14 TOBACCO BUSINESS | SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER | 22 With TPE23 just a short time away, here’s why attending next year’s show will offer you and your business more opportunities to be successful. Photography courtesy of Tobacco Media Group (TMG) As the must-attend B2B buying show for independent retailers, the 2023 Total Product Expo (TPE) is timed to start the year with solid profit potential for both its exhibitors and attendees. The team behind TPE23 is busy planning and putting details in place to ensure the 2023 trade show is the best yet and optimized for all attendees and exhibitors. TPE has evolved over the years to best serve retailers that attend the show. Retailers have come to TPE in search of the best: the best tobacco products for today’s consumers, the best alternative and vapor products that non-smoking customers are buying in droves, and the best premium cigars that cigar aficionados are lined up for and ready to light up the moment they hit their local tobacconists’ shelves. Retailers also come to the show with a simple question: What’s new? This question comes as independent retailers are looking for ways to attract new customers or supplement a product category that was once offering huge margins but now has diminishing returns. Other retailers simply want to expand and build upon what they already have but have no idea what “new” product or category can offer big returns. That’s where attending and exhibiting at TPE is critical. TPE offers retailers of all sizes—whether they are a convenience store chain, a regional grocery store, a retailer formerly focused on vapor in need of the next big thing, or a mom-and-pop brick-and-mortar—something new and exciting to enhance their business. The new products and categories that will be represented by the exhibitors on the trade show floor are not there to replace anything. Instead, the expanded focus of TPE is there to complement what the show has featured in previous years and give retailers even more products and reason to attend. Nick Douglas from Kentucky’s The Party Source regularly attends TPE each year due to the value the show provides to him and his business. “Having a show at the beginning of the year is great,” he says. “I’m able to take advantage of the deals early on and maximize my profit margins for an entire year.” In addition to being an early buying and selling opportunity, TPE offers great networking opportunities that have big payoffs long after the show. Many have used TPE as a chance to set up meetings with industry partners or to start discussions about long-term collaborations and business deals. It’s not uncommon to attend TPE in search of a company to help take care of your business’ distribution needs or something as simple as a new point-ofsale system and to leave with several viable options. Additional information on TPE23 will be released in the coming weeks. In the meantime, here are four things you should know about next year’s show, including why you’ll want to register sooner rather than later. 1. MovingtoFebruary. TPE is typicallyheldduring the lastweek inJanuary, but next year it will be moving to February. Make sure you have the new dates in mind as you make your plans to attend. TPE23 will take place at the LasVegas ConventionCenter fromFeb. 22-24, 2023. 2. New name but returning favorites. The show’s name may be slightly different, but you’ll still find exhibitors offering the latest premiumcigar, tobacco, vapor and alternative products that your customers will love. 3. Moreproductselection. TPE23will be bigger in size and focuswith the addition of more product categories and companies exhibiting to fulfill your store’s needs. The show’s newgeneral merchandise exhibitors will help independent retailers stock more in one spot. 4. Discounted registration. Registration for attendees opens in October 2022. Register for your badge early to get an early bird discount. The best way to stay up to datewith the latest announcements and reveals from TPE23 is to join the mailing list at totalproductexpo.com. You can also follow the showon Facebook, Instagram, Twitter andYouTube by searching for “@totalproductexpo.” TB Editor’s Note: Tobacco Media Group (TMG) is the owner and operator of the TPE trade showas well as the publisher of Tobacco Business magazine. A FOUR THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOWABOUT TPE23
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