The Ipex print trade show is dead, with owners Informa closing the UK based event some 137 years after it first opened its doors to become the original print trade show.
Held once every four years and alternating with drupa on a two year schedule Ipex was always popular with Australian printers, who attended in large numbers.
Its last successful show was in 2010, when it attracted 50,000 visitors and 1000 exhibitors. However the 2014 event was a disaster, when Heidelberg suddenly pulled out citing high costs and low ROI in the post GFC era, with almost all other major exhibitors following suit. The slimmed down show did go ahead, but to add to the owners misery they made a poor decision to switch locations from the popular NEC in Birmingham to a hall in east London, which proved inaccessible and expensive to visit.
Rival drupa then tried to kill off the show completely as an international event by moving its own show, the world’s biggest, to a three year cycle, leaving little to no room for an Ipex. However drupa’s three year plan was halted by its major exhibitors who told the organisers they would only attend every four years.
By then though Ipex had stepped into a three year cycle, which is why it held a show last September, but that attracted almost no international exhibitors.
In the end drupa’s move was not necessary, the changing print industry landscape with slim margins for developers and instant communication over the internet meant the big exhibitors judged there is now only room for one major international show, drupa. Japanese event Igas and Print in Chicago – both also held every four years – try to attract international guests, although Print is a shadow of its former self.
Niche trade shows are proving more successful; wide format event Fespa, label show Labelexpo, and digital expo Hunkeler InnovationDays are growing year by year, as are the multitude of single company events run by the likes of Heidelberg, Oce and HP.
Informa has been talking with potential Ipex exhibitors for the past six months, who have given the show the thumbs down. Ipex event director Rob Fisher said: “Through Ipex, we are 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.
“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.”
Informa bought Ipex in 2006 in a $20m deal and only had one successful show for its money. In its day Ipex was a highlight of the global print business, and a crucial event for printers of any size to attend. It saw many key technology launches, most famously in 1993 when Indigo and Xeikon, both of whom were then completely unknown businesses, launched digital printing onto the global stage.
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