Buying vs. Renting Your Next Trade Show Exhibit

Are you thinking about purchasing a display, but not sure about the investment? Renting may be the best option. Good justifications can be made for both renting and purchasing a trade show exhibit. This sometimes stressful decision depends on the nature of your trade show program, marketing goals, and budget.

Renting can be a wise decision when your company has decided to start exhibiting at trade shows, your company is new and wants to make an initial big splash with a smaller budget, or your trade show schedule has overlapping shows and you need a second display. When first developing a trade show program to drive, supplement, or diversify your marketing mix, it can be difficult to determine the best exhibit for your needs. Making a large financial commitment on an exhibit under these circumstances can be a daunting task. Analyzing your company’s needs and choosing the right booth is integral to a successful trade show. It can be a good idea to rent rather than purchase a display even after you have done your research and decided on the best exhibit to fit your needs. This offers you an opportunity to “test drive” your exhibit. This renting strategy can also be used anytime you need to purchase a new exhibit, even if you have a trade show program already established.

Trade shows are huge undertakings, and when launching a start-up company with new products, trade shows are almost always in the marketing mix. Yet an exhibit, as integral as it is to a trade show, is one of the last things a marketing manager is thinking about when trying to launch a new company’s concept, service, or product at an industry trade show. All the tasks that go into a show exhibit – transportation, drayage, installation and dismantling – can be major headaches when you have leads and clients to cater to, not to mention promotional materials and product samples. Renting often relieves this burden since most display rental companies handle the installation and dismantling, shipping and drayage of the rental display, which frees up your time to handle more important things.

Renting a booth may be a great idea when purchasing an exhibit is not an option. This greatly reduces the initial expenditure and allows you to maintain the visual presence necessary to generate leads at a show.

If you only attend one show per year, it may be more beneficial to rent a display and purchase graphics, however if your organization has a more rigorous convention schedule, it will be more economical to purchase an exhibit. Typically, after about four shows the rental booth costs would have covered the purchase of a new exhibit.

The best of both rental and purchase worlds is when the rental display company offers a rebate plan similar to OneSource Exhibits’ Rental Rebate Program, which allows 100 percent of the rental fee to be applied toward the purchase price of a similar display if purchased within 90 days of the rental. This gives your company the flexibility to determine which type of display will work best for your trade show program prior to buying the exhibit. Call a OneSource Exhibits Consultant today to learn more about our wide variety of rental displays.