The company was set to be a major exhibitor, but Jeff Jacobson, president of Xerox Global Graphic Communications, has revealed his blog that the company has ‘decided not to participate in Ipex 2014’.

Jacobson on his blog says, ‘In times of change and transformation, one is given the unique opportunity to look at things differently – to step out of the comfort zone and take a different look at how things get done.’ He went on to say that the organisation was ‘re-evaluating how best to reach customers and prospects’. Customers want to ‘connect with us in different ways, with regional and personal engagements’.

He says this new mode of interaction includes social media such as Twitter, Facebook and blogs, the Xerox Premier Partners Network, virtual trade shows, and webinars.

Asked whether this meant Xerox would not be participating at further international shows, Jacobson responded: ‘We’re dedicating our resources to more global targeted customer facing events. That being said, there are international trade shows, such as Hunkeler, which we will attend due to its continuous feed focus – an important offering to our customers and the industry. It is also our intent, at the current time, to participate in drupa.’

Ipex says it will be releasing independent research next month highlighting the value of the show to printers, and which it hopes will persuade Xerox and the other three to reconsider their decision to pull out.

According to Ipex the research affirms that 42 per cent of printer visitors attend Ipex to evaluate the newest ready-to-buy innovations. Exhibitions also score significantly higher than any other platform for peer to peer networking, with 30 per cent of visitors saying they visit exhibitions for this purpose.

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