The Big Debut – Cosmoprof India
As Cosmoprof India gears up to make its grand debut in the country, Beauty Launchpad sat down with Yogesh Mudras – Managing Director, UBM India to discuss the event’s mega offerings and expectations.
What can we expect from Cosmoprof India?
Last year, we held a 2-day preview edition with about 100 exhibitors and that was only a snippet of what is to come. Cosmoprof India 2019 is the very first edition of our event in the country and is being presented on a much larger scale. We have shifted the venue from a hotel property to Bombay Exhibition Centre to accommodate the 250+ exhibitors and about 1000 brands from 20 countries attending the 3-day event. We have also introduced a buyer program where exhibitors and buyers can pre-schedule B2B meetings with the help of online matchmaking software. The Cosmoprof Talks are also being revamped, along with several seminars, workshops, and live demos on offer. We will also be presenting Cosmo On Stage – a more focused live display of products by exhibitors. Cosmoprof Awards are making a debut at this edition, in collaboration with international trend agency Beautystreams and the international design agency centdegrés.
Could you tell us more about the Cosmoprof Awards?
Cosmoprof event in other parts of the world have their own set of awards and this one is India centric, where we recognize products and innovations from the Indian market. The award will be announced by evening on the first day of the show.
How will Cosmoprof India be different from other editions?
The format of the event remains the same. However, as this is a business platform for the benefit of Indian companies and brands, we aim to bring buyers from across the world – from the US, Europe, or Southeast Asia – to the Indian market.
Cosmoprof India 2019 Hosts Roadshows In Delhi & Mumbai
Any key learnings from last year’s Preview Edition?
We identified the various products that the Indian beauty industry is open to – and it is encouraging to see that they are open to a lot of innovative ideas. Herbal and natural products are continuing to be a big trend, but cold-rolled products which do not have heat inside them are also picking up.
How are you planning to attract your TG to the event – or is the name ‘Cosmoprof’ enough?
Of course not. There is a huge amount of marketing going on right now behind-the-scenes – not only in India but outside India as well, through our network offices. The show was superbly promoted at the recently conducted show in Bologna. We have also reached out to our target audience through various channels beyond direct marketing, like social media. We have held roadshows at Delhi and Mumbai too. In the preview edition itself, we had about 3800 footfalls – so, we are expecting around 7000 – 8000 for the upcoming three-day show.
What are your expectations in terms of visitors from abroad?
We are conducting a B2B show and wouldn’t want the end consumers to come in. There will be professionals and buyers coming from predominant markets in the region – maybe west Asia and Southeast Asia. Also, there will be a certain set of buyers coming from the western hemisphere.
What was the response from exhibitors like?
Quite good. For the preview edition itself, we had to shut down exhibitor registrations due to space restrictions. For the upcoming show as well, we shut down registrations as the exhibitor space was sold two months in advance. Close to 300 companies from across all segments of the beauty industry are participating. Earlier we focussed only on two verticals, but now apart from end products, we are also focused on raw materials, packaging, machinery etc to make it an end-to-end beauty show.
What do you think of the competition?
There will be competition and competitors – but what we are doing is unique and as long as we are able to offer that to the market, I am happy with it. We’ll just listen to what our customers say and keep building on that.
Are you focussed on shows only in Mumbai?
Yes, at the moment. Definitely, Mumbai is our focus market and in the near future, we’ll see which are the other markets we want to reach.
