Booths At Trade Shows Pay Dividends

Companies that set up booths at trade shows may find it a worthwhile investment, Penn State researchers say.

Professors at the university’s Smeal College of Business Administration studied the sales results of Restek Corp., which makes products used in separating chemicals.

The researchers found customers who visited Restek’s booth at a 1993 trade show in Atlanta were bigger buyers of new Restek products over the next four months than were customers who didn’t visit the booth or attend the show.

Srinath Gopalakrishna, an assistant professor of marketing, said the results suggested the trade show “performed an effective, pre-sales role in the later stages of the selling process.”