BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news
North American bicycle industry trade event Interbike has announced a number of new initiatives for the 2017 show, including a new crowd-funding area called The Incubator and a New Product Showcase area.
The Incubator will feature the latest cycling-related innovations from creators on crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter. It will be placed in a high-traffic location on the Interbike show floor where attendees can flow through, touch and feel the products and speak with the creators directly about their innovations.
“Just about every company in our industry started out as an idea at some point, and it grew from there,” said Interbike PR and communications director Justin Gottlieb. “Our goal with The Incubator is to get these products and their creators in front of our audience and hopefully help launch their products and brands. Brands like Revolights and Lumos – which were both Kickstarter products – have now gone to the next level and I’d like to think we played a part in those success stories. We want to do that for more creators and their products.”
Interbike is working with Kickstarter to promote the area to its creators, which will feature a simple, turn-key booth solution to make the investment as economical as possible.
The New Product Showcase area in the very front of the hall will allow companies the opportunity to showcase one new product innovation in the highest traffic area in the show. Exhibitors can use this area to drive attendees to their booths for more details and to see other products.
Interbike also announced that it is eliminating its Customer Appreciation Day on the final day of the show, which was started three years ago and netted moderate attendance.
“We now realize that getting significant turnout to fly to Las Vegas during the week is extremely difficult and that we’re better served going back to the old format and making it a trade-only event,” said Interbike vice president Pat Hus. “If we can come up with another way to do it in our new home, we’ll re-visit the concept.”
Additionally, the show will now close at 2:00 pm PDT on Friday vs. its traditional 4:00 pm PDT closing time to allow exhibitors more time for tear down and the opportunity to save on expenses.
Interbike returns to the Mandalay Bay Convention Center beginning with OutDoor Demo in Boulder City, Nevada on September 18th and 19th, 2017.
