"Talking Shop"

Official announcement of the winners of Scotland's Trade Fairs & Scotland's Speciality Food Show Best Product Awards Winners for 2023. Visitors will then be able to view the winning products in our glass cabinets at the "Best Product Awards" area in the middle of the show.

Winners will be announced by Sarah Ward, Chief Executive of the Giftware Association.

Social Media is a hot topic right now, with businesses scrambling to get to grips with the likes of Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. But it isn't always fun selfies and cat videos. For businesses who trip up on social, the results can be dramatic, with consequences impacting you, your staff, your brand reputation and more. This workshop aims to highlight where social media can go wrong in business, showing real world examples, the devastating outcomes, and discussing ways to mitigate the risks of it happening to you. From defamation and getting sued on Twitter, to recruitment nightmares from Googling candidates. From inappropriate images on Facebook, to password hacks and data theft. This is a workshop you will not want to miss - your reputation depends on it!

Scotland Loves Local - Keeping Value in Local Communities. Kimberley will present a concise summary of the opportunities available to retailers on how to embrace localism within Scotland's communities, as well as amplify the power of the Scotland Loves Local brand and the enabling function of the SLL Gift Card in providing a local economic growth strategy. With many retailers already signed up for this she will demonstrate the force for good on a localised offer and through case studies will discuss the challenges facing retailers and their local towns.

This talk will discuss the top lifestyle and colour trends for 2023 and 2024 and how you can use them in your retail marketing strategies to enhance your engagement, SEO, brand awareness and sales.

Producing quality content is an excellent way of helping your customers develop a meaningful relationship with your brand, services and products. In this seminar we will show you how to research, source, and develop a variety of content for your website and social channels. Businesses who plan their content in advance, aligning their channels with actual business objectives, customer themes and national events, and then schedule it to ensure it reaches the target market at the right time, on the right platform - hugely increase the chances of achieving impact.

Who is the visitor to Scotland, and what do they look for? Angie and Anne will talk on how to create a product and get the message out to visitors to ensure visitor expectations are exceeded.

Select Launch Gallery exhibitors will pitch their products to our panel of expert retailers.

The Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) - what it is, how it will affect producers and retailers and the impact on smaller retailers.

Fiona Faint, Account Manager at Yard Digital, will be hosting a panel with three top influencers where they will be discussing how brands can work with influencers and what is new for influencer marketing in 2023.

The Minister will talk about encouraging businesses during the current economic struggle and acknowledge the work being undertaken by the organisers to support small- and medium-sized enterprises.

Building your first e-Commerce website to sell your products online can be a huge boost to your business. This seminar will guide you through how to set up your own e-Commerce store with Shopify. Shopify is a powerful all-in-one e-Commerce website builder that makes setting up an online store simple and straightforward. In this session, we will explore Shopify's features and pull together the building blocks for your first e-Commerce website.

Select Launch Gallery exhibitors will pitch their products to our panel of expert retailers.

Julie will talk to both food retailers and manufacturers about the importance of presenting products intelligently [EQ + IQ] in order to win the customer's attention. She will articulate using examples to demonstrate the do's and don't when thinking about display and branding. She will guide you through how to think about how best to articulate your unique selling points to the consumer in a way that resonates. She will share some of the most useful principles she has learnt in her career to inspire you to take a fresh look at the way you present your product to the market. There will be plenty of time for questions during the session.

You're maybe already using it personally, but this seminar will ensure you understand how Pinterest can help you grow your retail business online, increasing the visibility of your products, and driving more traffic to your website or other social platforms. Pinterest is a commonly used tool for people researching products and gift ideas, making it a natural fit with retailers and producers. But how can it truly benefit your business? This session will help you move from being a Pinterest novice, to knowing how to gain commercial benefit from using it more effectively for your business.