Despite the fall, most exhibitors are reporting brisk business and are sealing deals with serious customers who are at the show to buy.
Speaking at the mid-point, Drupa 2012 president and Heidelberg chairman and chief executive Bernhard Schreier said: “To be honest, before coming here to Drupa I didn’t know what to expect.
“Yes, it’s not such a big crowd, but all the decision-makers are here, which is very important for exhibitors.
“We are having exciting discussions with customers – exciting and forward-looking. People are not pessimistic and they are not hesitating. They are looking to the future,” he added.
Schreier said Germany and – surprisingly – China were currently sharing top spot in terms of incoming order volumes. Visitors have journeyed to the show from 115 countries thus far.
HP, Goss International, Xerox, Kodak, and Canon have been among the major exhibitors reported strong sales in the first week.
Simon Lane, national manager of Graphic Communications at Fuji Xerox Australia, said interest from local customers had been very strong. “I was really impressed by the sheer number of Australian customers coming onto the Xerox stand – our sales guys have been pretty much flat out.”
He told ProPrint that he was heartened by the lack of “tyre kickers”.
“The show feels like decision makers are there, ready to make decisions about the future of their business. In general, in the past three months, customers have made the decision to invest after a very slow previous 12 months,” said Lane.
And first-time Drupa exhibitor Nikolai Ladanyi, founder and chief executive of publishing app PadPublisher, said he was “overwhelmed” at the authentic interest of visitors.
“We are meeting high-quality people and gaining qualified contacts. It’s so busy we doubled our team here from two to four to cope – I came with 300 business cards and have had to reprint three times.”
This article originally appeared at printweek.com
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