Welcome to Episode 15 of the E-BusinessOnline Podcast
Host & Speaker:  Fred McKinnon
Topic:   ASD, SourceDirect, and Prosper Show
Summary:  Join Fred McKinnon as he breaks down his takeaways from his trip to Las Vegas to the ASD, SourceDirect, and Prosper Show.
2 Things We Are Asking Every Listener to Consider:

* JOIN OUR MAILING LIST:   SEND A TEXT MESSAGE TO 44222 with message:  EBOPODCAST
* Visit the Podcast on iTunes and leave a rating and written review (speak my love language, please!)

Welcome Home!
This past week was my first of many.   First time to Las Vegas.  First time to the ASD Show.   First time to the Prosper Show.  First time gambling in a real casino.  First time seeing some amazing entertainment that I’d not seen before.  First time seeing the Hoover Dam and the Grand Canyon.  First time meeting several fellow podcasters and best of all, some fellow EBOers.  (EBOers = Followers of the Podcast and Facebook Group!)
The ASD Show (including Source Direct)
ASD (Affordable Shopping Destination) is a gigantic trade show featuring products of all categories.   From their website:

ASD Market Week is the most comprehensive B2B trade show that brings the world’s widest variety of retail merchandise together in one efficient shopping experience. The ASD Market Week show floor is filled with quality choices at every wholesale price point buyers could want to find. ASD Market Week is held twice per year in Las Vegas and is truly the wholesale buying event that can’t be missed for any small to large sized retail, distribution, or importing business.
ASD Market Week is also home to SourceDirect Trade Show, a component of the show that allows importers, distributors, wholesalers and large retailers to buy wholesale goods directly from overseas. SourceDirect is the destination for buyers looking to source new product categories and find new ways to directly profit from manufacturers coming from more than 14 different countries.

ASD had already been running for a few days when we arrived on Tuesday morning.   The Las Vegas Convention Center is overwhelming.  Gigantic is an understatement.   Thankfully, ASD had registration tables setup everywhere and they had plenty of staff to point you in the right direction.  I was able to walk up to a self-registration table and type my last name into an iPad and have my access badge printed within a couple of minutes.   They also did a fantastic job of laying out all of the product categories across the many halls and buildings at the convention center.

I will be super honest here.  As I walked (for miles and miles) and browsed the different products I was somewhat confused on exactly what benefit I would have there.  It was clear to me that the majority of merchants are setup to display their own brands, their own products, and that a majority of attendees were buyers for retail stores and chains.  Although there was a plethora of Amazon/E-Commerce sellers there, it definitely didn’t feel like they were catering to the online dealer.   You could easily spend a couple of days walking through all the buildings and aisles so I focused my search on three categories that I was interested in.

If you are an e-commerce seller and you successfully sourced products at ASD to sell online would you comment below and let us know?  I’d love to interview you for a future episode.