Behind the Stand: Five Days at Melbourne Reed Gift Fair

Months of work go into five days at Melbourne Gift Fair.
Long before the doors open, there are collections being designed, fragrances being developed, samples going backwards and forwards, orders being placed, stock being made and an entire stand being planned.
Then there’s the trip to Melbourne, the crates, the walls, the shelving, the lights, the flowers, the merchandising and all those finishing touches.
And finally, the doors open.

This year felt a little different

We’ve always been a little tentative when it comes to Christmas collections.
Christmas can be tricky. We want it to feel festive and special, but it still needs to feel unmistakably Urban Rituelle.

Through our experience of Christmas seasons past, we knew what we wanted to do differently this year.

With Merry & Bright, we decided to really embrace Christmas.
The gold. The glamour. Our best-selling green glassware. A proven festive fragrance. Ribbons, bows and bon bons. All the little details that make Christmas feel magical.
We arrived in Melbourne incredibly proud of what we had created.

But there’s nothing quite like putting a new collection in front of your retailers and hearing what they actually think.
And the feedback started almost immediately.
“You’ve nailed the packaging.”
“The bon bons are a standout.”
“A fresh take on Christmas.”
“The fragrance is a winner.”

The orders came in, and by the end of the fair we were feeling even more excited about the season ahead.

But trade fair has always been about more than products

For five days, our stand became a meeting place.
We caught up with customers we’ve worked with for years, some of whom have been part of the Urban Rituelle story for decades.

We met so many new faces and introduced Urban Rituelle to retailers discovering us for the first time.
We spent time with our Australian sales team, caught up with friends from across the industry and had hundreds of conversations about stores, customers, products and what’s happening in retail.

Trade fairs give us the rare opportunity to step out from behind the emails, orders and screens and meet face to face.
Real conversations.
Shared inspiration.
Listening. Learning. Connecting.
That part never gets old.

It takes a team

What customers see when the doors open is the finished stand.
What they don’t see is everything that happens before it.
The travel, building, unpacking, lifting, merchandising, styling, technology, last-minute adjustments and countless little details that have to come together.
Then come five very full days on our feet, talking, listening, writing orders and helping our retailers choose the right collections for their stores.
It’s a huge event and, as many of you will know all too well, by the end of each day we’re exhausted.

So how do we unwind?

After a full day at the fair, our favourite way to reset is pretty simple.
Ramen. Spa. Sauna. Steam.
First stop is a bowl of ramen at Mensho Tokyo, which has become one of our favourite Melbourne trade fair traditions.
Then it’s back to the hotel for a spa, sauna and steam. The perfect way to relax, recover and give our tired feet a break after being on them all day.
Then it’s off to bed, ready to get up and do it all again the next morning.

It really does take a team

We’re a small team at Urban Rituelle, which means everyone plays a part in bringing a trade fair like this to life.
From designing and developing the collections, to our production team who bring them to life, our warehouse team who pick, pack and get everything where it needs to be, our admin team keeping everything moving behind the scenes, and our sales team who represent Urban Rituelle so beautifully across Australia.

Then there’s the team who travel to Melbourne with us, to build the stand, merchandise the shelves and spend very full days welcoming our retailers.

There are many hands involved at every step, and we’re incredibly proud of what our small team achieves together.

To our entire Urban Rituelle team, thank you.

We’re incredibly proud of what such a small team achieves together. The care, energy and hard work that goes into a week like this is enormous, and we simply couldn’t do it without you.
And to every retailer who came to see us in Melbourne, thank you for your orders, your feedback, your ideas and your continued support.
Whether we’ve worked together for many years or this was the first time we met, we loved seeing you.
After all the planning, products and preparation, it really is the people who make trade fair so special.