Cosmoprof North America reports big hike in visitor numbers

With over 25,000 recorded visitors to the three day event, held last week, 22 – 24 July, and almost 900 exhibiting companies, the success of the show, which is focused on the salon and spa and cosmetics industry in general, seemed to defy the overall retail market gloom.

The event aims at all sectors of the cosmetics and personal care industry, including packaging and formulation, but also serves to represent the hair salon and spa industries.

International Buyer Program​

This year the International Buyer Program, which is sponsored by Italian industry association UNIPRO, served to unite international buyers and sellers from all over the world, by enabling companies to showcase their products as well as offering networking meetings.

The show organizer said that this year’s program helped to forge more than 300 meetings between international buyers and supplier, involving more than 150 companies and 88 entities identified as international buyers from countries as diverse as Ecuador, Brazil, Bulgaria and New Zealand.

The international theme also pervaded throughout the exhibition hall, through the country pavilions, which in 2012 included Brazil, China, Colombia, Italy, South Korea and Taiwan – all promoting products and services from each of those respective countries.

Discover Beauty targeting emerging brands​

Another initiative highlighted at this year’s event was Discover Beauty, an area on the exhibition floor devoted to promoting emerging brands with the aim of helping them find appropriate distribution and retail channels.

Discover Beauty also facilitated one-on-one meetings with prominent retails such as Duane Reade, Nordstrom and Bigelow, aimed at giving the brands participating in this segment of the show exposure to feedback and constructive criticism on how to make their brands successful.

The Discover Beauty Award winner was chosen by the participating retailers and beauty editors and this year the top prize was awarded to Layla Cosmetics of Italy, in recognition of the fact that it fused together the latest technology and Italian flair to produce trend setting nail care products, the organizers said.

Discover Beauty Spotlights​

The Discover Beauty Program also included Spotlights, which provided an enhanced exhibition floor platform to a total of 19 artisan brands that were seeking an economical means of highlighting their latest innovations at the event.

This year’s event also had a big emphasis on social media, highlighted by the fact that around 100 industry bloggers were in attendance, many of which were included in a team of Trenscouts, who combed the show aisles to identify the most important launches at the show, posting them on Twitter and Facebook.

Cosmetics Design will be following these posts and will file a round-up report in the coming weeks, to highlight all the Trendscout findings highlighted in the show organizer’s Trend Report.

Together with a comprehensive educational program, the event also hosted an Independent Cosmetic Manufacturers and Distributors association event, which highlighted the industry’s top three challenges – legislation issues, technical claims testing and a safety low-down.

Cosmetics Design was present at this meeting and will also be cluing in on some of the interesting points that were raised by top industry speakers, including Carl Gefken, consultant and ICMAD international chair, as well as Craig Weiss, ICMAD chair, technical and regulatory.