First devised in association with the UK Department of Trade and Industry in 1997, SuperCatex had a remarkably simple objective: connect British manufacturers and exporters with genuine overseas buyers, agents, distributors and new business partners.
The idea was straightforward. Instead of asking hundreds of British companies to incur the considerable expense of attending overseas trade exhibitions themselves, SuperCatex took their sales catalogues, brochures and product information directly into their target markets.
Overseas businesses were invited to exhibitions organised with the support of British Embassies, High Commissions, Consulates, Chambers of Commerce and local trade organisations. Visitors could examine the Catalogues on display from participating British companies and register their interest in individual exporters. Those expressions of interest became qualified sales leads. And the idea worked.
SuperCatex went on to organise 106 exhibitions across the Middle East, Asia, Africa, Australia and other international markets, generating more than 382,000 qualified sales leads for British exporters. Individual exhibitions could represent hundreds of British companies and thousands of products.
At a SuperCatex exhibition at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce & Industry in Saudi Arabia in 2002, for example, 150 British exporters presented more than 10,000 products and services to Saudi businesses seeking suppliers, agents, distributors and joint-venture partners.
The exhibitions were never simply displays of British products. They were designed as business-matching events. Potential visitors were targeted because they had a genuine commercial interest in the products represented at the exhibition. That philosophy remains at the heart of SuperCatex today.
From catalogues to artificial intelligence
Almost 30 years after the original concept was developed, the technology available to connect international buyers and British suppliers has changed beyond recognition.
SuperCatex is therefore being reinvented. The physical catalogues and exhibition stands of the original events are being transformed into virtual SuperCatex Exhibition Halls, supported by modern database technology and artificial intelligence.
Instead of being restricted to an exhibition taking place for several days in a single city, SuperCatex can now connect British exporters with potential buyers internationally and continuously.
Companies can be represented through detailed digital profiles incorporating products, services, images, sales literature, PDF brochures, Videos, brands, export markets and requirements for overseas agents and distributors.
International buyers can search for the products and capabilities they require, while AI-assisted search and matching technology can help identify British suppliers relevant to a particular requirement. But despite the enormous change in technology, the basic SuperCatex philosophy has not changed.
Find the right British exporter. Find the right overseas buyer. Bring them together. Real business, not simply website traffic
The original SuperCatex exhibitions were judged by the business opportunities they generated rather than simply by the number of people who walked through the door.
At an exhibition in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for example, 185 catalogues representing more than 100,000 products were displayed and 3,089 sales leads were generated. One participating British company, on the first day of the show, received an order worth £18,638 for workshop equipment and was subsequently quoting for a further £15,000 tender. That ability to convert international interest into genuine immediate commercial opportunities is the principle behind the new SuperCatex.
SuperCatex will also benefit from its relationship with the long-established British Exporters Database and UK Export News, providing access to extensive information covering British manufacturers, exporters, products and services.
An old idea with extraordinary new possibilities. James O'Sullivan, the original SuperCatex organiser, said: “Back in 1997 we didn't have artificial intelligence, smartphones or today's search technology. What we did have was a very simple idea. If a British exporter couldn't afford to travel halfway around the world looking for new customers, we would take their products and sales literature to the customers instead. It worked extraordinarily well.
Today we can do something we could only have dreamed about then. We can take the exhibition to the whole world. The technology has changed beyond recognition — but the objective hasn't. We still want to introduce the right British exporter to the right overseas buyer.
We started the sales campaign last week. 42 exporters joined the GCC exhibitions of Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and UAE and we expect to open these exhibitions in December. Cost to the British Exporter. Just £295 for the year. Proven Export Marketing at a rate everyone can afford.”
Nearly three decades after the first DTI Catex exhibition, the catalogues may have disappeared from the tables. The mission has not.
