“In the new season the trend tours took place for two days and gathered about 70 attendants, Ksenia said. “We have been cooperating with the exhibition management for a long time and we have given a lot of seminars about design trends and product range for buyers. The seminars were given using a standard approach: in a hall, with demonstration of successful collections, more of foreign origin and less of Russian producers. Such a format was easy to understand for everyone; but we felt that the local market was changing, and we got a closer acquaintance with the business of interesting brands and of those who were intending to change. When the exhibition management offered us to change the hall seminars to tours around the exhibitors’ booths, we immediately agreed because already at that time there were many things to show to the buyers, and we already had things to tell about the specifics of the Russian customers.

“There were not many participants of the tours during the first season, however 80% of them were buyers, small and medium size shop directors, or small online shop owners from Moscow, Saint Petersburg and some regions. For us it was a pleasant surprise. Other participants were marketing managers, merchandisers, and designers.

“By the way, the main concern of exhibiting companies is linked with designers. We are preparing every trend tour in advance: we visit the stands, study fashion collections, and tell representatives of the exhibitors about ourselves and about the coming trend tour. We inform them of this additional way to attract attention to their brand. Unfortunately, sometimes the companies refuse from our services. And, do you know why? It was a surprise for us! The companies worry that their design ideas may be stolen. So, I’d like to say some words to the exhibitors about it.

“A strong design is a company advantage, and every year it will work only for profit and power of the brand. But year after year the world becomes more and more open, and it becomes easier to find information on any design technique, unless it is an exclusive technology. And we can agree that super technological items still occupy a very small percentage of space in the wardrobes of the Russian customers. Therefore, today those companies will survive and become stronger who unite their efforts for entirety and continuity of the brand and of the product: when a customer sees a collection and immediately recognizes the brand and the story which is told by the brand, by the products. Then any fear of copyright will disappear.

“When we and our tour group come to an exhibitor booth, we speak about how this company exactly caught this trend, got the recognition of the Russian customers, then we describe what kind of customers especially like this product during this season (and for many it can be the previous season: yes, it can happen, there are more trend setters among the younger part of the parents) or during the coming season. This is a very serious argument for the buyers to pay attention to the product range of this or that company; this is a direct signal that they shouldn’t miss it. It helps the buyers, the tour participants, to compose their orders in a right way. They tell us that they discover a completely unusual design for their product range, and that they would never pay attention to it if they were choosing the goods all by themselves.

“A detached view from above and a vision of the whole market allows to have unlimited groups of customers, to exchange with parents. Moreover, it is even more important for a product range of children’s goods: to keep up with new generations of parents.

For all the participants in the exhibition and for the readers of our Newsletter – for those who want to keep up with changes in the customers behavior and in trends in children clothes design: we have prepared the CJF promo code to receive a 45% discount on the trend-books until the 18th of March.