Less Is More: How to Improve the Physical B2B Trade Fair Experience

Due to new technological advancements physical B2B trade fair organizers and exhibitors are challenged to rethink their setup. We provide the first paper that conducts a quantitative study to assess the superordinate factors of B2B trade fair perceptions and analyses the relevance of B2B trade fair perceptions including recent technological aspects. To address these aims, a three-step mixed methods approach was applied. (1) A qualitative pre-study for item generation, (2) a main study to reveal factors of B2B trade fair perceptions, and (3) a multiple linear regression analysis to assess the impact of the identified factors of B2B trade fair perceptions were conducted. Our study shows that B2B trade fair organizers and exhibitors should focus their efforts on new developments and networking combined with a high-quality culinary experience. In contrast, B2B trade fair visitors seem to be reactant to professional educational offerings while visiting B2B trade fairs.