The Africa Print Bloemfontein Expo, held at Ilanga Estate on 11 February, attracted 405 visitors from all over the Free State as well as other parts of South Africa and across the borders, such as Maseru, Gaborone, Kimberley, De Aar, Virginia, Kuruman, Ladybrand, Vereeniging, Petersburg, Aliwal North, Queenstown and Klerksdorp.
Exhibitors were pleased with the turnout and quality of leads they generated and the sales made:
‘The positioning of the stands was quite well done, the flow was good, and there weren’t too many of the same kind of stands. The atmosphere was energetic and exciting,’ said Roger Cook, Printing SA.
‘The highlights of the show were the very good foot traffic and the quality of visitors: serious business people that wanted to enquire and were genuinely interested in the products and the different things that we had to offer,’ said James Motaln, Big 5 Distribution.
‘For what we would classify as a smaller get-together on machinery, there were a lot of feet through the door, a lot of people interested in the machinery, a lot of questions, and a lot of leads. Bloemfontein could become a good print hub in the future,’ said Michael Morgan, GSW.
‘It was an amazing show because we spoke to a lot of potential clients,’ said Mauriceno Tshivenga, Curv.
‘We noticed a lot of people coming through, from all types of signage industries, showing interest in our products. It was good to know that almost all of them know about Stixo, and they were interested in our new product launches. We’re looking forward to doing business with all the new clients that we met,’ said Zaid Majam, Stixo.
‘The enquiries we received were based on people who were looking to invest, and looking to see what they can expand on on. The speed and technology of our laser cutter drew a lot of people to our stand,’ said Bianca Swanepoel, Trotec.
‘The highlight of the show was the amount of feet through the door, which was unbelievable,’ said Rakesh Rosen, Midcomp.
‘It was a good turnout for the show, and we had good enquiries. There was a lot of interest with prospective companies and clients. It’s always a pleasure to deal with Sign Africa, and it’s just a great experience overall,’ said Dean Plasket, Allrich.
Judges visited each stand at the expo and judged them according to criteria based on design, construction, traffic flow, presentation, attitude of staff and messaging. The results are as follows:
Africa Print Best Custom Stand
First: Midcomp
Second: DG
Africa Print Best Floor Space
First: Kolok Graphic Supplies
Second: GSW
Third: HFS
Sign Africa Best Custom Stand
First: LBY Africa
Second: Acrylux
Third: Media Frenzy
Sign Africa Best Floor Space Large
First: Roland Speedwrap
Second: Stixo
Sign Africa Best Floor Space Small
First: Titan Jet Africa
Second: Hitech Graphics
Third: Chemosol
AFRICA PRINT EXPO
+27 11 568 1894
www.africaprintexpo.com
