Venezuelan Chamber of Franchises Launches Online Expo
17 Aug 2010 - From November 1st to 30th, national and international franchisors operating in Venezuela will be able to exhibit their brands in a web-based version of the country's annual franchise exposition.
From November 1st to 30th, national and international franchisors operating in Venezuela will be able to exhibit their brands in a web-based version of the country's annual franchise exposition, organized and promoted by Profranquicias, the local Chamber of Franchises.
Profranquicias, the Venezuelan Chamber of Franchises, will launch a "virtual" franchise expo next November. "This is the first time this has been done in Latin America," said Milton Dávila, a member of Profranquicias's Board of Directors in charge of the project.
"This is the digital companion to our traditional expo," he added, "that we developed in order to take advantage of the current technological revolution that is taking place worldwide with the boom of Social Media and the increased penetration of communication devices such as Blackberries, iPhones, iPads and netbooks."
Profranquicias has organized and promoted Venezuela's annual franchise expo since 1999. Known as La Feria de las Franquicias (The Franchise Fair) since 2006, this online version is named La Feria Virtual de las Franquicias (The Virtual Franchise Fair). The last edition of the "live" event, held on October 2009, gathered 90 exhibitors in 110 stands in an area of 1,200 square meters. Attendance was over 8,000 people during four days, from the 8th to the 11th.
For this online edition, the organizer expects to attract around 100 exhibitors and over 100,000 visitors during 30 days. The Virtual Fair will be held between the 1st and the 30th of November 2010, via Profranquicias's website,www.profranquicias.com, as well as the event's official page, www.feriavirtualdelasfranquicias.com. It will be open for the general public at no charge. Visitors will be able to navigate through the exhibitors' stands in a 3D environment, watch videos, download POP material and even hold live chats with representatives of each brand in attendance.
Franchising business in Venezuela has boomed since the mid-1990s, in spite of a difficult economic and political environment. Nowadays the country reports 420 franchising companies in operation, 65% of which are of local origin. Most of the main international franchising brands are present in the country, with a strong emphasis in the fast-food industry. The franchising sector represents over 9,000 stores and generates more than 90,000 direct employs. In 2009, the total of franchised business generated the equivalent of approximately 2,5 billion dollars in gross income.
Currently the Internet reaches around 30% of Venezuela's 27 million inhabitants. There are around 1 million Twitter users and over 5 million Venezuelan's have a Facebook profile. Eight out of every ten people in the country has at least one cellular phone, and 1 million of all mobile phones in Venezuela are smartphones. According to Dávila, "this data allows us to expect a great success four our Virtual Fair, because we are sure all of Venezuela's entrepreneurs will want to visit it. Moreover, given its global reach, we expect to appeal to Venezuelans living abroad, as well as to potential investors from all over the Americas and Europe, thanks to our alliance with the Federación Iberoamericana de Franquicias (the Ibero American Franchise Federation), of which we are active members."
For more info (in Spanish) visit:
www.profranquicias.com/www.feriavirtualdelasfranquicias.com
For direct inquiries (in Spanish or English), please write to info@profranquicias.com
Mr. Abel Calvo, Executive Director
Cámara Venezolana de Franquicias, Profranquicias
Phone: 58+212 992.33.97 / 58+416 605.55.95
E-mail: director@profranquicias.com /Web: www.profranquicias.com
Source: Venezuelan Chamber of Franchises - http://www.profranquicias.com/