Flourishing business at FESPA 2017 inspires global print community

FESPA 2017 brought together a buoyant speciality printing community, with many exhibitors reporting record sales, and an audience of senior decision-makers coming with an immediate intention to invest.

The event’s ‘global print expo’ strapline was reflected in its diverse international visitor profile, with printers and signmakers coming to Hamburg from 139 countries, making it the most international FESPA ever.

The largest visitor groups were from Germany, the UK, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Denmark and Poland, the latter two reflecting the accessibility of the host city for visitors from these countries. Following the success of FESPA Asia in Bangkok in February 2017, the Hamburg event also saw growth in visitors from Asia, representing 10% of total attendance.

Of the 20,456 unique visitors who came to FESPA 2017 and its co-located events, the majority opted to stay at the event for two days. This brought total attendance to 39,224, demonstrating the breadth of FESPA as a product showcase. With almost 100 first-time exhibitors on the show floor, visitors had access to a comprehensive line-up of suppliers of technology, materials for printing and sign-making, consumables and accessories.

During the show, FESPA took reservations for almost 80% of the available floor space at FESPA 2018 in Berlin (15-18 May 2018), requiring the team to book two further halls at Messe Berlin to meet exhibitor demand. This response underlines the success of the FESPA expo as a forum for meeting customers and prospects face-to-face, making concrete sales and developing business pipelines.

FESPA divisional director Roz Guarnori comments: “Following on from the success of the last week in Hamburg, we’re thrilled by the enthusiastic commitment to our next event in Berlin in 2018 from digital, screen and textile vendors alike. This endorses our decision to move the FESPA global print expo to an annual cycle and make every event a comprehensive showcase of all processes and products.”

The profile of FESPA as the leading European exhibition for textile printing continues to increase, with significant announcements of new textile printing solutions from many vendors in Hamburg, and developments in soft signage a dominant topic of discussion with visitors.  Printed interior décor applications were also prevalent throughout the event.

Roz Guarnori concludes: “Judging by the energetic mood and buzz from exhibitors and visitors, FESPA is an event that invigorates and stimulates a whole community, giving guidance on new technologies and solutions, supporting visitors to build profitable businesses, and fuelling success for exhibiting brands.”

FESPA 2018 incorporating European Sign Expo will take place at Messe Berlin, Germany from 15^th to 18^th May 2018.

Miss any of the action from FESPA 2017? Catch up here with full show coverage.