A study by FAW and Posterselect claims packaging is not the only thing that has a decisive influence on shopping experience and one in every four consumers is motivated to buy by POP advertising.
First signs of economic recovery
Javier Marsa, president, organising committee, Hispack, told FoodProductionDaily, the industry is seeing the first signs of economic recovery and ‘packaging is a driving force behind innovation and recovery’.
Also, in spite of advertising messages reaching saturation levels, 85% of people admit to paying attention to POP.
“Packages and packaging machinery and accessories have the highest presence at the show followed by raw materials, packaging materials and labeling, coding and marking equipment,” he said.
“The latest research on the new shopper shows their shopping experiences and their emotions could multiply the effectiveness of packaging and POP, and, consequently, sales.
“Industry growth has been noted in the handling and logistics industries and the POP sector.”
Marsa added Hispack wants to attract buyers from foreign markets, mainly Europe, the Mediterranean and Latin America. Out of the 700 exhibitors, this year, 26% are foreign, representing 1,174 firms at the Gran Via Exhibition Centre in Barcelona.
BTA Food Technology Fair
To attract more foreign exports, the tradeshow partnered with BTA, (Barcelona Tecnologias de la Alimentacion), a food technology fair, and organized a Hosted Buyers Programme, a brokerage event, as well as promoting business meetings, networking sessions and speaker events covering four themes; Trend Pack, Premium Pack, RetailArea and Pack&logisticCorner.
For the first time, it also set up a financial advisory service with PIMEC, the Catalan small and medium-sized enterprises and self-employed workers association.
“The Spanish packaging industry is made up of 1,927 companies, which employ 61,467 workers,” added Marsa.
“Turnover in 2013 exceeded €18m, 6.7% higher than in 2010, according to the last sector report made by Hispack.”
It is the third time BTA has partnered with Hispack on a joint trade event with direct promotional activities carried out by AMEC (Spanish multi-sector business association).
Hispack and BTA invited 70 international executives with plans to buy equipment, machinery and technology for the food processing and packaging industry and scheduled pre-arranged meetings with exhibitor companies.
The tradeshow also organized reverse ‘trade missions’ with delegations from India, Malaysia, Ghana, Angola and the Gulf States.