Going, going, gone: IPEX calls it a day
In a dramatic statement this afternoon (Tuesday, June 26, 2018) IPEX has thrown in the towel and called it a day bringing to an end the historic print industry trade show with its roots in the 19th century.
Tuesday, 26 Jun 2018 15:47 GMT
The last show had fewer visitors
IPEX’s Rob Fisher, the exhibition’s event director, says: “Through IPEX, we’re proud to have played a role in an important and diverse industry, and to have supported a brand that has such a long history. We enjoyed organising and delivering IPEX 2017 and received positive feedback from exhibitors, many of whom recorded excellent levels of interest and sales at the event.”
Fisher continues: “The changing market conditions and appetite for a large-scale event which focuses on Print in Action continues to be challenging. Having engaged with a range of exhibitors and partners to evaluate the options for IPEX, we have concluded that the requirements of the industry no longer match our own in terms of the cycle, scale and what is required to help us further support and fully invest in the brand.
“We’d like to wish our partners, exhibitors, and everyone we’ve worked with on IPEX every success as the industry continues to evolve.”
IPEX has a long and distinguished history as a shop window for the printing allied industries”
The show that was held every four years had declined in size in recent years with a disastrous move to London four years ago before returning to the NEC last year. Again numbers were down in the increasingly competitive and shrinking market of the print industry trade show. The Print Show has emerged as a rival brand with the backing of a growing list of exhibitors and was seen as the winner when the two shows went head to head last autumn.
“It’s a sad day for the industry,” comments Chris Davies the event director for this September’s Print Show, “as IPEX has a long and distinguished history as a shop window for the printing allied industries. Its heritage has tracked the development of printing throughout the Victorian era, through the glory days of the newspaper and publishing industries to today’s digital technology that is again transforming the evolving the business.”
Drupa in Germany has remained as the premier showcase for the industry and seemingly IPEX could not compete on that muscular level with its vast halls and thousands of visitors. Sign and Digital also at the NEC has also eaten into the IPEX market along with numerous open day and collaborative smaller scale events hosted by press manufacturer distributors.
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