SEMA Draws More Exhibitors, Showfloor Grows

Walk through the bustling aisles and booths of the annual Specialty Equipment Marketing Association (SEMA) Show and you might think you’d stepped into a time machine back to pre-recession days of the world’s premier automotive specialty products trade show.

Held Nov. 1-4 at the Las Vegas Convention Center and in conjunction with Automotive Aftermarket Industry Week, SEMA attracted approximately 135,000 attendees and 2,100 exhibitors spanning 950,000 square feet of exhibit space.

Well on the road to recovery since the doom and gloom of 2009, the 35th annual event boasted an 11-percent increase in exhibitors and a 10-percent increase in size, compared with 2010, when the event drew 114,000 attendees, according to show officials.

SEMA Show, which represents a $28 billion industry, also offers a cutting-edge array of education seminars, product demonstrations, special events and networking opportunities.

So, what was the secret to the show’s bounce back? Besides representing a resilient industry, it was a combination of a united front on behalf of the show’s stakeholders, as well as a proactive effort to increase value for SEMA’s exhibitors, attendees and buyers, said Peter MacGillivray, SEMA vice president of events and communications.

“We represent a category of the automotive industry where during hard times, consumers still spend money in it, so that played a roll,” MacGillivray said. “(The show) wasn’t bulletproof, it still took a hit, but we’re really optimistic about the future based on what we experienced last and this year. As of the last time I saw any numbers, we had sold 61,000 buyer registrations and that’s the most we’ve ever had. Our peak was 59,800 in 2007, so we think it’s going to be a great year.”

Value adds were plentiful at SEMA, including more interactive, ride-and-drive road courses in the LVCC’s outdoor spaces, a more robust new product showcase area boasting 2,000 products, a larger Collision Repair & Refinish section and a formalized parade of exhibition cars on the final day of the event, which was open to the public for the first time ever.

Among strong waves of foot traffic, flashy hot rods, monster trucks and eye-popping booths, exhibitors and attendees appeared occupied in their fair share of wheeling and dealing.

Exhibitor Shahid Hussain, vice president of international sales for Zafco, said that, although he wasn’t as seeing as many new buyers as he would have liked this year, SEMA was a staple show for his company, as well as an essential meeting place for its international customer base.

“This is our biggest U.S. show,” Hussain said. “All of our customers from all over the world come here, so it’s a very important show for us. This year, we had a bigger booth than last year, and next year, we’ll have a bigger one than this year, so we’re growing every year. Of course we’ll be back.”

Attendee Tom Probst, president of Probst Enterprises said that, although his industry segment, car wash and detailing, was still on the slower side, participating in SEMA was still an important investment for his business.

“It’s always a great show,” Probst said. “It’s only the second day, and I haven’t seen it all, but what I’ve been through is great. I’m here to see new products, because if you see something that fits in to what you do, you want to buy.”

SEMA Show will return Oct. 30-Nov. 2 to the Las Vegas Convention Center.