Retail Technology Show Opens Tomorrow In London; 15,000 Retail Folks But Only 10 Or So Digital Signage Vendors?
April 1, 2025 by Dave Haynes
It’s a silly thing, I know, but I am fixated on this notion that suppliers and service providers targeting a specific vertical market might want to put some investment and resources into being at the largest events in a region that address that market.
So it’s a bit puzzling to see how few digital signage-focused companies – who say retail is a key market – have a presence at this week’s Retail Technology Show in London – running tomorrow and the following day at the ExCel events venue out in the docklands area.
The show says it attracts about 15,000 people and 47 of the top 50 UK retailers. It has some 400 stands on the show floor. I have zero idea if this is a great show, or not. But it at least SEEMS like something worth being around.
Bombing my way around the event website, I see there are 52 exhibitors who in booking a stand ticked digital signage as a category they fit into. However, as is the case with just about every trade show I look at, a great many of those only maybe kinda sorta have some genuine involvement in digital signage. Mostly they do and sell other things.
Of those I would say are in the ecosystem, who are probably building stands today: Elo, Scala, CloudShelf, Sony, Iiyama, Ergonomic Solutions, Solum (ESLs, but now they do more conventional pro displays, as well) and Hanshow. There’s also the Hypervsn guys with their LED rotor thingies. Italy’s M-Cube, the second largest pure-play digital signage integrator in Europe, also has a stand with its UK people. Rival Trison, from Spain, has its UK people at the show via its Google Chrome OS partners.
I am assuming, as happens at most industry trade shows, all kinds of sales and biz dev people from vendors who are not showing will badge up and be walking around and hitting networking events.
Catch-all trade shows like ISE are amazing, but I’m a big advocate for companies being at shows that directly address the market they’re chasing. I see Linkedin posts all the time from vendors who show up – even with a modest presence – at events that are much more narrowly defined.
For example, is a company focused on mass transport passenger communications and experience tech going to get more qualified leads from an InfoComm or ISE, or something like Airports @ Work or Passenger Terminal Expo?
Hmmm …
LamasaTech are amongst those in the digital signage space exhibiting – Cloudshelf are featured on our stand (F48).