Using data to drive tropical market share

Reliable data is today the key to unlocking market share in any business, and the market for verified sustainable timber is no exception.

That is the stepping off point for this year’s annual European Sustainable Tropical Timber Coalition Conference in Paris on October 25, which is why it takes market intelligence, its collection and analysis as its core theme.

The premise is that good data helps identify the best market areas and segments to target efforts to grow share and has the potential to increase overall transparency and trust in tropical timber. But while there is general agreement that the European timber sector’s shift to sustainability must be data driven, it is also widely acknowledged that it does not currently  have the high quality intelligence needed to determine actions required to generate market momentum.

To address this, the STTC Conference will gather speakers and delegates from trade federations, government, and NGOs. Presentations will tackle approaches for using data in support of verified sustainable tropical timber. Speakers will also address data gathering best practice and establishing cooperation in this field with market partners.

Additionally there will be updates on the STTC, the impact of its activities so far and future plans.

The event, which will link to the ATIBT’s celebration at the same venue on October 24, is also billed as a valuable opportunity to network with buyers, suppliers and specifiers from across Europe.

The last STTC Conference in Aarhus took focused on marketing and promotion under the title Sustainable Tropical Timber  – Selling a positive story and drew positive comments from delegates.

“The exchanges that took place, facilitated by an excellent moderator, produced a great convergence of ideas on marketing and highlighted the need to put in place a real tropical timber sector action plan,” said Benoît Jobbé-Duval, managing director of the ATIBT, which will be marking the anniversary of its Fair&Precious tropical timber branding campaign at the time of its own and the STTC’s 2018 Conference.

“It was a great experience and I took back a marketing motto from one of the workshops ‘Purchase-2-Protect’.  It’s so relevant as as we need to convey more and more the message of how important it is to buy tropical timber to protect forests on a long-term basis,” said Ulrich Grauert, Interholco AG CEO.

The 2018 STTC Conference takes place at the Paris Botanical Gardens. For more and to register online go to https://www.europeansttc.com/25-october-2018-conference-sustainably-sourced-tropical-timber/.