After much anticipation and excitement from the industry, The Print Show returned from Tuesday 19th to 21st September in the NEC, Birmingham.
Since its inception in 2015, the event has overcome a number of challenges such as Brexit, Covid-19, and the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II which was held on the last day of build-up for the 2022 edition; however, the anticipation could be felt across the sector in the run up to the 2023 event.
This excitement continued throughout the three-day event, with many companies collaborating and partnering to offer full end-to-end solutions for print service providers. A number of machine launches also took place, and exhibitors got creative with in-show competitions and features.
Exhibiting for the first time this year, Baker Labels kept the energy and positivity high with its popular basketball hoop feature as well as hosting a stretching session for visitors and exhibitors alike to take part in – something the company does daily at its HQ.
Organisers put a lot of thought and care into delivering extra in-show features such as the Cash Grabber competition and daily Golden Ticket prizes with visitors taking home TUI holiday vouchers, amazon vouchers, and luxury hampers.
Also revamped for this year’s event was the Knowledge Zone which Print Monthly and SignLink lead contributor Rob Fletcher worked tirelessly to curate and deliver. The area covered topics such as the Next Generation and wellbeing, with Nicola Peacock, senior relationship manager at The Printing Charity explaining during her session that this was the first time a trade exhibition has provided a forum to discuss wellbeing and mental health.
Other topics saw visitors take home valuable knowledge in SEO and digital marketing, creating stand-out retail displays, and the event also provided a platform for successful industry members Simon Cooper, managing director of Solopress, and Mike Beese, owner of DecTek to discuss the journey of their companies, giving visitors a chance to ask any questions they may have.
One attendee of Beese’s talk even approached the business owner in regards to coaching and support with Beese offering her his business card. This demonstrated the opportunities that live events can provide for making new connections.
With such a buzz being felt in the run-up to the 2023 event, many manufacturers extended their floorspace and chose to launch new products and hardware. Liyu UK's presence couldn't be missed with the company taking up the most space in the exhibition hall, having extended its stand.
Vivid Laminating Technologies also had its biggest-ever presence and used the space to showcase its new Hybrid Laminator in the Veloblade Nexus range, as well as its brand-new patented board loading solution.
Speaking with Print Monthly on the first morning of the event, Lewis Evans, product manager at Vivid, said: “This is the biggest stand we’ve ever taken at The Print Show, it’s a nice location being right opposite the entrance as well. It’s been a great start to the morning and it’s been really nice and busy and it’s nice to see some great companies exhibiting this year as well.”
Having exhibited at The Print Show since it first launched in 2015, Evans explained what it is about the event that makes the company keep returning: “We’ll go on data and the numbers are what matter really. There’s a show we dropped recently this year because we tried it two or three times and we’re not making any money or growing our database or helping our customers.
“The Print Show, is one where we always do well. We always meet new customers, we always help our current customers, and we pick up a few ideas along the way. So for us, it’s a great show and the numbers always match up afterwards. We always do well, so we exhibit the following year. It’s that simple.”
As well as showcasing a range of new technology, Vivid also announced its partnership with Soyang Europe/Josero to demo its Veloblade Nexus range.
“Soyang Europe is a company we’ve known for quite some time now and already have an existing relationship created with our Easymount range of laminators. Soyang is now going to be promoting and taking the Veloblade Nexus into its showroom to add to its impressive range,” Evans says, adding: “It’s a really great partnership and is two forward-thinking companies collaborating together to help the industry.”
Resellers Perfect Colours and Colyer both launched HP Latex’s new additions to its range with the entry-level 630 printer series being revealed at 12pm on the first day of the event.
Another company that extended its space for 2023 was Axzyra with the business also having exhibited at the event since its inception. This year, the company launched the new AX Ultra water-based single-pass machine, receiving a positive reception to the technology.
Steve Woods, managing director of Axzyra told us on the final day of the event: “Unlike if you’re printing onto packaging or bags where you’re scanning, this will print up to 50 pieces a minute. You can either hand-feed it or have an automatic feeder on the bag and it’s really aimed at companies that want to get into printing packaging and bags quickly for customers.
“You can personalise it with variable data so every bag or box can be different and it’s a really cost-effective and affordable piece of equipment.”
On why now was the right time to launch this technology, Woods adds: “Axzyra as a company has been going since 2015 and we’ve slowly been looking at different niches in the market and we see single-pass, whether it’s water-based or UV, which we are also now offering, as the next step for decorating items instead of using scanning printers. This is why we think the time and technology is right in the market now.”
Also showing for the first time was the Morgana 1180T flatbed cutting machine on the Morgana stand. This product has been around for some time but the new feature is four heads with tangential capabilities for cutting thicker stock.
“This takes us into a higher bracket up to 3mm fluted board, which for the packaging industry offers a little bit more flexibility and solutions for customers,” explains Gavin Blakemore, UK national sales manager of Morgana Systems.
“There’s been a very positive reaction. As I say, it’s been the first UK showing here and the range of Intec and Morgana cut crease products has been very popular; but having the ability to cut thicker stock has sparked interest with people able to do more within their industry.
“For us, exhibiting is a big investment but having the draw to bring people in, and the timing of this show, was perfect for us to launch the new technology. The Print Show is a popular one and it’s been well received with the number of exhibitors here this year and it was a great chance for us to show the technology here in the UK.”
For us, exhibiting is a big investment but having the draw to bring people in, and the timing of this show, was perfect for us to launch the new technology”
Fujifilm UK had the largest single stand ever seen at The Print Show and was situated at the back of the exhibition hall. When we caught up with Mark Stephenson, product manager at Fujifilm on the final day of the event, he told us: “We made a big noise earlier this year when we launched our print-on-demand (POD) range of cut-sheet toner printers. At that time, we had two or three machines, now we’ve added two new machines and only just this month was the launch.
Fujifilm offered professional headshot photgraphy sessions as part of its presence at The Print Show 2023
“So we thought it perfect timing to come back to The Print Show and take our biggest stand ever. People are walking through the hall, thinking 'when I get to the back it will just be people selling sticky tape and grommets,' but actually here’s Fujifilm!
"The main reason for coming to the show is we have two new machines, the EC and the SC series of Revoria range of presses. So now from light production all the way up to a press that can print in ten different colours, we can meet the needs of any customer.”
Something Stephenson highlighted was the change in tact from the manufacturer. As a result, the company has stopped “putting people in a box” due to the high amount of businesses diversifying.
“A word we all learned during lockdown was to pivot and to change the direction based on the circumstances, so whether someone wants wide-format in sizes measured up to metres wide, to something that can print postcards in the Revoria range or something in between, we’ve stopped trying to tell people what to buy and we’re listening to what they want to do and the direction they want to take their company.”
Instead, the company strives to go on a journey of meeting needs not only now, but in time to come as well. One of Fujifilm’s straplines is ‘Value from Innovation’, and Stephenson explains that it’s no longer about a commodity and printing as cheaply as possible.
“Our customers will pay more for each copy that we print as an industry,” he says. “People will come to print for value, and things they want to keep and have as memories, that digital alone can't bring.”
This is something Blakemore echoed having seen a lot of print companies wanting to diversify from what they have been doing traditionally. Referring to the offering on the Morgana stand, he says: "With these products and the cost of them, it’s a low risk to take that chance and invest in a machine that’s not going to break the bank and you don’t need to do much work to cover the cost.
“It allows you to step into a different market and broaden the base of your business moving away from your traditional work and trying something new. Packaging is definitely a growing area, offering that bespoke, personalised, unique packaging that’s short-run, digitally produced, and being able to finish it like this is key.”
For the direct-to-film (DTF) area, InkTec launched its new 30cm DTF entry-level printer and was also demonstrating the 60cm DTF printer which was originally launched at Printwear and Promotion LIVE! last year. Also on show was the UV DTF machine which is ideal for glass, ceramics, and promotional items.
InkTec used its presence to launch its new 30cm and 60cm DTF machines as well as its UV DTF offering
“We decided to launch our 30cm printer today at The Print Show because we wanted to speak to the end-user, the person who's using the technology,” says Sarah Hall, sales executive and account manager at InkTec.
A Shifting Landscape
On speaking with exhibitors throughout the three-day event, there appears to be a shift taking place in terms of the role and place of UK exhibitions in today’s market. In years gone by, visitor numbers were considerably higher with attendees queuing through the doors and flooding in as soon as the halls opened each morning.
However, as the years have gone by, exhibitions are experiencing a slight drop in the number of attendees each year with exhibitors and industry members alike commenting that the halls are beginning to feel less packed throughout the day.
With that being said, the 2023 event saw a new phenomenon beginning to form and this is one of quality over quantity – something we heard time and time again as we checked in with exhibitors across the week to find out how business had been going so far.
Despite the seemingly quieter feel, many commented on the second day that they had already taken more leads on the first day of the 2023 event than they had in the entire week of the 2022 show.
A number of exhibitors also commented that despite the corridors not feeling ‘full’, they had nonetheless felt rushed off their feet with a high number of visitors having specific queries and areas they wanted answers to, or machines they wanted demonstrations on.
This seems to signal a shift in the way visitors are attending trade shows, rather than browsing as in previous years, they have a clear agenda and ‘game plan’ in place to get the most out of the names on the floorplan.
Visitors had the chance to win hundreds of pounds in the new Cash Grabber competition
Having noticed the change in habits of visitors at the 2023 event, Stephenson jokingly said: “I have got a big problem with The Print Show, in that everybody turns up at once. If we can spread the visitors out across the day it would be marvellous.
“We’ve got a lot of staff on the stand and at the very start of the day, we’re waiting for the customers and they’re perhaps thinking what’s today going to be like, and then all of a sudden, boom, everyone arrives at once and we can’t possibly manage them all.”
Reflecting on the purpose and place of UK trade shows such as The Print Show, he adds: “There’s no substitute for looking somebody in the eye and seeing their whole body language, seeing when they react to things and when they look away.
"When you’re doing things online with Zoom or Teams or anything else, it’s great as it saves a bit of travel and things like that but it’s not the same when you want to make a decision or persuade somebody, because there are so many other things you use.”
Fujifilm actually exhibited at three shows at the same time during the week of The Print Show with a presence also at Sign&Print in Scandinavia and C!Print in Madrid. “It just shows you where print is going as far as reaching out and going to where people are. It’s a valuable thing to do and we’re really pleased to be here at The Print Show this year,” Stephenson adds.
For Solopress, the company’s stand was directly influenced by feedback from visitors at the 2022 edition of The Print Show where it was promoting its Solopro trade-only offering. Using its presence this year to promote the launch of its new API, Phil Foster, head of business development of Solopress, explains: “It’s amazing how many people came up to us at last year’s show and said ‘have you got an API?
We’d love to integrate with you and use your pricing and product range’, and that led to the belief that we needed to up our game and get something like that sorted out.
“Some of our competitors already had that in place, and we needed to be part of that discussion when people are considering those sorts of opportunities.”
On why The Print Show was the right place to promote this new offering, Foster says: “We send out lots of marketing emails but often people won’t read all of it, so if you can stand face to face with people and explain the advantages and capabilities of having a Pro account, you can get that message across and it seems to sink in better than over an email.”
Diversification is a hot topic in the industry at presence and much of this involves partnering and collaborating with other industry members and companies in different areas and specialities to yourself.
Within the floorplan, there was a pocket of businesses partnering up to send visitors to each other to offer a full end-to-end offering. This included VB Media and Venture Banners, Trade Embroidery, and The Online Print Coach with VB Media also already having been integrated with Solopress’ new API.
Positive Feedback
Colin Sinclair McDermott, aka The Online Print Coach has praised the role of trade shows for getting face to face with industry members and has already confirmed his place at the 2024 event.
Returning to this year’s event, McDermott told us he was apprehensive about taking a slightly bigger stand but on the middle day of the event, he said: “I’m very happy that I did. It’s definitely proven to be more fruitful having more space to play with.
“This year specifically has been a big focus on some new products that I’ve been launching. On top of the one-to-one coaching, I’ve launched a new podcast, and it’s nice having people coming onto the stand and telling me they’ve listened to the episodes and how much value they’ve got from that.”
According to McDermott, the sense of collaboration and partnership is something that he saw a glimpse of at last year’s event, but is something he says really ramped up this year. “It’s been nice to see people ping pong between the stands, and we’re all cross-promoting each other and referring each other. We’re all fighting for the same cause and it’s really kicked in this year.”
Reflecting on the feel of this year’s event, McDermott adds: “I think the vibe’s been fantastic this year, to be honest with you. The footfall over the past two days has been fantastic, I’ve not stopped. I’ve been in constant conversation from when the doors opened to when they closed last night and it’s very much been the same again today.
"There’s a nice atmosphere and a good mix. The feedback I’ve had from delegates that I’ve spoken to is that they feel the show has gotten bigger this year. There’s a good blend of suppliers here and it’s only going from strength to strength. I’m already excited for next year, so much so that I’ve already booked my stand. It’s been fantastic.”
There’s a good blend of suppliers here and it’s only going from strength to strength. I’m already excited for next year, so much so that I’ve already booked my stand. It’s been fantastic”
With such glowing feedback from exhibitors and visitors alike, it is promising to see that whilst the landscape for trade shows is certainly shifting, there is still an appetite and excitement for getting together with our peers and championing the industry as a whole.
The dates for the 2024 event have been confirmed for September 17th to 19th at the NEC, Birmingham with the event continuing to grow year-on-year.
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