The successful Graphics, Print and Sign Cape Town Expo, which took place from 3-4 May, attracted 1204 visitors from the Western Cape and outlying areas such as Villiersdorp, Wellington, Langebaan, Hermanus, Gordon’s Bay, Somerset West, Stellenbosch, Malmesbury, Worcester, Swellendam, Observatory, Gqeberha, Nigel, Durban, Johannesburg, Mauritius, Windhoek, Botswana and Zimbabwe, to name a few.

Visitors were inspired by the latest technologies and trends in printing, branding, T-shirt printing, vehicle graphics, direct to film and garment solutions, laser engraving, digital label printing and other cutting edge technology.

Exhibitor feedback was positive:

‘We had a good expo, and got good leads. There were a lot of clients we didn’t know, and a lot of interest in our flatbeds, a lot of interest and sales of the Ruijie router and dye sublimation solutions. We had specific people who came to see us from Namibia, and we had two clients from Johannesburg who came to see us, but most of the walk-ins were from Cape Town,’ Eckhardt Kröhnert, Fortune South Africa. 

‘We had a whole array of new leads from new businesses that enquired about our products (at this expo). A lot of visitors were interested in new innovation and different vinyls and substrates, as well as new machinery – a lot of interest was shown for Latex products. A lot of people came from Gqeberha, George and Knysna. We also had a few clients from Mossel Bay and Windhoek,’ said Derek Cannell, Midcomp.

‘The leads were quite good. We had people from Namibia, as well as customers from Worcester, George, Knysna and the Eastern Cape. There was a lot of potential new business, it was really good – better than what we imagined,’ said Pierre Moller, Maizey Plastics.

‘We had a very good turnout this time in Cape Town. We were very happy with the leads we got, especially on the second day. The quality of leads that we got were solid, they were customers that we didn’t know about that came to visit the show, which was really great for us to see that there is still some interest in the market. The market is still growing, there are still some new users coming into the market, which is exciting for us, and just shows that you have to actually be at the expo to meet those people. It was awesome, we will definitely be back next year and we’re looking forward to meeting up with the customers afterwards,’ said Illze Bester, Kolok.

‘The Cape Town expo was fantastic. We had some good interest all over the board, including interest from Mauritius and Gqeberha, even some people from Johannesburg, surprisingly. All in all it was brilliant. What really captured the visitors was the 3D printing, the neon flex and the hologram fan, but then we got other people who were also interested in the LEDs, so it was good,’ said Bevan Geduldt, Exion Corp.

‘The show has been very interesting for us this year and we definitely saw a return to (normal) attendance levels. We also had many new customers coming from different industries, unlike the usual traditional print, signage or textile side. We also had a lot of customers that came from neighbouring countries such as Zimbabwe, Zambia, Namibia and even some far away cities that we have outside the Western Cape seem to have come through to Cape Town. Being a one stop solution provider, we find that we were introducing technology all the way from the DTF textile branding solutions all the way up to the very large 3.2m flatbeds, 3.2m roll-to-rolls and also all our complementary finishing equipment. This definitely created a lot of interest and there were a lot of people wanting to diversify from traditional printing on rolls. The show has been a success for us and we believe that the outcome of the show will really be proved in the next couple of days,’ said Rob Franco, Graphix Supply World.

The quality of leads was very pleasing. Customers knew what they wanted. Customers are looking for DTF, they know it’s new on the market, so that was excellent for us. There were more people who knew what they wanted and what they were looking for,’ said Mustapha Jacobs, Rexx Screen & Digital Supplies.

‘The Cape Town show has been a very impressive one for Intamarket. We had a lot of leads. We sold 3 or 4 machines and had a lot of enquiries outside of Cape Town like Kenya and also Botswana. So we’re happy, we met the people in Cape Town, they got to meet us, and it has been a wonderful show to be a part of,’ said Richard Bell, Intamarket.

Judges visited each stand at the expo and judged the stands according to criteria based on design, staff friendliness and professionalism. The results are as follows:

Sign Africa Small Shell Scheme

Winner: Mr Plastic.
Tie Second: Project Rhino and Rexx Screen & Digital Supplies.

Sign Africa Small Floor Space

Winner: Trodat.
Second: Exion Corp.

Sign Africa Medium Shell Scheme

Winner: Chemosol.
Second: NSDS.

Sign Africa Medium Floor Space

Winner: Media Frenzy.
Second: Curv.

Sign Africa Large Floor Space

Winner: Maizey Plastics.
Second: Allrich Trading.

Sign Africa Mega Floor Space

Winner: Roland Speedwrap.
Second: Crafftronic.

Africa Print Small Shell Scheme

Winner: PitchPrint.
Second: Biz-In-Box.

Africa Print Medium Shell Scheme

Winner: Midcomp.

Africa Print Medium Floor Space

Winner: Clear Solutions.
Second: Fujifilm South Africa.

Africa Print Mega Floor Space

Winner: Graphix Supply World.
Second: Fortune South Africa.

Be sure to add the Johannesburg expo date to your 2023 calendar: Johannesburg, 13-15 September 2023, Gallagher Convention Centre.

GRAPHICS PRINT AND SIGN EXPO
+27 11 568 1894
https://graphicsprintsign.com/