10 Essential Reasons Why ProSweets Continues to Be a Guiding Voice in the World of Sweets & Snacks
In the grand history of trade fairs, ProSweets is certainly not the longest running with a debut held in 2006, but nevertheless exerts great influence in trends across the sweets and snacks industry as a whole. The international trade fair is a dual event held alongside ISM in Cologne, Germany and examines opportunities and advancements along the whole processing chain for the confectionary industry. The two events together create wonderful synergy, which make them quite appealing for major and minor brands looking to advance their business.
Every single year, ProSweets welcomes household names recognised around the whole world to Koelnmesse to showcase new products, flavours and solutions. What makes ProSweets a global event? The presence of heavy hitters like Mondelez, Nestlé, Ferrero, Perfetti van Melle, Haribo, Alfred Ritter and Mars Wrigley Confectionary. It’s enough to make a child cry in delight and more than enough reason to convince buyers to make it their go-to stop for any and all orders. A quick look at the numbers show you the full potential of ProSweets as a procurement platform.
The pandemic most certainly had a transformative effect on the event industry and this trade fair was not spared. The audience shrank to about 6000 trade visitors and over 200 exhibitors, which are still impressive and showcase how eager the audience is to establish professional contacts. The participation of 60 countries signals the overseas interest and how much ProSweets will grow later when most restrictions on travel and events have been lifted. Organisers see much interest in the 2023 edition already. The main reason for attendance is, of course, the chance to establish contact with potential new buyers and reconnect with previous clients.
Do business at the highest possible level and quality due to the sheer wealth of products. There’s everything one might need. The exhibition halls are populated by raw materials and ingredients like spices and food additives; finished products like snacks, frozen food and drinks; and a lot of technology and machinery. Think about packaging materials and packaging machines, food safety and quality management, refrigeration and air-conditioning technology, automation and robots.
Each edition presents exhibitors with ample opportunities to put their best foot forward and launch something new. Trade visitors are after the latest hot thing. It’s not a secret that exhibitors try to perfectly time their product releases with ProSweets so they have built-in promotion and a direct feedback line from trade visitors. That’s certainly the best way to not just move new product quickly, but also understand consumer tastes at the moment.
As we’ve mentioned, there’s so much available on display that it can get a little bit overwhelming. Organisers recognise this and have created internal structure in the presence of special zones that look towards the wide, bright future ahead. The Future Lab area is perhaps the best example. At the Ingredients Event Zone, visitors discover the full breadth of natural ingredients and solutions for reformulated products. Then there’s the special area dedicated to individualised products that happen to be one of the most important industry trends in recent years. It’s where you can see just how end consumer taste has changed.
ProSweets continuously evolves to meet industry needs. A recent example of this is the inclusion of a brand new event as part of the trade fair. ‘#CONNECT2030 - The Future Summit for Sweets and Snacks - in transition’ has earned great reviews on its debut and quickly picks up more steam. The reason for this eager embrace? The topics that are discussed at the summit. ‘#CONNECT2030 investigates the impact of climate change and the pandemic on the sweets and snacks industry. The whole professional community speaks about resource conservation, CO2 reduction and the obstacles connected with the harvesting of raw materials. If you’re unable to attend in person, that’s quite alright since all lectures will be made available on demand.
That’s not all you can enjoy online. Organisers recognise travel can’t continue as it once did and many trade visitors won’t be able to appear in person. To that end, the digital @home platform for both ISM & ProSweets assists those exhibitors and buyers who can’t make the trip still get a good chance to do business. The most obvious application of the platform is to stream the information content being showcased – presentations, keynote speeches, lectures and discussions. You won’t miss a single iota of information, even if you’re not there. Plus, the digital platform is another way to raise your profile as an exhibitor. Enjoy added visibility by registering your brand and products so you can pull in targeted sales leads passively.
No matter how you’re able to engage with ProSweets, you discover ways to turn your presence in qualified sales leads.
