Barcelona proves a winning venue for In-Cosmetics
attendance rose 67 per cent in the first two days compared to last
year's event in Berlin - figures that were confirmed by the throngs
of people buzzing around the stands.
Exhibition organisers Reed Exhibitions said that the number of unique visitors attending the show was 3,258 on day 1, April 4th, while yesterday a further 1.182 people attended, bringing the total to 4,400.
But undoubtedly some of this success is attributable to the loss of the PCIE show. Due to take place in Paris just before this year's In-Cosmetics event, Step Exhibitions announced back in October that they were cancelling the event due to a lack of support.
As is usual at shows things did seem quieter on the final day, but this probably had something to do with a lot of visitors rushing off to the Cosmoprof event, which is being held in Bologna, April 7-10.
Cathy Laporte, Reed Exhibitions marketing manager said, "This year has really exceeded expectations. The event has more than doubled in size since it was last held in 2000, reflecting the real growth in popularity of this show as well as the growth of the industry itself.
The reasons for the big increase in both the number of exhibitors and visitors this year has definitely been influenced by the fact that Barcelona is such a popular destination and relatively easy for everyone to get to.
But added to that the show has more content this year, including the In-Focus section, which is concentrating on innovation - an increasingly vital part of the industry."
Another focus has been the South American market, and more specifically the Brazilian market. A big improvement in the South American economies has led to double digit growth for the personal care sectors in many of the leading markets there - including Brazil, which is by far the largest market.
Combined with that there has also been a significant increase in the interest shown in both personal care ingredients and finished products from the region on an international basis. This year the In-Cosmetics event reflected that interest with its section devoted to products and ingredients sourced from the Amazon region.
This attracted a host of Brazilian companies, including major ingredients placer Beracas, which was highlighting a number of Amazon-sourced active ingredients.
"South America is the hotspot this year," said Laporte. "We doubled the number of visitors from the region, with both Colombia and Brazil proving to be particularly popular. What seems to really be driving this success is the big rise in natural-based products, which the Brazilian market in particular has come to represent."
Conferencing has also played an even bigger part in this year's event, with specific programmes focusing on marketing, science and innovations. The CosmeticsDesign.com team attended many of the programmes, which will become the focus of a series of articles in the coming weeks.
But before the doors now closed on this year's event, attention is being given to next year's show, due to take place in Paris. Laporte believes that this should prove just as popular as this year's event, particularly given the weight of the personal care and cosmetics industry in France and its strong connection with Paris.
