A reorganised layout, new focus areas, some new franchises and a broadened branch network would appear to have all helped boost visitor numbers at this week’s Doe Show, the three-day event held at the Essex HQ of Ernest Doe, the UK’s largest agricultural and groundcare machinery dealer.

Graham Parker and Angus Doe

As usual, the bulk of the visitors came through between show opening time and early afternoon, but numbers were clearly up overall, and both the dealer’s own team and manufacturers’ stand staff appeared pleased with the number of serious enquiries and sealed deals.

“We actually needed to extend the car parking area by late morning,” said Graham Parker, Ernest Doe sales director, speaking on the first day of the show.

“I think a variety of factors have helped, including more promotion, a wider coverage area with our new Ashford branch in Kent, and a new layout for the event.

“We moved the Case IH marquee into the main area to being all the new agricultural equipment together, raised the profile of our construction equipment offering with a more defined area, invited a lot of construction customers, and built on the success of the defined groundcare zone we founded last year. That included a greater focus on robotic mowers that are increasingly being bought by professional/groundscare customers. On the ag side, we also introduced a demo area for autonomous machines such as the Opico FarmDroid, and also created a full display of our viticulture equipment range, including the UK’s first New Holland self-propelled grape harvester that we sold last autumn.”

Last year, with no BTME in February, the show appeared to attract a larger groundscare crowd, noted Hayley Hill, Ernest Doe marketing manager.

“Many people from the east and south perhaps realised they can see many of their industry’s new developments here, rather than having to travel a long way north, and I think that has had a knock-on effect this year.”

Managing director Angus Doe also acknowledged the effect of an increased marketing effort for the event.

“Hayley has done a great job in promoting the show, and Graham has been brave enough to be filmed a lot for pre-show online publicity. In our 125th anniversary year, I’ve been really pleased with the success of this year’s Doe Show.”