At time of publication of these lines, we do not have the details about visitor numbers of the last edition of Cosmoprof Asia, which was held from the 9th to the 11th of November 2011 in Hong-Kong, but we know already that the organizers have reached their first goal: to fill all the halls of the Hong-Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Record figures

Cosmoprof Asia hosted this year 1,780 exhibitors, up 9% compared to the previous years, occupying a total of 68,000 sqm, up 18% on 2010. Among these exhibitors coming from 42 countries, the show welcomed 477 new comers.

23 country and group pavilions took part in the event: Australia, Belgium, Mainland China, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Poland, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, UK and USA, with Jordan, Pakistan and Turkey as first-timers.

With such a record participation, the organizers of Cosmoprof Asia have succeeded in fulfilling the two halls that were still available last year. They also approach the objective which they have announced for one year: to become the world’s first trade show of the beauty industry, before Cosmoprof Worldwide, which is held in Bologna, Italy. A concern however, that space becomes scarcely available, and the risk of not being able to answer all the demands during the next years.

A regional event

What are the reasons for this success? Unquestionably, the dynamism of most markets in the Asia Pacific region has played a key role in the impressive development of Cosmoprof Asia. In addition, the organizers have cleverly uses the attractiveness of Hong Kong to open the show to open the all the area, so as not positioning as a Chinese only event. As a result, exhibitors as visitors come from around the world, of course primarily from the neighbouring Asian countries, such as Korea, Indonesia, Japan, or Thailand, but also from the Middle East and Europe. It thus possible to observe on the show floor a surprising number of visitors from Central and Eastern Europe or Russia.

As the access to mainland China’s markets still remain highly complex for most exporters, this regional opening is unmistakably an enormous asset.

Should we also consider the quality of the organization, it is not surprising that we hardly met any deceived exhibitor, even if some of them recognized that the Asian markets were becoming more and more demanding and that this show, as the others, needed to be carefully prepared. In particular as competitors from Asia are proposing an increasingly higher level of offer.

The next edition of Cosmoprof Asia will be held from 14 to 16 November 2012.