BRAND PRESENCE AT SIEC PARIS
SIEC takes place each June at Paris Porte de Versailles. It is France’s principal event for retail and commercial real estate: two days, around 4,100 professionals, and roughly 200 exhibitors across 15,000 square metres. The room contains retail brands planning French expansion, shopping centre developers and operators, investors, architects, and the consultants and service providers working across all of them. It is a concentrated, commercially focused two days where the right conversations can move faster than months of individual outreach
What SIEC is and what it is not
SIEC takes place each June at Paris Porte de Versailles. It is France’s principal event for retail and commercial real estate: two days, around 4,100 professionals, and roughly 200 exhibitors across 15,000 square metres. The room contains retail brands planning French expansion, shopping centre developers and operators, investors, architects, and the consultants and service providers working across all of them. It is a concentrated, commercially focused two days where the right conversations can move faster than months of individual outreach
What SIEC is and what it is not
SIEC is the domestic version of the conversation that MAPIC in Cannes takes international. Where MAPIC draws landlords and retailers from across Europe and beyond, SIEC is where the French retail property sector does its business. New retail concepts are introduced to French landlords. French expansion plans are discussed with French developers. French market relationships are maintained and built.
It is a focused event, not a large one. That is not a weakness. For brands whose objective is the French market specifically, the concentration of the right people in two days at Porte de Versailles is exactly the efficiency the format offers.
Who should be at SIEC
Retail brands with French expansion plans and the landlords and developers they need to meet are the obvious core. Commercial property developers and operators focused on the French market. Retail service providers and technology companies whose clients are in French retail. Retail design, fit-out, and consultancy businesses working in the French market.
The less obvious case is the international brand with serious French ambition. For a brand that wants to open in France and needs to meet the right developers and shopping centre operators, SIEC puts that entire audience in one room across two days. It does not require the investment level of MAPIC and serves a more focused purpose. For many international brands it is the most efficient entry point into the French retail real estate market.
SIEC versus MAPIC: which do you need
If your ambition is genuinely European retail expansion, the honest answer is both, and most serious players treat them that way. SIEC gives you the French market efficiently in June. MAPIC gives you Europe in November. The two events are complementary rather than competing: SIEC for depth in the French market, MAPIC for breadth across the continent.
If your focus is France only, SIEC alone can serve your objectives. If your ambition extends beyond France, MAPIC is not optional.
What it costs
SIEC is one of the more accessible Paris events from a brand presence perspective, and that relative accessibility is part of what makes a well-designed stand stand out.
A contained presence, a well-designed stand of 15 to 20 square metres that clearly communicates what the brand offers, typically runs from €15,000 to €35,000 including design, build, and on-site management. In an environment where many exhibitors default to generic corporate presentations, considered design and clear messaging have a disproportionate impact.
A mid-range presence, a larger stand with a structured meeting programme, dedicated hospitality space, and branded environment, runs €35,000 to €70,000.
A significant activation, a flagship stand combining exhibition presence with a private meeting suite, hosted programme across both days, and premium content production, starts from €80,000.
What moves the number most at SIEC is stand size and the level of hospitality built into the programme. The gala dinner on the evening before the show opens, which attracted 400 people in 2024, is also worth factoring into the budget for brands that want to use it as a client entertainment opportunity.
When to start planning
SIEC is in June. Stand space applications run through the show organisers and the best positions fill early. Conversations with Groove should start by January or February at the latest for a June activation. Later than March and your options are narrowing.