I am still reveling in my week of AEC’s. But, one aspect that has really stood out are the conversations had between my sponsors, who were contributing sponsors for the competition and vendors at the show. Other than enjoying to shop myself at competitions, I really knew very little about the costs involved for vendors and the strategy to pick the right competitions. One night we, my sponsors and I, went to dinner with another vendor at the competition, and I was fascinated about their discussion about which competitions to and not-to go to. Whereas I choose a competition based on footing, stabling, price, etc. their’s involved competitions that included amateur riders and the right vendor location. (Presumably because we amateurs, semi-pro’s, Moms, are more interested in buying cute gear, chatty about products, etc.)
This was my own sponsor’s first time attending a “horse-trial” as a vendor, and my eyes bugged out of my head learning about the costs incurred to “rent” a space at competitions from AECs to LandRover Kentucky. But, on their end it is worth the costs because they get this time to chat face-to-face about their product and reach their target market.
So, are competition-management doing enough to include these participants in the sport? This is another avenue of revenue that could possibly alleviate costs for riders and incorporate better prizes for us, yay! I believe her costs this weekend included the rental for her space plus donating $X amount of product/or an additional fee. She chose to donate $X amount of product which would get the product into the riders hands.
They relayed some of the disappointment in a few venues which treated the vendors as an after-thought. Surely the riders/horse-welfare will always come first, but it did seem in my opinion that accommodations for vendors which paid to be there wouldn’t be so difficult. At this competition, I believe they were pleased with the the reaction to their product. Though, I wish they had maybe announced a little more about some of the smaller vendors (my sponsors).
Food for thought here. I love vendors. It’s an opportunity to chat in person and learn about new products. (Also, if you’ve never considered, which I hadn’t until this week, these vendors are crucial to our sport too!) I also may be a little more encouraged to chat with them, knowing they are also paying players contributing to the sport. I think I knew the LRK3D and events like AEC’s charged vendors, I think I always presumed the tents and tack trailers just showed up at other competitions.
