After a successful relaunch in September 2017 at their new home of the ILEC Exhibition Centre in West London, Off-Price is back with the StockXchange event on March 11- 12, bringing an exciting approach to fashion stock buying for retailers, e-tailers and wholesalers.
Buzz Carter said: “We brought back the show successfully last year in September and we got a wave of approval from exhibitors, a large number of which are sports people. We are doing a lot of new things, we have beefed up our content seminar programme and widened our marketing, so it’s all guns blazing really.
“The first edition was in 2002 and called Off-Price, at Olympia. Off- Price started as an American show in Las Vegas and was owned by the original UK owners.
“We then bought the rights off the UK show. The name Off-Price originated in America, that was the brand and we stuck with it for many years, in some respects it has a slightly different meaning in the US and we started to get a lot of exhibitors coming to the show that weren’t really Off-Price exhibitors – they were more specialist stockhousers, brands that had stock from time to time.
“So we decided that to move with the times we would refresh, update and revamp. The heart of the show is about stock so we thought we’d reflect that in the name, so its called StockXchange and the reason is it is very much a trading show. It’s an order writing show, it’s not navel gazing, it’s not just meeting people. The buyers come to buy and the sellers are there to sell. So it kind of resembles a trading floor really.”
Famous brand names will be at the show, presented by specialist suppliers offering the chance to see samples, negotiate styles, quantities and price and then order on the spot for ultra-swift delivery, some within 24 hours.
Also, the most popular names from the high street are all there with thousands of highly discounted lines of ex-chainstore stock – from the top department stores and chainstores.
In March there’ll be special consignments and exclusive stock offers on all types of on-trend fashion wear, street wear, sports and leisure wear, formal and outerwear. Small orders as well as large ones are welcomed, so there’s something for everyone, of whatever size.
Buzz added: “In 2015, we decided to take some time to rebrand. It was on a six monthly cycle and we decided to take a rest so that we could do some research amongst buyers and exhibitors and, rather than just rushing it, spend some time getting the name right, getting the concept right and forming some new relationships.
“We also moved the venue from Olympia, which is a great venue, but we thought it would be better to be somewhere that had a hotel attached to it, making it easier for visitors from abroad, and exhibitors and also to have a pillarless space, which is much easier to work with.
“And it went down well, in September most of the show rebooked their space immediately, some of them taking larger booths.” And it is a show for everyone, with a wide variety of buyers from many different countries.
Buzz said: “You get anything from a large chain store buyer, from one of the large discount chains, all the way down to someone who is trading on the internet as a single eBayer. It is quite a diverse crowd, we get a lot of overseas buyers. It’s a quite small focused show – we have kept it that way, we haven’t moved away from clothing, footwear and accessories – we haven’t gone into general stock lots – and we have always kept the fashion focus. And because of that we get buyers that don’t go to the other shows. I think metre for metre we get more buyers coming in from Japan, South Korea, Poland, the Czech Republic and Russia, than anything like that in the UK.
“It’s totally unique, there’s nothing like it. There are stock shows in Europe – the Germans are quite keen on this kind of thing, but it tends to be general stock – I’ve been to these shows were you get frying pans, garden gnomes and things like that – it’s everything. You will get some stock suppliers of volume clothing but it’s not the same. When you walk into StockXchange it looks and feels like a fashion show – it looks no different in some respects.
“There is a lot of sportswear at the show, I would say it makes up more than 60 per cent of what’s on offer.
“Sportswear now tends to envelop various other things like athleisure and athletic wear. And that’s a big fashion thing now.
“When you start talking to the suppliers you realise that this is different, unique, these guys are holding large amounts of stock and they are buying special consignments – some of them have got direct relationships with brands and they can offer unique deals.”
StockXchange also holds free ‘Business Lab’ seminars for visitors where leading experts give valuable tips and advice about developing retail or e-tail businesses.
Buzz added: “The seminars are aimed at the smaller retailer, aimed very much at entrepreneurs
“The seminars will be of interest to someone who has one or two stores or who has six to ten stores and is looking to grow. So they deal with things like marketing, using the power of the internet, using social media, visual merchandising, digital transformation, how to mix up your channel it’s not just retail but etail as well.”
Business lab seminars
Sunday, March 11
11am Stock and supply chain management – how best to achieve optimum control and performance.
Brendan Murdock, Verdant London.
12.30pm Why do Retailers need to digitally transform?
• What is digital transformation and how will it help you survive and thrive?
• What role technology plays in your transformation?
• Why do you need to be agile to compete?
Mark Adams, Partner, eComp
2pm Visual Merchandising
• Creating Visual and Commercial Impact
• Enabling brand consistency across markets
A Leading Visual merchandising expert
3pm Social Media: The right strategy to increase customers and profits
• It’s an essential component now of your marketing drive
• The strategy must suit your objectives and your customers
• Getting the timing and messages right
Jon Tromans, MD, JTID
Monday, March 12
11.00am Stock and supply chain management – how best to achieve optimum control and performance.
12.30pm Social Media: The right strategy to increase customers and profits
• It’s an essential component now of your marketing drive
• The strategy must suit your objectives and your customers
• Getting the timing and messages right
Jon Tromans, MD, JTID
2.pm Why do Retailers need to digitally transform?
Mark Adams, Partner, eComp
3pm Visual Merchandising
• Making visual merchandising increase sales
• Creating Visual and Commercial Impact
• Enabling brand consistency across markets
A Leading Visual merchandising expert
Some of the brands that will be appearing at stockxchange include:
Anapurna, Adidas Originals, Adidas, Armani, Asics, Birkenstock, Blanco, Box Fresh, Cache Cache, Calvin Klein, Calzedonia, Caterpillar, Chocolate, Colorado, Collezione, Camaieu, Columbia, Cortefiel, Crocs, Diesel, Esprit Intermedio, Fox Kids, Gant, Geographical Norway, Havaianas, Hugo Boss, Kappa, Kiaba, Lacoste, Legender’s, Legender’s Sport, Levis, Le Coq Sportif, Morgan, New Balance, Puma, Quicksilver, Ralph Lauren, Reebok, Riot Club, Roxy, Salomon, Scottage, Silvian Heach, Sisley, Springfield, S.Oliver, Tommy Hilfiger, Trussardi, Under Armour, Vila, Vinson Polo Club, Vinson Camp Womens Secret, Z-Generation.
