Batibouw is Belgium's largest trade fair for construction, renovation, and interior design. Held annually at Brussels Expo, the 2025 edition takes place from February 15 to 23. With a history spanning over 65 years, Batibouw has become a cornerstone event in the Belgian construction industry.
The name "Batibouw" is a clever portmanteau combining the French and Dutch translations of ‘to build’ (bâtir and bouwen), reflecting the bilingual nature of Belgium. This massive event attracts around 300,000 visitors and hosts over 1,000 exhibitors, making it a hub for industry professionals and consumers alike.
Batibouw provides a compelling case study to illustrate several concepts presented in our book, Platform Strategies. The fair demonstrates how a physical platform can create value through facilitating interactions between distinct user groups, leverage network effects, and implement strategic pricing. Batibouw's longevity and success in the Belgian market underscore the enduring relevance of these platform strategies, even in traditional, brick-and-mortar contexts.
Batibouw: a two-sided platform that leverages network effects
Batibouw functions as a multi-sided platform, connecting two groups of participants:
- Exhibitors: Over 1,000 companies showcase their products and services across various construction-related sectors.
- Visitors: The event attracts around 300,000 visitors, including both private individuals and industry professionals; a specific day is dedicated to industry professionals.
Various network effects are at play between and within these two groups of participants. The most noticeable effects are cross-side network effects:
- Exhibitor-to-Visitor Effect: As more exhibitors participate in Batibouw, the event becomes more valuable for visitors. A larger number of exhibitors offers a wider range of products, services, and innovations for visitors to explore. This increased variety attracts more visitors to the fair.
- Visitor-to-Exhibitor Effect: Conversely, as more visitors attend Batibouw, the value for exhibitors increases. A larger visitor base means more potential customers, leads, and business opportunities for the exhibiting companies. This effect remains strong even with high visitor numbers, as each visitor could be at a critical decision-making stage for construction or renovation projects.
While less prominent than cross-side network effects, Batibouw also benefits from some same-side network effects:
- Visitor-to-Visitor Effect: As more visitors attend, the event becomes a hub for knowledge sharing among consumers. Visitors can exchange experiences, opinions, and advice about products or services, enhancing the overall value of attending the fair.
- Exhibitor-to-Exhibitor Effect: A higher number of exhibitors can lead to greater opportunities for B2B networking, partnerships, and industry insights. This effect is particularly pronounced during the dedicated industry professionals’ day. However, the competition among exhibitors offering similar products may diminish this positive effect.
Batibouw activates positive network effects and creates value through its various functions. First, the fair facilitates connections by uniting buyers, sellers, and industry professionals in one location, enabling direct interactions and business opportunities. Second, Batibouw showcases innovation by allowing exhibitors to present the latest trends and technologies in construction and renovation. Finally, Batibouw promotes knowledge sharing by organising workshops, product demonstrations, and educational activities.
In analysing Batibouw as a platform, it is essential to recognise that the two groups of participants would encounter significant challenges in transacting without an intermediary like Batibouw. For example, individual consumers seeking renovation services or products would need to invest considerable time and effort researching and connecting with different suppliers. Similarly, construction companies and product manufacturers would find it difficult to reach such a large, targeted audience efficiently. Batibouw effectively reduces these transaction costs by centralising these interactions in a single, time-constrained event.
Batibouw’s leverage-based price structure
In our book, we explain that it is essential to blend cost-based and value-based factors when determining platform prices. To do so, we suggest a different approach to platform pricing, which we refer to as leverage-based pricing. This concept revolves around establishing prices based on the leverage that users generate through their activity on the platform.
Batibouw’s pricing structure exemplifies this principle. The platform employs a classic "divide-and-conquer" strategy that takes advantage of network effects. Visitors pay relatively low entrance fees, with tickets starting at just £10, to attract a large audience. This subsidisation of the visitor side is counterbalanced by charging exhibitors significantly higher fees, ranging from £5,500 to £50,000 depending on booth size.
This asymmetric pricing model is designed to attract a critical mass of visitors, which in turn entices more exhibitors. The higher fees for exhibitors are warranted by the visibility and networking opportunities they gain, which hold particular value in an industry where contracts often involve substantial sums. This pricing strategy aligns with the principles of network effects: subsidising the side that generates demand (visitors) while monetising the side that values access to this demand (exhibitors).
Brick-and-mortar vs. digital platforms
The rapid growth of digital technologies and the widespread use of smartphones have greatly enhanced platform value creation and capture. These technologies enable platforms to significantly lower transaction costs, effectively manage network effects, and enrich user interactions.
While most platforms today are digital, the concept of a platform is not new. As Fisman and Sullivan (2016) explain, it dates back centuries. The idea originated when someone organised a market in a town square, exchanging merchants and farmers with city residents. This scenario embodies the key characteristics of a platform: a designated marketplace, scheduled times to maximise participation, and oversight by public authorities to manage access, ensure safety, and collect taxes.
While digital platforms dominate in scalability and convenience, brick-and-mortar platforms like Batibouw offer unique advantages:
- Tactile Experience: Visitors can see, touch, and test products before purchasing—a feature digital platforms cannot replicate.
- Personal Interaction: Face-to-face engagement fosters trust and loyalty, enabling deeper emotional connections with customers.
- Instant Gratification: Customers can take products home immediately or make decisions on the spot.
- Networking Opportunities: Physical events facilitate B2B and B2C connections while offering strategic insights into market trends.
Digital platforms, on the other hand, excel in:
- Global Reach: Online platforms can connect users worldwide without geographical limitations.
- Lower Overhead Costs: Digital platforms generally have lower operational expenses than physical venues.
- Data Analytics: Online platforms can easily track user behavior and preferences for targeted marketing.
Conclusion
Batibouw has laid a solid foundation as a two-sided platform, expertly constructing a network of exhibitors and visitors through strategic pricing and careful management of participant dynamics. While digital platforms may offer broader reach and scalability, physical fairs like Batibouw provide unmatched opportunities for trust-building and professional networking that simply can't be replicated online. In the end, Batibouw proves that when it comes to connecting industry professionals and consumers, there's no place like home improvement shows. As we've seen, brick-and-mortar platforms aren't just holding up the roof in a digital age – they're raising the bar for meaningful interactions in the construction and renovation world.
