Indie Beauty Media Group has cancelled trade show Indie Beauty Expo Dallas 2020 and entrepreneurial education conference BeautyX Retail Summit, which were scheduled to take place from June 8 to 11.
The cancellations are the result of ongoing business limitations imposed by measures to combat the coronavirus and reflect the crisis’s immobilizing effect on critical live events in the beauty industry, among innumerable industries. BeautyX Retail Summit and IBE Dallas had originally been slated to occur May 11 to 14, but were postponed last month to June as restrictions on travel and public gatherings were implemented.
“Given the information available to us at that time, we believed it was the right and prudent decision, as we had every expectation that travel and social distancing restrictions would be lifted by June,” explain Nader Naeymi-Rad and Jillian Wright, co-founders of IBMG, parent company Beauty Independent as well as IBE and BeautyX, in a statement. “Unfortunately, as the pandemic continues to spread, and its economic impact more broadly felt, it has become clear that those restrictions may not be lifted by that time or be lifted too late to adequately prepare for the show.”
IBE Dallas 2020 exhibitors will have their exhibition spaces transferred to IBE Dallas 2021, and BeautyX Retail Summit tickets will be honored at the equivalent summit slated for next year. The deferments are in line with similar moves in the event industry. Events that were planned for the first half of 2020 are largely being pushed later in the year or to 2021 dates.
Until its next events in August—IBE New York and BeautyX Capital Summit—IBMG, like many other companies, is turning to digital channels to promote and support independent beauty brands. Earlier this month, it launched the #BeautyUnites Resource Center on Beauty Independent’s website and, on Wednesday, it premiered the first #BeautyUnites In Conversation free webinars. Select brands from IBE Berlin, another IBMG-operated trade show that was called off, have been featured on IBMG’s Instagram Live, and the company plans to offer Dallas brands similar types of exposure.
Interim strategies aside, IBE remains IBMG’s principal platform for helping independent brands drive growth. In the statement released about the cancellation of IBE Dallas, it recognized the patience and understanding of the brands and retailers supporting IBE, and expressed eagerness to see the trade show return.
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