Advice
How to Meet Retail Buyers at CES 2027
What a retail buyer checks in your CES booth, how to book meetings before the show, and how to follow up so conversations become orders.
Yohan Jacob
16 min read
CES 2027 is one of the biggest chances of the year for product brands. You can show new products, meet retail buyers, and connect with distributors and business partners. You can get media attention and build the relationships that speed up growth. The show runs January 6 to 9, 2027, in Las Vegas. It brings together technology companies, retailers, investors, media and industry people from around the world.
But going to CES, or even exhibiting, does not guarantee results. There are thousands of exhibitors, a huge show floor, and endless competing products and events. You need a plan to make the most of your time and money. This guide covers how to meet retail buyers at CES 2027: preparing before the show, making real connections during it, showing your product well, and following up afterward. Do that and you can turn CES conversations into real business.
Key takeaways
- CES 2027 runs January 6 to 9, 2027 in Las Vegas. Real buyer outreach has to start well before the show, not at it.
- Buyer meetings are booked before the show. Waiting to be found on the floor is the most common reason a brand leaves with nothing.
- Decide before you book what would have to happen for the show to be worth it. Write it down.
- A retail buyer in your booth is checking whether the packaging is finished, whether there is a real price, and whether you can supply. Those answers matter more than the demo.
- Follow up within days. A message sent three days after the show competes with almost nothing, while one sent two weeks later competes with every other show the buyer attended.
- For some brands, a focused category trade show puts them in front of more of the right buyers than CES does.
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What to Expect at CES 2027
CES is the premier global stage for consumer technology. It gives you a first look at products and innovations before they reach the mass market. In 2027, expect major advances in:
- AI-driven smart home ecosystems
- Autonomous and electric vehicles
- Health and wellness technologies
- Immersive virtual and augmented reality
- Next-generation robotics and automation
This year’s expo will include thousands of exhibitors, from industry giants to high-growth startups. Together they give a full view of how technology is reshaping every part of life, work and entertainment.
Top Innovations to Watch in 2027
1. Smarter, More Personalized Smart Homes
AI-powered systems will take center stage. Home appliances and connected devices will learn to anticipate what you do. Expect features like:
- Recipe-generating refrigerators
- Mood-responsive lighting
- Predictive home energy management
These innovations show the shift toward intuitive, effortless living.
2. Electric and Autonomous Vehicle Breakthroughs
CES 2027 will show the future of mobility:
- Longer-range EV batteries
- Faster and more efficient charging
- Advanced driver assistance and safety systems
Self-driving will be a major focus as manufacturers race toward full autonomy.
3. Next-Gen Wearables and Health Tech
Wearable technology keeps moving beyond fitness:
- Real-time biometric monitoring
- Early illness detection
- Improved sleep and stress tracking
Expect wearables designed for people of all ages, not just athletes.
How CES 2027 Will Impact Key Industries
Consumer Electronics
Products will trend toward interoperability and ecosystem connectivity. The goal is a smooth experience across devices. If you sell into that ecosystem, read our guide on how to get your product into Apple Stores before the show.
Healthcare & Wellness
Telemedicine tools, diagnostic devices and home health monitoring will make care more accessible, affordable and proactive.
Entertainment & Media
Advances in VR and AR will bring more immersive gaming, virtual collaboration and digital content creation.
How to Get Retail Buyer Meetings Before you Arrive
Retail buyers do attend CES. Almost none of them will wander into your booth by accident. The ones worth meeting arrive with a route, a category list and a calendar that filled up weeks ago. If you want to meet them, the work happens before you get on the plane. The same rules apply to approaching retail stores with your product at any other time of year.
1. Work out which retailers send buyers to your category. Not every chain attends. The ones that do send people who look after specific departments. Start from the retailers you actually want. Find out whether their category team comes. Do not assume every retailer sends everybody.
2. Confirm they are attending rather than hoping. Use the show’s exhibitor and attendee resources. Use any matchmaking or buyer program CES runs. Use your own network. Ask distributors, reps and other brands in your category who they are meeting. A confirmed attendee is worth ten guesses.
3. Reach out weeks ahead, not during the show. A message sent while somebody is walking a hall in Las Vegas does not get read. A message sent well before, when they are planning their week, does.
4. Ask for a specific short slot. Twenty minutes, on a named day, at your booth or wherever works for them. “Come and see us” puts the work on them and gets ignored. A concrete time is a yes or no they can answer in one line.
5. Give them a reason tied to their assortment. Not that you are launching. Tell them what your product adds to the section they manage. A price point that is missing. A shopper who is not being served. A growing subcategory where they have no answer. Buyers respond to their own problems, not to your milestone.
6. Confirm in the week before, and again the day before. Schedules collapse at CES. A confirmation is the difference between a meeting and an empty slot.
7. Have something to leave that works without you. A one-page sell sheet with the product, the retail price, your wholesale price, the case pack and your contact details. They will look at it on the plane home, surrounded by everything else they collected.
Most of this outreach will get no reply. That is normal, not a failure. When it happens, work the floor instead. Go to the show’s retail and buyer programming. Sit in the conference sessions where merchants speak. Walk the awards and pavilion areas that merchants walk. Talk to the other exhibitors in your category who already sell to the retailers you want. Meetings you did not book still happen. They just happen somewhere other than your booth.
Tips for Product Manufacturers Attending CES 2027
CES is a major chance for brands to get discovered, validated and funded. If a national chain is the goal, read our guide on how to get your product into Target before you go. To get the most visibility at the show:
Craft a Clear Product Story
Explain the problem your product solves and why it matters. A strong story gets more media and buyer attention.
Pro tip
Write two versions of your pitch, one for media and one for a buyer. Know which one you are giving within the first sentence. A journalist wants what is new about it. A buyer wants who buys it, at what price, and what it sits next to. Give a buyer the press version and you will be politely thanked and never contacted again.
Use Interactive Demonstrations
Let attendees, influencers and retail buyers test your product. Hands-on experiences create memorable impressions.
Pro tip
Rehearse the demo until it works on the first attempt every time, even when the room is loud and the WiFi is bad. A show floor is the worst place your product will ever be shown. A buyer who watches a demo fail once will not wait for the second attempt. Build it to run without a network if you possibly can.
Optimize Your Booth Experience
Make your booth visually appealing, easy to reach, and true to your brand identity.
What a Retail Buyer is Looking at in Your Booth
A journalist, an investor and a retail buyer all walk past your booth and look at three different things. Booth advice is almost always written for the first two. Here is what the buyer is checking while you demo. It is the same list of what retail buyers look for in any pitch, just compressed into a few seconds.
Is the packaging finished, or is it a mockup? This is the first and most decisive check, and it takes seconds. A buyer can tell a printed sample from a production pack instantly. A mockup tells them you are months away from being able to ship. They usually do not say so. They say something polite and move on.
Does it look like it belongs next to what they already stock? They are picturing it on their shelf, beside the brands they already carry. If your presentation, quality level or price positioning is out of step with their section, the answer is no. It does not matter how good the product is.
Is there a price, and does it make sense? They want the retail price, the wholesale cost and the margin in between. A founder who cannot say those numbers without checking has answered a different question. The answer is that you are not ready.
Can you supply at volume? They are judging whether a company with this stand, this team and this stage could fill an order across hundreds of stores. Capacity, lead times, and what happens if it sells faster than forecast are all live questions in their head while you talk about features.
Can anyone here answer a commercial question? If the only person who knows the numbers is in a meeting, the buyer leaves without what they came for. Everyone on the stand should be able to hand off properly. Ideally, they can answer the basics too.
Is it obvious in three seconds what this does? They are walking a hall with a category list. If your signage and packaging do not say what the product is and who it is for from the aisle, they never stop to find out.
Use Social Media Before, During, and After CES
Live demos, behind-the-scenes videos and daily updates can multiply your reach well beyond booth traffic.
Pro tip
Post what you are launching before the show, not during it, and say where you will be. Buyers and media plan their route ahead of time. A brand that announces on day two is asking people to change a schedule that is already full. The posting that matters most happens in the weeks before anyone lands in Las Vegas.
What To Do in the Two Weeks After CES
Every guide to CES stops when the show does. The two weeks afterward is where the money either appears or does not.
Sort contacts by whether they can buy. Before anything else, split what you collected into four groups. People who make or influence buying decisions at a retailer. People who could distribute or represent you. Press. Everyone else. These four groups need completely different messages. Sending one message to all of them wastes the only warm window you have.
Write follow-ups that mention something specific from the conversation. The product they asked about. The question they raised. The concern they mentioned. The store they said they were thinking about. A generic “great to meet you at CES” looks like the hundred others they received. It also proves you do not remember them.
Send what you promised within days, not weeks. If you said you would send pricing, a sample, a spec sheet or an introduction, send it while they still remember agreeing to it. This is the single most common failure after a trade show. It is also the easiest one to avoid.
Separate the buyers who asked for pricing from the people who took a card. A request for cost, case pack or terms is a process starting. Those contacts get a proper commercial follow-up and a named owner in your business. The rest go on a list you nurture. Treat both the same way and the real opportunities get the same attention as the polite ones.
Handle the “come back when you have more distribution” answer properly. It is not a rejection. It is a condition. Ask what level would change the answer. Write it down. Put a date in your calendar to go back when you have it. Most brands hear it as a no and never return.
Write down what you learned about your category while it is fresh. Competitor pricing. What the stands in your section were leading with. The questions shoppers and buyers kept asking. What surprised you. Within two weeks most of this is gone, and it is one of the most valuable things the trip produced.
The timing argument is simple, and it is worth saying plainly. A follow-up sent three weeks after the show competes with every conversation that buyer had at every show that quarter. A follow-up sent within three days competes with almost nothing, because nobody else has sent theirs yet.
Note
A retail buyer at CES is scouting, not buying. Almost nobody writes an order on a show floor. Treating a good conversation as a sale is how brands come home optimistic and empty-handed. The goal of every buyer conversation at the show is a scheduled follow-up, not a decision.
Attending CES as a Tech Enthusiast or Innovator
Plan Your Schedule in Advance
There is a lot to see. Pick the halls, product categories and sessions you care about most, and put them first.
Network With Intention
Talk to exhibitors, join discussions, and meet other industry people. CES is full of future collaborators and potential partners.
Pro tip
Write down your target retailers before you go. Each morning, check whether anyone from them is speaking or on a panel that day. Programming is where buyers are findable and standing still, which the show floor is not. Ten minutes with a list beats an afternoon of walking aisles hoping to be approached.
Take Breaks to Avoid Overload
The show floor is massive. Step away to reflect, recharge and absorb what you’ve seen.
Is CES Worth It for Your Brand
Nobody who sells exhibit space is going to tell you that CES might be the wrong show for you. So here is the honest version of the decision.
There are three ways to be at CES. They are very different commitments.
Attending without exhibiting. You buy a badge and walk the show. It costs you registration, flights, a hotel during the most expensive week of the Las Vegas year, and several days of your time. What it gets you is a view of your category, a read on who is doing what, the meetings you arranged yourself, and a much better idea of whether exhibiting next year makes sense. For a brand that has never been, this is often the right first move. Almost nobody does it.
Exhibiting in the startup area. A small, uniform stand, usually in or near the dedicated startup space. Many brands get there through a country, regional or university pavilion. It costs less than a full stand, and the pavilion may cover some of the extras. What you get is visibility with press, investors and accelerators, plus proximity to other early-stage companies. What it asks of you is preparation time, a working product and staff for the full show. What it does not reliably get you is retail buyers. They tend to walk the category halls where the assortment they manage lives.
Taking a full stand in a category hall. Space priced by size and location, plus booth build, graphics, drayage, electrical, internet, freight and staff. This is a big investment. It puts you where the category buyers actually walk. It asks for months of preparation, several people on site, and a follow-up operation after the show.
How to decide. Before you book anything, write down what would have to happen for this to be worth it. Not “raise awareness.” Something you can count: four buyer meetings with named retailers, two sample requests, one distributor conversation, coverage in three publications your buyers read. Then ask honestly whether the format you are considering can produce that. If the answer is no, you have saved yourself a very expensive week.
And be willing to reach the conclusion the organizer will never suggest: CES may be the wrong show for you. For many product categories, the trade show that serves that category puts you in front of far more relevant buyers, for far less money, with far less noise. Hardware, housewares, outdoor, pet, sporting goods and dozens of other categories all have shows where buyers come to see products like yours. If your buyers are not at CES, its size is not an advantage.
Costs change every year, and CES publishes them. Get the current numbers from the official exhibitor pages. What drives them up: stand size, corner and aisle positions, custom build over rental, late orders on venue services, heavy freight and late hotel booking. What drives them down: a pavilion place, a rented modular stand, ordering services before the advance deadline, and booking rooms early.
Three Ways to be at CES and What Each One Asks of You
| Attend only | Startup exhibit area | Full stand | |
| What it realistically gets you | Meetings you booked, plus market intelligence. | Discovery by people walking that area. | The presence buyers and media expect to see. |
| Preparation needed | Outreach and a schedule. | Outreach, a finished demo, collateral. | All of that plus build, staffing and logistics. |
| Staffing | One or two people. | At least two, all day, every day. | A rota, because nobody lasts four days alone. |
| Main risk | Nobody knows you were there. | Traffic without buyers in it. | Cost outrunning the value of the meetings. |
| Best for | Testing whether CES is your show. | Brands with a finished product they can demo. | Brands with distribution to defend or expand. |
Sustainability and Ethical Tech at CES 2027
Expect bigger conversations and more product displays centered on:
- Eco-friendly materials and circular design
- Energy-efficient devices
- Ethical AI and responsible data use
Consumers are demanding transparency and accountability. Companies will highlight how they put environmental and social responsibility first.
Final Thoughts: Why CES 2027 Matters
CES 2027 will be a landmark event. It will shape global trends across consumer electronics, automotive innovation, smart homes, digital health, AI, sustainability and more.
For manufacturers, innovators and tech enthusiasts, CES is the perfect place to gain insight, build relationships and prepare for what’s next in the industry. If you plan to bring in outside help for the retail push that follows, start with our questions to ask a retail launch agency.
Whether you’re walking the show floor or taking part virtually, this is your chance to see the technologies that will define the next generation.
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Frequently asked questions
CES 2027 takes place in Las Vegas from January 6 to 9, 2027. The show spreads across several venues rather than one hall. That matters for planning. Moving between venues takes far longer than the map suggests, and it is the most common reason booked meetings get missed.
Registration runs through the official CES site and opens ahead of the show. The more useful question for a brand is which kind of pass and presence you need. Attending, exhibiting in a startup area and taking a full stand are three different commitments with three different outcomes.
Exhibit costs come from the official CES exhibitor sales pages. They depend on how much space you take, where it sits and which program you exhibit under. The costs brands underestimate are the ones around it: build, shipping, staffing for four days, travel and hotels in Las Vegas during the show. Budget those before you decide the booth is affordable.
For consumer technology it is still the show retailers, media and investors attend. Whether it is relevant to your brand is a narrower question. It depends on whether the retailers you want actually send buyers to your category. For some products, a focused category show puts you in front of more of the right people for less money.
CES is a trade event, not a consumer show. Registration is meant for industry attendees. For a brand, that matters in a practical way. The people walking past your booth are mostly professionals, so build your stand to answer commercial questions rather than to entertain shoppers.
