Channels Exhibitions draw record numbers

Private Label concentrates on the fast-growing market for contract manufacturing, while Gifts & Premiums focuses on the equally buoyant demand for corporate giveaways and premium merchandise.

Both have attracted record numbers of participants. Private Label will have almost 90 exhibitors from 20 countries with national pavilions for Germany and Turkey, while Gifts & Premiums has drawn close to 80 stands from 14 countries.

Both shows run for three days until September 19. Private Label will open at 11:00am on Sunday after the official inauguration and Gifts & Premiums at 11:30am. Thereafter, daily opening time will be 11am-8pm for Gifts & Premiums and 11-7pm for Private Label.

"Private Label is the region's only event dedicated to private label and contract manufacturing," said Justin Boutros, managing director of organizers Channels Exhibitions.

"The main focus is on food and beverage, health and beauty, stationery, and paper and plastic products. With the rapid expansion of supermarket and hypermarket space across the region - and the accompanying proliferation of store brands - private label producers can't afford to ignore the opportunities on offer."

Contract manufacturing is showing sales growth at double the rate of branded counterparts and now accounts for 17 per cent of goods sold. The soaring growth also reflects increasing consumer acceptance of private labels.
For shoppers, generic offerings have evolved to become almost equivalent in quality and closer in pricing to proprietary brands.
The Gifts & Premiums show reflects the unprecedented demand for corporate merchandise in a region where exchanging gifts is already integral to everyday commercial life.

About 5,000 visitors from more than 50 countries will see a vast diversity of goods ranging from fashion jewelry and hand-crafted crystal to high-quality corporate gifts and stationery, up-market trophies, pens, and watches, as well as novelty giftware and products for festive occasions. Exhibitors from the Philippines are particularly well represented.

Dubai's re-export trade is estimated at about $15 billion a year, and growing by about 25 per cent annually.

"In the context of that market value, the potential business to be derived from both exhibitions is enormous," says Boutros.

"That's why we are seeing such an upsurge of demand from neighboring countries, with customers choosing to use the events to save the time and effort needed to locate the right product and negotiate overseas deals across long distances."