-to-face and reconnect can’t be underestimated,” emphasising its position that in-person trade shows provide people with a unique experience that cannot be replicated online.