Prepare For SuperZoo 2022: Super Search Exhibitor Visit Planner

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SuperZoo 2022 starts in just a few weeks, and the show has returned to full strength. With 39 percent more exhibitors than 2021, over 17,000 expected attendees and 800+ new products in the New Product Showcase, plus many more on the show floor, SuperZoo 2022 is literally packed with opportunities.

To help attendees in working this huge show, the floor sections were made more targeted and often renamed to reflect the changes. According to John Gibbons, The Pet Business Professor, one thing remains unchanged; the wide array of exhibitors in every product category.

Consider these 2022 SuperZoo facts:

• 1,020+ exhibitors
• Seven  “targeted” floor sections: Natural & Health; Specialty & Lifestyle; Groomers; Aquatics, Birds, Reptiles & Small Animals; Emerging Brands; Farm & Feed; International
• 266,000+ square feet of exhibitor booths; Plus, a 37,000-square-foot New Products Showcase
• SuperZoo education: Seminars on retail and grooming – 86 hours; 80 separate sessions
• Five miles of aisles – just to walk the exhibit floor

This show is huge. The show floor will be open for a total of 22 hours, so let’s do the math.

If you don’t attend any seminars, visit the New Product Showcase, stop to chat with anyone in the aisles or for food, a drink or to go to the bathroom and maintain a walking speed of 2.5 mph, you can spend one minute and 18 seconds with each exhibitor.

You definitely need a plan.

With a higher concentration of pet retailer attendees and a commitment to groomers, there are subtle differences between SuperZoo and Global Pet Expo.  However, like Global Pet Expo, SuperZoo has attendees from every major retail channel and again attracts a multitude of exhibitors and attendees from around the globe.

Despite the variety of offerings to fill an attendee’s time, SuperZoo is still primarily about Pet Products. New Products are critical to maintaining and growing any business so you must take the time to visit the new product area. Knowledge is power so you should also sign up for any relevant classes. Sometimes it’s not what you know, but who you know that matters most. This makes networking with other industry professionals a priority.

If you are a retailer, what sections of your store are not doing as well as you hoped and need a “facelift” or conversely, what areas are growing and need products to fill additional space? Category managers for distributors and retail chains may only be interested in targeted visits to exhibitors relevant to their categories. Representatives may be looking for new manufacturers in specific product categories. Manufacturers could be looking to find distributors to handle their products or just looking to check out the competition. In regard to products, there is always something to see for everyone. Plus, there are 540 exhibitors at SuperZoo 2022 that weren’t at Global Pet Expo 2022.

SuperZoo is a great place to review products but business services, everything from private label to POS, have also become increasingly important. In fact, one out of every six exhibitors offers some type of business service. SuperZoo is about gathering information and making decisions to improve your business – whether they are made on the spot or put on your must-do list. Your only real limitation is time. How do you make the most effective use of your time on the show floor? Here’s a suggestion:

Use the Super Search Exhibitor Visit Planner to make SuperZoo easier and more productive. Gibbons initially designed it in 2014, and he has updated the data and produced a new version for every Global Pet Expo and SuperZoo since then, including SuperZoo 2022.

The “update” is not just exhibitor lists but also to the product category offerings for every exhibitor. Gibbons reviewed every exhibitor profile on the show site, but he also visited over 1,000 websites and conducted separate Internet searches to “validate” their product offerings. It is not 100 percent accurate, but it is close.

What does the Super Search do? It searches for and produces a list of exhibitors by product categories.

• From the simplest: “Give me a list that I can look at on my phone or tablet in either booth number order or alphabetically.”
• To the most complex: “Do a simultaneous search for multiple, specific product categories, allowing me to personally narrow down the initial results and see the final alphabetically or by booth number.”

The SuperZoo Super Search Exhibitor Visit Planner does both, and more, and does it quickly! For more details, visit here.