Global Pet Expo 2017
Global Pet Expo, presented by the American Pet Products Association and Pet Industry Distributors Association, is one of the largest pet product trade shows in the U.S. The 2017 edition promises to be the largest to date with new opportunities for international exhibitors.
Record numbers
Event organisers report that as this industry continues to grow and thrive, so does its largest annual tradeshow. In fact, as the pet industry keeps up the trend of outpacing most other retail segments – projected U.S. spending in 2016 is expected to surpass $62 billion (€56 billion) – Global Pet Expo 2016 also reported record numbers.
The 2016 edition boasted more than 320,000 net square feet of exhibit space, which was nearly 10,000 feet larger than the 2015 show. The last edition of the Global Pet Expo featured 6,170 buyers in attendance, more than 3,000 new pet product launches, 1,087 exhibitors and 3,218 booths sold. Overall attendance totalled 15,478 people. As for the global impact at the 2016 show, 21% of exhibitors were international, making up 233 of the 1,087 exhibitors. An impressive 24% of buyers were from outside of the U.S., coming from 76 countries The 2017 edition will offer some new, exciting options for international exhibitors.
Country branding
In 2017, the event organisers announce the debut of country-specific pavilions. This new model will replace the international pavilion, where multiple countries exhibited together in one space. Country delegations can now showcase their companies and products more uniquely, using country branding and support to highlight their exhibition strategies and showcase. In this way they could also show their unique characteristics and traits of their companies and product lines. Attendees will see a more focused approach to each country’s presentation, which will allow them to keenly discern the exhibitors and products of interest.
Pavilions from Great Britain, Canada, China and Italy will be featured with overall booth space projected to be 25% larger than the pavilion in 2016. The addition of these pavilions further reinforces Global Pet Expo’s continued commitment to being one of the premier annual trading and networking venue for the pet industry worldwide. Event officials expect more than 100 additional international exhibitors to have a presence in the special sections and general show floor where they will be featuring products that address international trends and global business strategies.
The 2017 Show is set to take place March 22-24 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Fla.