“We were not sure what to expect at the event this year, as it was being held close to the Chinese New Year and also the weather has been very bad in Shanghai lately,” said Elynn Xu, project manager PCHi, told CosmeticsDesign-Asia.com.
“However, the attendance has been beyond our expectations, turning out to be a big success on account of the record visitor numbers. The proof of this was the fact that the show aisles were so packed out during the first two days.”
Visitor numbers explode on first day
On the all-important first day of the event, visitor numbers totaled 5,262, which alongside the massive hike in attendance since the event was last held in Shanghai two years ago, also represented an increase of 16% compared to the attendance figures for the first day of the event in Guangzhou in 2013.
Although there were many new and improved attractions for both exhibitors and visitors, one of the most significant developments has been the expansion of the conference programme at the event.
This year’s programme included five tracks, highlighted by skin penetration, hair care, marketing trends, regulations and packaging, which culminated in the biggest programme to date.
High-level international conference speakers
“We changed the way we organized the conference this year, recruiting high-level international conference speakers, as opposed to focusing our speaker search on exhibitors, as has happened in previous years,” Xu said.
Xu also stressed the fact that the sales programme for the event has been streamlined for this year, enabling exhibitors to choose their booths earlier, giving them more time to design how they look.
“I believe that walking around the aisles this change to the way we have organized things has really made a difference. The booths look much more sophisticated than in previous years, serving to make the event look much more polished,” she said.
Looking ahead to next year’s event in Guangzhou
No sooner have the doors been closed on this year’s event, that the attention is being turned to making organisation and preparations for next year’s event, in Guangzhou.
Aiming to continue the upward trend in both attendance and exhibitor numbers, the organiser is also aiming to make the event much more international in flavour.
“In particular we will be looking to attract more international speakers, exhibitors and visitors to the Guagzhou show, particularly from the important Asia Pacific markets like Korea, Japan, Thailand and Indonesia, as well as the United States,” said Xu.