Behind the scenes: BeYou & Trade Shows

I’m back with another inside scoop of what it’s like working at BeYou! I have been working at BeYou now for 3 whole months and I honestly can’t believe how fast it’s gone.

One thing I didn’t expect from working at BeYou was how varied my work has been. Talking to BeYou ambassadors who are climbing Everest, writing about the science of periods and exhibiting at trade shows are just some of the things I get to do on the daily at BeYou.

During my time at BeYou, I have been fortunate enough to go to two tradeshows: Olympia Beauty and Indie Beauty Expo. Olympia Beauty took place on 29th-30th September 2019 at the Olympia London in Hammersmith. Kat, our Brand Manager, and I arrived in London on Saturday afternoon to set up for the next day.

One thing that did surprise me was the sheer variety of brands that were there. There were piercing specialists, makeup brands, massage chains, plastic surgeon consultants even physiotherapists. So many different beauty brands all in one place, made me realise how big and varied this industry really is. Then to see our stand with ‘BEYOU’ standing next to other REALLY well-known brands, made me feel proud of how far our little brand has come in just over a year.

Come the first day of the show, I was so nervous! It was the first-ever trade show I had done, I had no idea what the response would be. No idea of what questions people would have asked. And what if I said something wrong? Or had the worst case of verbal diarrhoea known to man? I didn’t know what to expect and I was surprised, to say the least.

The overwhelming majority of people came to our stand with genuine curiosity.

Many attendees hadn’t heard of our brand and we’re so excited to see a brand like ours there at the show. So many were intrigued by the patched and the menstrual cup. And as someone who loves menstrual cups, I was so excited to talk to anyone about them. I talked to so many attendees about the ingredients of our patches, how the endocannabinoid system works and how to use a menstrual cup and it came so...naturally?!

Why was I so worried about knowing what to say when I was my own BeYou expert. I've soaked up so much BeYou knowledge over these past few months that I could answer 99% of questions that came my way. If I couldn’t, I simply passed them over to Kat or another member of the team who were happy to help me out if need be. As they say, teamwork makes the dream work!

After that weekend, I honestly couldn’t wait until the next show. ‘Bring it on IBE!’, I thought.

The Indie Beauty Expo or IBE, would be a very trade show altogether. IBE took place on 23rd-24th October and, in fact wasn’t open to consumers, only retailers and press. Based in the Old Truman Brewery on Brick Lane, London, the show was much smaller and intimate. There were so many interesting brands exhibiting. From gender-neutral makeup to vibrators, there really was a true breadth of brands.

Walking around the show and talking to attendees, there was a genuine atmosphere of excitement to see BeYou at IBE. Many of those who had approached the stand hadn’t heard of us before and were curious to learn more about who we were and what we do. Others had seen us online, primarily for the Patches and our Menstrual cup and were intrigued to learn more about how they both work.

Overall, the general impression from the two-day show was that retailers and press were excited to see a brand like ours talking openly about feminine care and of course periods. It surprised me whilst talking to women from all different areas of the industry, who were keen to talk about periods and wanting to rid menstruation of the stigma.

Attending both trade shows over the past few weeks has really opened my eyes to how varied the women’s wellness industry is growing at such a rapid pace. I felt proud that our little brand sat comfortably between some well-known brands and created just as much of a buzz as the other brands beside us. I just can’t wait to see how much we grow before our next show.