It has been widely reported over the Christmas/New Year period that Xerox has, regrettably, published its decision not to exhibit at Ipex.  The reasons for the decision are outlined in an online statement by Jeff Jacobson, President of Xerox Global Graphic Communications. 

Naturally, this decision is a blow for Ipex. The findings of our own research - conducted by AMR International and to be published in the form of a white paper this month - indicate that there is still a real appetite from European PSPs to engage with multiple digital suppliers in the exhibition environment. 

Our research shows unequivocally that international visitors still consider landmark industry events such as Ipex to be the most effective means of researching and evaluating new products and suppliers, and to be on a par with supplier sales visits for making purchasing decisions. Respondents also say that finding new suppliers is their second biggest challenge after technical problem solving.

Our research affirms that 42% 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% of visitors saying they visit exhibitions for this purpose.

On this basis, we believe that an event such as Ipex has a significant role to play in the research, information gathering and buying process for printers, making it a vital sales, promotion and customer engagement platform for suppliers targeting these buyers.  We are confident that initiatives such as the Global Print Summit and hosted International Delegation Programme will further enhance Ipex’s thought leadership position among the buyer community.

Unfortunately, Xerox’s decision has pre-empted the publication of this research, which is fundamental to how Informa is shaping Ipex for 2014 and beyond. 

Based on this fresh market intelligence, Informa remains committed to delivering a successful, innovative event that meets the evolving business needs of the global print supply chain.

We will of course be sharing our research findings with all our stakeholders, and hope that these compelling insights may prompt some reconsideration.