The industry's year kicked off in earnest this week with the LAMMA agricultural machinery exhibition returning to its traditional January slot at the NEC.

By all accounts it was a well-attended and buzzy couple of days in Birmingham. I saw many exhibitors and attendees posting positive messages about their experiences across social media (including our own Team TAP - pictured below) - and you can read the thoughts of Service Dealer's agricultural machinery editor, Martin Rickatson, here.

Interestingly, Martin says that despite continued absence by some big name agricultural machinery manufacturers, the show seemed to draw a more substantial crowd than last year's Covid-delayed event. He says, attendance appeared to be very strong " . . and there were plenty of visitors still present well into late afternoon, in marked contrast to previous shows where crowds have thinned out noticeably by mid-afternoon on day one."

This must have been a relief to the LAMMA people and encouraging news for organisers of all the other national events scheduled in the industry's calendar this year (including BTME in a week and a bit's time). There must have been genuine concerns that with the pressures on budgets that all are experiencing, that a trip away from the business to an exhibition to look at new, expensive machinery, might not have been at the top of agendas this January.

Also it's hopefully more evidence that there's a returned appetite in general for the public to attend events in-person. This seemed to me to be a definite trend that built throughout last year and hopefully will continue throughout 2023. And not just at events. We've heard from many dealers with positive tales of healthy footfall into their showrooms.

Real-life or virtual?

Big corporations however, are still looking at means to capture each and every potential customer, including those who for whatever reason choose not to visit bricks and mortar businesses. There's more evidence of this in today's news with the story that New Holland last week showed off what they described as a "metaverse immersive experience" at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Now I can't claim to be an expert in the metaverse. I'm still getting the hang of email. But New Holland, offer the following flowery description of how they feel it could benefit dealers, saying, "The Touchcast platform lets vehicle manufacturers reimagine the customer journey by creating a photorealistic digital twin of their showroom and displaying their vehicles in real-time 3D. Potential customers can then browse, customise, and purchase their desired vehicle inside the interactive virtual showroom directly from their browser, with no VR headset or specialised software required."

Whilst on first read the above sounds pretty science fiction-y, I suppose what we're essentially talking about here is a fancy website. A few years ago I suspect many reading this wouldn't have thought they'd sell anything from their dealership to people who didn't physically walk through their doors - and now have an e-store as an integral part of their business. So perhaps this metaverse concept will gradually seep into our everyday lives?

For now though, and I suspect for many years into the future, the nature of the products that our readers deal in will mean that in-person interactions will continue to be favoured by customers. Interestingly, this story on the BBC this week backs up the idea that consumers are preferring real-life transactions, with Sainsbury's saying they have seen more people shopping in their stores. 

This preference over online, the retailer is putting down to customers being extra careful with the money that they are spending right now, and therefore are wanting to see for themselves what's on offer before parting with cash.

If this is the prevailing consumer attitude, habits like this should hopefully play right into the specialised service hands that our dealer readers offer to their domestic and commercial customers.

But what are your recent experiences? Are you seeing a decent level of footfall through your doors? Is the pendulum swinging back from the dominance of online sales that naturally took hold during the pandemic?

Let us know in the comments below.