3,121 unique visitors were recorded to have packed the event’s red velvet aisles in pursuit of the freshest ingredient innovations and latest global trends set to impact the personal care industry.
127 international suppliers accounted for 64% of the total number of exhibitors while visitors were predominantly Korean. Other attendees included visitors from Thailand, Japan, the US and India.
“We have been overwhelmed by the response to the show. The MERS outbreak had some impact on the number of visitors, especially international attendees, yet we still exceeded our original visitor target by 56%," says Sarah Gibson, exhibition director, in-cosmetics Korea.
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The first edition of the event featured seminars presented by the likes of CLR, Dow Corning, Elementis, Hallstar, Lipotec, Sensient and SEPPIC shed light on the latest anti-ageing, rheology, skin and sun care and polymer innovations.
On the technical side, sessions included “Regulations in the West” as well as two seminars by market researcher Mintel on “(Marketing) trends and innovation to watch (in 2016)”.
Meanwhile, the Innovation Zone showcased 18 new ingredients launched within the last eight months, ten of which were accompanied with formulations for visitors to try out.
Why Korea? in-cosmetics talks about 'filling the gap'
With Korea tipped as the fourth largest beauty market in Asia, Cosmetics Design wondered why the last personal care ingredients focused event was in 2005.
We caught up with show organiser Ivan Rahal at the European version of the in-cosmetics franchise back in April who explained why the Reed Exhibitions team chose 2015 to fill in the gap.
According to the head of marketing, Korea has the knack of charming the rest of Asia when it comes to product innovation and creative marketing.
"Our event underlines the success of many Korean cosmetics lines that have gone on to be a big hit in other Asian countries, particularly in Japan and China," Ivan told CosmeticsDesign-Asia.com at the time.
On querying about the Group's investment in a dedicated Facebook page, Rahal tells this publication that it was critical to have a native Korean speaker in-house "to speak to exhibitors and visitors in their own language about show related news."