Industry professionals discuss changes in the 2009 tent market

These changes were cited by tent fabric suppliers, tent manufacturers and event professionals in the IFAI tent climate survey.

By Jeff Rasmussen

Suppliers:

• Fewer suppliers due to consolidation, driven by the down economy and lack of credit
• Shift in growth from laminated products to coated products
• More structure and clearspan usage in the U.S.

End product manufacturers:

• Overall drop in sales
• Fewer companies due to lack of business; some companies merge, but others will go out of business

Event professionals:

• Sales taxes on rentals hurting growth for tent rental business
• Building codes and permit issues continue to grow; more engineered equipment will be required
• Tent rental industry moving toward standards and guidelines, leading to safer tent installation.
• Commercial events are significantly cut back
• Private events will be simpler because of reduced budgets or mindset, resulting in less extravagant projects
• Contraction and more consolidation in 2009 and 2010; fewer companies will be successful and remain in the tent rental industry
• Decline in event budgets reduce rentals
• Usage of clearspan tents increase
• There is a move to more keder tops and frames
• Tent designs are improving to help reduce labor costs
• Track-type frame tents are becoming more popular
• Price competition intensifies as businesses vie for projects

Jeff Rasmussen is market research manager at IFAI. He can be contacted at jcrasmussen@ifai.com, or +1 651 225 6967.