Regional optical exhibitions such as Optrafair and Opti Munich are gaining importance and could diminish the significance of some of the larger international shows such as Mido and Silmo, according to the chief executive of frame manufacturer Alain Mikli.
'Opticians often prefer local shows like in the UK and Munich and it's [going] to be like this again in a lot of countries. It's more convenient for them to attend those shows than fly to Milan, Paris or Manhattan,' Dominique Alba told Optician.
He stated that to him, it appeared regional shows were making a comeback, due to their convenience for both visitors and exhibitors. Detailing the advantages for those exhibiting at regional shows he said: 'Everybody is trying to increase prices, but when you are in Germany or the UK, you can manage the local opticians with less space. When you're in Paris or Milan, you need to manage the export business as well as the opticians, so you need double the space.'
Alba stated that Mikli would not invest in attending all the optical exhibitions and needed to choose carefully which to attend. He added: 'As a company we spend more for the shows than for merchandising, which is crazy as we need to invest in the final consumer, which is for [the benefit of] the optician.'
Observing that exhibition prices had increased much more than the rate of inflation, Alba revealed that Silmo had made an effort not to increase its costs in order to appease its customers.
Stating why he believed some of the bigger optical companies had scaled down their presence at Mido before returning in 2011, he said: 'When you listen to Luxottica and Safilo and Marcolin, those guys think the show is very important for the small companies and the newcomers, but less important for them, so I do understand why some of them decided to leave. Even for us and we're not a big company, we're a medium sized one, we ask the same question every year.'