Interbike Expands Digital Platform for Exhibitors and Retailers
"Interbike Hub" integrates ecommerce and social networking tools in online community to create an extension of the annual Interbike trade show
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San Juan Capistrano, Calif. – June 21, 2010 – Interbike today announced its plans to launch a web-based business-to-business community for the bike industry called “Interbike Hub” that connects retailers and manufacturers before, during and after the Interbike International Trade Expo, held in Las Vegas each year.
“The week of Interbike is a crucial time for the bike industry to network, write orders and plan for the next selling season,” said Andy Tompkins, Interbike show director. “The Interbike Hub is a digital extension of our annual trade show that allows exhibitors to deliver brand and product information to their dealers in the months leading up to the show and all year long.”
Interbike Hub’s ecommerce tools allow exhibitors to connect qualified buyers to online order management tools and to customize brand assortments, build suggested orders, and manage incentives through easy-to-use web interfaces.
The new online platform allows brands to build customized virtual exhibits and provides interactive content to help inform buyers’ purchasing decisions. Items such as downloadable wholesale catalogues, product videos, blog feeds and product showcases and previews are all available to qualified buyers through Interbike exhibitors’ virtual booths.
Buyers logged into Interbike Hub can search the site by brand, category, and/or product. Through their personalized Interbike Hub profiles, buyers can save vendors and product “favorites,” make notes and communicate directly with manufacturers.
Interbike is partnering with Sparc Retail, LLC, a provider of integrated web-based Media and B2B solutions, to power and produce Interbike Hub.
About Sparc Retail
Headquartered in Laguna Beach, Calif, Sparc is a leading provider of web-based technologies that allow a brand to communicate, educate, promote, and transact business with their dealers and brand ambassadors from a single integrated platform. Sparc clients such as Burton Snowboards, Felt Bicycles, Bosch, and Giant Bicycles keep their sales force and dealer network plugged in, to deliver their brand’s truth and passion, create loyal crusaders, and streamline sales order management and communications. More information is available at www.sparcretail.com and www.hubsoft.com.
About Interbike
Interbike (a business unit of Nielsen Expositions, the parent company of the Outdoor Retailer (OR), Action Sports Retailer (ASR), Health+Fitness Business, and Fly Fishing Retailer trade shows) is a full-service trade show company that creates, markets and produces high-quality expos and educational conferences. Producers of the OutDoor Demo and Interbike International Bicycle Expo, Interbike is the leading bicycle industry business-to-business event management company, bringing together top manufacturers, retailers, industry advocates and media to conduct the business of cycling. Interbike (www.interbike.com) gathers more than 1,100 cycling-related brands and close to 23,000 total attendees annually.
The 2010 Interbike trade-only events begin with OutDoor Demo (September 20-21, 2010 in Boulder City), followed by the Interbike Expo, September 22-24 at the Sands Expo and Convention Center in Las Vegas.
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MEDIA CONTACTS:
Chip Smith, SOAR Communications, 801.656.0472 x1(wk) / 801.597.7515(cell), csmith@soarcomm.com or
Maura Lansford, SOAR Communications, 801.656.0472 x2(wk), mlansford@soarcomm.com
EUROPEAN MEDIA CONTACT:
Uwe Weissflog, inMotion mar.com, +49(0)714 1913131(wk) / +49(0)170 3164035(cell), uweissflog@inmotionmar.com
