The Graphics, Print and Sign expo, held last week at Gallagher Convention Centre, attracted 4028 visitors in total. The event was sponsored by Platinum sponsors Roland DG South Africa and Stixo Signage Supplies.

Visitors could see new products and business opportunities in the world of graphics, signage, digital printing, branding, T-shirt printing, mug printing, vehicle graphics, laser engraving, binding equipment, digital packaging solutions, wide format printing and more.

Exhibitors had positive feedback about the event:

‘It was good, and there were also a lot of good potential clients. We sold a printer on the first day, in the first few hours. There was a very good turnaround in terms of visitors, and we’re very happy with that,’ said Jordan Steinbach, UPrint.

‘The show was very productive. We managed to interact with a lot of our old customers and also with new customers, so we’re hoping for good business. Generally, it was a very good show for us,’ said Tebogo Pholoholo, JG Electronics.

‘It was excellent and it was a success. We had some great leads and great people coming out, and it was fun. We had a blast,’ said Monique Botha, Transfin.

‘It was fantastic. We had fun and had a lot of customers – we’re probably going to get a lot of customers after the show as well,’ said Richard Chilemba, T-Shirts South Africa/China Direct.

‘It was very successful, one of our better shows in many, many years,’ said Greg Eales, Red Hot Media.

‘It was good. I think next year we are going to book a big stand,’ said Leo Chen, Inkstyle Supplies.

‘It was amazing, with the the foot traffic through the door and the quality of leads. We had a really good show – fantastic. We look forward to next year,’ said Ron Van Breda, Sign-Tronic.

‘It was a great three days for us. We had the opportunity to meet our cross-border customers. We also had an opportunity to showcase some of our new products, which was good, as well as meeting customers face-to-face,’ said Thomas Smith, Falcon SA.

‘There was a lot of interest. We launched our new machines and got to show it to South Africa,’ said Gabriel Naidoo, Fujifilm Graphic Communication South Africa.

‘Generally the quality of leads we had were quite good, and the numbers at times were very, very good. We were happy with the response,’ said Kurt Tyack, Signarama.

‘The show went really well. We got to see a lot of new customers, and we had a lot of new interest in our products. The calibre of the customers that came through to the show was really of top quality, there were some big customers that came around. People were very excited to be able to come visit the show again, so it went well and we were happy with the turnout,’ said Illze Bester, Kolok.

‘It was excellent, much better than we expected. There were a lot of new players in the market that haven’t been here before, so for us it was great exposure and I think it’s one of the best shows that we have attended in the last two years,’ said Charmaine Poulter, Woodline Shade Solutions.

‘It was a great opportunity for us to reconnect with the South African market. We increased our brand awareness, which we’ve sorely needed for the past few years, and we’re happy with the foot traffic. We will be back, and we look forward to future events,’ said Martine Goodchild, NUtec Digital Ink.

‘The show was encouraging, motivating and gave us much more exposure,’ said Tony Arriah, Stixo Signage Supplies.

‘It was an amazing expo, and fantastic to see so many people from our neighbouring countries that expressed interest in our products. We sold machines off the stand too,’ said Alex Bezuidenhout, Alto Tatto.

‘This was the first time we exhibited at this expo and it exceeded our expectations by far. We were very impressed with the visitors we met from across our borders too,’ said Keith Matthews, Headwear 24.

It was a very good show for us, with good reception on our new machines. We met a lot of new people. It was extremely worth our while,’ said Josh Carstens, MIPS Technologies.

‘The show was absolutely fantastic, with a good calibre of people and people that wanted to buy. We sold machines,’ said Graham Roy, Graficomp.

‘We had a fantastic show, with many enquiries from visitors from all over the country. The expo exceeded our expectations by far,’ said Nardus Mouton, Gencotech.

‘Midcomp enjoyed the opportunity and ability to display who we are and what we do. Engaging with customers without masks and being able to shake hands and give hugs was a welcome change. We took quality leads and the conversations we had were meaningful – it was definitely quality over quantity. We officially launched our exciting PPUGRO programme at the show, and a good percentage of interest shown and business concluded was based on this programme. We also had the opportunity to preview an exciting, yet to be internationally launched, HP Latex printer. The response was more than we had hoped for. We look forward to future opportunities to exhibit,’ said Angelique Greer, Midcomp.

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:

Large floor space

First: Titan-Jet.
Second: Speedwrap.
Third: NUtec Digital Ink.

Medium floor space

First: Roehm Africa.
Tie second: Kolok, Media Frenzy and Red Hot Media.
Third: Mutoh.

Medium shell scheme

First: Inkstyle Supplies.
Second: Rexx Screen and Digital Supplies.
Third: Kemtek Imaging Systems.

Mega floor space:

First: Stixo Signage Supplies.
Second: Graphix Supply World.
Third: Midcomp.

Small floor space:

First: 3A Composites.
Second: Gawk.
Third: Woodline Shade Solutions.

Small shell scheme: 

First: STS Inks.
Second: Riso.
Third: UPrint Digital Direct.

The Graphics Print and Sign Expo and Printing SA Awards were handed out at the exhibitor function held on 15 September. Winners include:

Most innovative product: Curv Signage systems and Maxlaser Laser Art Competition.
Most sustainable product: Gawk.

GRAPHICS, PRINT AND SIGN
https://graphicsprintsign.com/