The impact of virtual exhibition on the global economy

In the last two decades and with the upward development trend of the internet and technology, simultaneously, humans are drawn to being online in many sectors. Today, international exhibitions with a high potential for international trade are held using modern-day technology and the internet. Virtual exhibitions are a sub-category of the business event industry at national and international levels and are considered an essential stimulus for the global economy. This study tries to provide briefings regarding the impact of virtual exhibitions on the worldwide economy. Holding virtual exhibitions is considered a good opportunity for investment, trading, innovation, job creation, advertisement, and communication with the audience. But the most critical question is, what is the impact of holding and participating in virtual exhibitions on the global economy? Before answering this question, we should study the concept of the virtual exhibition, the significance of this exhibition, and its benefits compared to physical exhibitions. In the following, we proceed to examine the impacts of virtual exhibitions on the worldwide economy.

The concept of the virtual exhibition

It is better to examine and understand the concept of the virtual exhibition before investigating the impacts of virtual exhibitions on the global economy. In general, the exhibitions which are held in web space are called virtual exhibitions. Actually, this type of exhibition includes a database that lists all of the booths of the exhibition, just like a regular physical exhibition. The location of holding online exhibitions will be the official website of the exhibit, and individuals can visit the various booths of the exhibition by referring to the different sections of the exhibit’s website. They can also place an order, purchase their desired products, or communicate with the companies.

Usually, the virtual exhibition booth list contains the exhibitors’ names and logos and information about their services and products. Also, considering the used platform (the internet), exhibitors and business owners can present information about their products and services in an attractive multimedia framework. This helps for a better standpoint for the intended product.

The importance of virtual exhibition

The emergence of virtual exhibitions is the newest topic in holding exhibitions, and these booths have brought exciting features to the trend of holding exhibitions and commerce. Holding digital exhibitions have numerous benefits for business owners. Embracing these types of exhibitions and the good opportunities that digital exhibitions provide for the exhibitors and audiences shows the importance of holding the exhibition based on the internet. Also, today with the spread of the coronavirus and preventing the total reach of this virus, the importance of using online exhibitions is more than ever.

The general vital aspects of virtual exhibitions can be mentioned below:

• Unlimited range of informing
• All roundness of the data
• Economic wise costs for the exhibitors and audiences
• Absorbing more audiences
• The duration of the exhibition
• Increasing the efficiency, output, and growth of international business 
• More convenient use of the features of the exhibition
• Being able to upgrade the information regarding the service or the product at any moment
• No limitations on the number of audiences
• Ability to gather all the information in one database and provide it to the audience for review.
• Ability to make professional profiles for interactions.
• Ability to chat and interact with audience and exhibitor.
• Possibility to be recognized among the specialist and financial supporters and improvement of the brand.

What are the eight critical beneficial facts about virtual exhibitions?

We briefly mentioned the beneficial facts of virtual exhibitions in the last section. This section examines the virtual display’s eight helpful critical points in detail and expertly. More and better impact, fewer costs of investment, obtaining a wider variety of audiences, and ease of access to operating systems are only among the few valuable points of the virtual exhibition.

1- Benefiting from multimedia content

One of the crucial benefits of the online exhibition is making it possible for visitors to examine and compare the products by using the list of the products. This helps the visitors to analyze the offered products in more depth. Benefiting from multimedia content in web-based exhibitions offers many possibilities to the exhibitors and the visitors. For instance, virtual exhibitions booth make it possible for you to present your booth in 3D and attract people from traditional exhibitions to virtual booths by creating visual appeal. The most vital benefit of using a multimedia framework is the graphic representation of the products and services in film, pictures, and motion graphics structures which has a massive impact on sale increase and the development of your business.

2 – Ease of access

The virtual exhibition gives the benefit of easy navigation. This means that the visitors can easily navigate through your exhibition and examine the counters, products, and services in your booths, just like the physical exhibitions.

The ease of access to virtual exhibitions is as easy as surfing the internet, and this solves the regular access issues of the physical exhibits, like finding a proper parking spot which has a massive impact on the increase of your visitors.

On the other hand, the exhibitors can communicate with their audiences and supervise their products and services from any place and with any device.

Online tools make inventory control, controlling the number of sales, and analyzing the customers’ needs easily possible.

3-Global connectivity

Creating a virtual exhibition booth allows visitors to interact with you anywhere and time without spending expenses for the commute or a place to stay. By sharing the link to your virtual booth, you make it possible for the audience to visit, examine the products, interact, purchase, etcetera. This global connectivity allows you to provide your products and services in the global market without limitations.

4-Long term accessibility

Unlike regular physical exhibitions, virtual exhibits have the feature of long-term accessibility. These exhibits are accessible for a long duration of time on the internet. The long-term accessibility of virtual exhibits ables you to assemble, initial deploy, make configurations and develop your virtual booth at any time.

Considering the options provided by the website, it is much easier to maintain the booths in this type of exhibition, and you will spend minimum annual costs. At the same time, you won’t need to create another exhibition. You can easily update your exhibition on the website.

5-Cost saving

Cost saving is another benefit of holding virtual exhibitions. A simple calculation shows that the costs of setting up a booth in physical exhibitions are very high. Sometimes, the costs of creating and designing the booths, registering in the exhibit, and the total estimated costs of participating in the exhibitions, discourage the companies and business owners from participating.

Some of the crucial costs of assembling an exhibition booth are mentioned below:

• Cost of renting an exhibition booth
• Cost of creating and designing an exhibition booth
• Costs of transportation and supplying the products required for the booth
• Cost of advertisement, personnel, and similar costs
• Costs of tables, chairs, and decoration

Today many are welcoming and aware of virtual exhibitions because of the massive cost reduction.

6-Simultaneous connection with the audience by using webinars and online chat

It can be concluded that the primary reason for holding exhibitions is to connect to the audience and attract more customers. Webinars and online chats make it possible for simultaneous communication with the audience. In other words, exhibitions that are held online make it possible for simultaneous contact with the audience by using automated guide systems in the booths, webinars, and online chat. These options are great possibilities for business owners to attract customers and motivate them to buy their products.

7- Analyzing the market and the audience

The public relations activities of the institution are vital for the growth and development of the field of its operations and its audiences. Therefore, exhibitions, whether virtual or online, are a significant connection point where the audience and business owners meet. The company’s long-term goals are determined by analyzing the market and audience by estimating the audience’s demand and needs, examining the company’s available products and services, and conducting general research. Therefore, to increase the efficiency of financial and human resources while partaking in the exhibition, it is crucial to consider aspects such as the position of the institute, the goals of participation in the exhibition, the target community, the

statement of the company, your activities, and news, and informing the audience about the products and services. These items are smoothly applicable in the form of online surveys, examining the review of the product, and providing news and information on the website.

8-Ease of view and selling the products

By considering holding virtual exhibitions in the form of websites and connecting to various operational systems, the audience can easily purchase the product after reviewing it. By joining the booth panel to the bank portal or linking to the company’s online shop, you can easily reach real sales in the fastest way possible.

What form of information does the virtual exhibition contain?

Generally, virtual exhibitions contain information such as the description of the company, the logo of the institution, multimedia content of the product and services, introduction videos, address and contact information, social media addresses, and information that exhibitors are willing to share. These platforms are usually designed exclusively for exhibitors; all data is provided according to each company’s unique features.

Successful presence in virtual exhibitions

As was mentioned, virtual exhibitions are embraced and met with extensive growth, so these types of the exhibition have become an essential part of domestic and international trade. In addition to improving features of physical exhibitions, online exhibitions also make the trade process easier by providing exclusive options such as shopping carts and comparing products.

Therefore, the items mentioned below are essential for a successful presence in virtual exhibitions:

• Ease of access to product information, the process of placing an order, and purchasing.
• Providing diverse interaction programs
• Ideal design of the booth by using graphic tools
• Pictures of goods and services
• Providing general knowledge about the company and the field of its operations.

Different economic impacts of the internet-based exhibition

Generally, the impacts of the exhibitions, especially the online exhibitions, can be divided into three sections, direct impact, indirect impact, and inductive.

The direct impacts of virtual exhibitions on the global economy are such as the added value to countries’ GDP, domestic and foreign employment, reduced costs compared to physical exhibitions, and a bigger statistical population of customers. Also, the indirect impacts of online exhibitions on the global economy include movement and employment in the supply chain. For instance, we can name jobs created in the design and installation section of the virtual exhibition.

And finally, the inductive impact of web-based exhibitions on the global economy is the employment and movement created by the visitors that purchase significant amounts of products and services in these web-based exhibitions. This impact supports the production companies and causes economic growth and employment increase in retail stores and the companies that provide products and services.

What is a virtual tour, and how is it different from a virtual exhibition?

The development of technology and the emergence of technologies like 3D printing, virtual reality, augmented reality and virtualizing different locations made experiencing such realities a great adventure. Surely you have heard the name of the virtual tour. This technology is a new web-based tool that provides a virtual representation of a real space. A virtual tour gives you the feeling of being present in that space, and you can even move within that space with many details.

Using these tools in exhibitions makes it possible for visitors to see and review the product and services and participate in a virtual tour of your exhibition booth. The virtual tour concept is applicable in both physical and virtual exhibitions. Two differences between virtual tours and virtual exhibitions are mentioned in the following:

• Virtual tours have no time limit, but virtual exhibitions have a specific timeline.
• Virtual tours are used as a tool in virtual exhibitions.

Last word

Exhibition industry advocates worldwide believe that holding more internet-based exhibitions, especially international exhibitions, leads to the perseverance of costs and time. Also, there would not be any reasons like coronavirus to prevent international exhibitions from happening.

For more information about international exhibitions in Iran, especially virtual exhibitions, you can contact our experts in the GTG Trade company.