Business News
NORTHPRINT ATTRACTS COMMERCIAL AND INPLANT INVESTORS
Wednesday 29. April 2009 - Signs of optimism as exhibitors welcome printers looking to buy added-value technology
The majority of companies exhibiting at Northprint last week were very positive about the level of interest and investment from visitors over the three days of the show. About 1600* commercial and inplant printers traveled to Harrogate from all over the country. Although a smaller event than previously there was a general mood of optimism with positive support from exhibitors and real interest from a wide spectrum of visitors.
“Northprint has always been strong on attracting a wide spread of commercial, corporate and government inplant printers I’m pleased to say that this year was the same,” says Nicky Mason, MD of organiser IIR Exhibitions. “The opportunity to network with suppliers and other printers is always a big attraction of Northprint which, in microcosm, reflects the strong UK print community.”
Many exhibitors had worked hard to maximize the success of the event and reported brisk business, particularly in digital printing, management and production software and finishing technologies.
Exhibitor quotes;
Konica Minolta, Clare Revell, Head of Production Print: “Northprint exceeded our expectations, many of the printers that attended were seriously considering investing in digital kit and we had a number of new products and applications to share with them.”
Ricoh, Chas Moloney: “The visitor numbers are down but the level of quality is up with a broad range of corporate, inplant and commercial printers here. We have not seen anyone that is not serious in digital print and are delighted with the event.”
Presstek, Peter Swann, National Sales Manager: “It wasn’t an easy decision to come but it’s been well worth being here. We provide a full line up of workflow, CTP along with our chemistry free thermal plates including Aurora Pro, and DI printing and the interest has been very positive.”
Renz, Daniel Pooley, Sales and Marketing Manager: “It’s been much better than expected. Visitors are here for a reason with real needs and making real investments.”
Trapeze, Nikki Price, Business Development Manager: “The people who are here are here with a purpose and interest in added-value solutions. This is our first time at the show and we have picked up some quality leads from very interested printers.”
IST, Simon Mitchell, joint MD: “The show was very busy for us from the start and the decision to exhibit was a correct one.”
Clinical Print Finishers, Jamie Court: “When times are tough you have to promote yourself and the show has been fantastic for us. Although the numbers are down due to the economy the quality has been really high with a lot of designers and printers – particularly councils and universities – coming from all over the country and interested in our services.”
Watkiss, Paul Attew, Director: “It’s been a good show with lots of serious potential customers as well as our existing customers. We are optimistic about orders from the very good leads we have taken. Companies realize they have to work through a recession and investing in finishing is a way of improving services and cutting cost.”
Dryprint, Keith Wells: “Although I didn’t have high expectations in the current climate, the show has been good for us. A lot of people are looking to add value in order to improve profits which has stimulated a lot of interest in our new Dryprint coater launched at Northprint.”
Zerographic, Gavin Burborough, Sales Manager: “We made a last minute decision to be here to show our added value digital applications and it’s been a phenomenal show.”
RedTie, Natalie Pritchard: “This is our first time at Northprint and we are very pleased that we decided to exhibit. We gave a seminar on the third morning of the event which was extremely well attended and resulted in a good number of positive enquiries back at our stand. Not only have we been able to reach our primary target audience of printers – we also reached our secondary target audience of resellers, manufacturers and partners.”
PrintXChange, Alan Smith, Director: “This is the first exhibition we have done with software products. Visitors were very receptive to the smaller companies and we generated some great enquiries even corporates like Alliance & Leicester expressed an interest. Printing companies now see the value of web2print and email marketing solutions and are keen to explore the opportunity further.”
Duplo, Peter Jolly, UK Marketing Manager: “In recent exhibitions and open house events it tends to be our collator/bookletmaker systems that stoke the most interest, however of our 200 enquiries across all our stands at the show over half were for our digital finishing range, a major shift from our corresponding figures from Northprint 2007. The shift from litho to digital is clear for all to see.”
* Unaudited figure. Audited figure available mid May