DUPLO ANNOUNCE MOST SUCCESSFUL SHOW EVER
02 Jun 2010
Duplo International have announced IPEX 2010 as their most successful exhibition on record.
The print finishing manufacturer announced sales of over £2 million taken during the show, which included their biggest ever single UK deal to Synergie worth over £570,000. Duplo have also announced that a record 2,000 visitors came to their stand which they hope will open up new opportunities to push their sales from IPEX to 'up to near £5 million within the next 12 months'.
The show was the UK launch for their new fully automated saddle stitcher, The Alpha Saddle, of which five were sold, the first to M & H Printers in Walsall.
Tony Lock , Managing Director Duplo UK explains his delight at Duplo's success;
"To be honest, we were absolutely staggered with the success of IPEX 2010 for Duplo. I don't think we were the only exhibitor with their fingers crossed at quarter to ten on the first day not knowing what to expect."
Lock continues "we sold absolutely everything from our stand but what pleased me most was the genuine interest across all products on our stand. After the second day we had to send for more staff to help us man our booth."
Duplo's theme for the eight days was Automated Precision, with the promise that all machines in their portfolio come 'with 60 seconds or less set-up time and precise finishing giving a quality finished product'. Also, for the first time Duplo had onsite finance company Print Finance as residents on their stand, to help close the many deals that were happening daily.
Whilst the tangible sales taken during the show were clearly the main highlight for the Esher-based company, Lock explains there were many other factors adding to the success;
"We also made significant progress with our digital vendor partners by having a huge presence on their and making noteworthy sales, such as the DC-645 with DIFS sale to Oxuniprint via Canon. As well as this we had the announcement of our new relationship with Ricoh Europe, our new In-line Alpha Saddle with HP Indigo plus the announcement of the UK distributorship of Fujipla laminators. In addition we had some fantastic synergy amongst our Finishing Alliance partners, with some large sales with Renz equipment and some great onsite sales activity with Friedheim, combining our kit with their products to create total finishing package solutions. There were so many positives to report."
"Overall, what really pleased us was the shift toward finishing in the industry. No longer are we seen as the baby brother of the industry, I think IPEX 2010 will be remembered as the show where finishing came to the fore in the print industry."
Duplo also championed the use of Quick Response barcodes on their stand, something that Peter Jolly, Marketing Manager Duplo UK comments was a huge success:
"Not only were we physically attaining over 2,000 leads via demonstrations on our stand, in the background we were achieving over 50 leads a day via our QR codes with people registering for our prize draw. We really wanted printers to realise that with the use of QR, print can really work in tandem with the internet – or 'Print to Web' as we are terming it. The use of QR proved really popular and a real talking point."
However, as Jolly concludes, it was not only the amount of traffic on the stand that was the real shock for Duplo;
"Tony has been Managing Director for just 9 months, but in that time he has created real positivity amongst our staff and to ensure total staff focus at IPEX, he introduced a 'Warrior Monk' regime; alcohol intake was kept to a bare minimum and 6.30am gym and running sessions took place every morning. I think it made a massive difference to our outstanding performance at the show."
"I woke up on the first morning and was rubbing my eyes with disbelief, at the sight of seeing our entire sales staff running around our hotel golf course looking fresh faced and raring to go!"
Contact: Peter Jolly
UK Marketing Manager
Telephone: +44(0) 1372 468 131
Direct: +44(0) 1372 478 279
Email: pjolly@duplointernational.com
Download: DUPLO ANNOUNCE MOST SUCCESSFUL SHOW EVER.pdf
Images: duplos warrier monks.zip
