The show's creators, North American Beauty Events and the BolognaFiere Group, reported this year's edition to have a sold out show floor of 892 exhibitors along with over 26,000 attendees, an 8 percent increase over the previous year.
The event was attended by a record number of more than 3,000 guests and was also seen worldwide via live online steaming broadcast by an additional 40,000.
"Cosmoprof North America continues to expand and innovate while remaining its most influential event for the professional beauty industry. Along with Cosmoprof Worldwide Bologna and Cosmoprof Asia, BolognaFiere Group provides a unified platform that continues to meet the needs of the global beauty industry," says Duccio Campagnoli, President of BolognaFiere Group and SoGeCos.
The show was created to represent and encompass all sectors of the industry under one venue and enable networking, the sharing new of new and upcoming products and new business relationships for industry professionals.
This year's event also delivered a strong international presence with exhibitors from 38 countries, eight official Country Pavilions and a contingency of foreign buyers from six different countries.
International buyer program
One of the show's features, the International Buyer Program, is reported to have gone down particularly well this year, serving as a liaison between international buyers and exhibitors. This allows them to met one-to-one with the mission of finding new beauty products that they can introduce into their respective markets.
"This year there were 314 international exhibitors representing a total of 38 countries (a 7 percent increase). There was a large increase of companies coming from countries such as Japan, Great Britain, and Spain."
Elsewhere the initiative 'Discover Beauty' returned, highlighting new trends where brands housed in this curated section enjoyed one-on-one meetings with prominent retailers such as C.O. Bigelow, Duane Reade, Henri Bendel, Ron Robinson APOTHIA, HSN, Amazon.com and Dermstore.com.
New initiatives also played a part in building the show's momentum
This year the show also introduced two new programs: BEAUTIQUE and a live TV Open-See program where exhibiting brands had the opportunity to participate in the first-ever one-stop beauty shop, and to meet QVC, HSN and The Shopping Channel.
The sampling bar allowed attendees to select deluxe-sized samples, including the latest in up-and-coming cosmetics, skin care, nails, hair and some classic beauty favourites.
The live presentations were open to all pre-registered show exhibitors, with beauty executives from shopping networks looked for innovative and authentic product concepts.