The organisers of Sign & Digital UK 2013 have announced that 5,677 unique visitors (awaiting audit) attended the event. The show was a huge success with exhibitors reporting brisk sales across the three days. Onsite stand sales for the 2014 show increased by 44% as exhibitors rushed to secure the best positions for next year’s event.

The exhibition was a platform for many new UK and European wide format print and imaging product launches from companies such as Roland DG, Hybrid Services/Mimaki, Epson, Mutoh, MTEX, DYSS and Zund.

The free educational programme, both on-stand and show-organised, was well received with sessions covering a huge range of topics including vehicle wrapping, dye-sub printing, routing, Adobe and Corel software and colour management. The New Business Theatre was also extremely well attended, with some sessions left with standing room only. Sessions covered included Marketing, PR, Business Development, Digital Signage, Direct to Garment printing and Social Media.

For the second year running, there was a great twitter vibe at the show under the hashtag #SDUK. Visitors and exhibitors alike were tweeting about their experiences at the show.

Exhibitors also reported higher sales and enquiries.  Brett Newman, technical director at Roland DG, commented, “The show was a real success for Roland again this year. This exhibition is a key component of our annual calendar and once again it’s lived up to our high expectations.”

Hybrid Services' marketing manager Duncan Jefferies, added, “The 2013 edition of Sign & Digital UK was a very strong show for Hybrid Services Ltd. There was a vibrancy to the event and visitors were keen to engage – seeking out new application ideas and revenue streams as well as investing in technology. Our resellers enjoyed strong sales and as a platform to launch three very important Mimaki printers to the UK and Irish market, it proved highly effective. “

Adrian Painter, director of Stanford Marsh - exhibiting as Stanford Marsh Group Graphics (SMGG) - continued, "This was the second year that we have exhibited at the event, following our more dedicated focus into the graphics sector.  It proved to be a great success for us.  Our stand was exceptionally busy, with many people coming to see the 3D printer from Stratasys/Objet on our stand and the pre-production prototype of Xerox's upcoming high speed wide format production printer for the graphics/signage market.  We also sold a significant number of printers off-stand under our 0% finance deal."

Stewart Bell, managing director of Digital Print Innovations Ltd (DPI), stated, “For DPI, the one factor that really stuck in our minds this year was the quality of visitors to the show.  We had huge interest in the Direct to Textile Solutions and Dye Sub Transfer Solutions we were showing, we believe that the build up to the show created the expectation and that gave us the vehicle to deliver our solutions to the visitors with our aim being to de-mystify the Soft Signage Solution.  As DPI we have already signed up for 2014 and look forward to an even larger stand next year.”

Perfect Colours boasted strong sales of its Hewlett Packard Z6200 series and HP Latex L26500 and L28500 printers as well as lots of interest in the newly launched Omega 2 Flatbed from Durst. Jason Burroughs MD of Perfect Colours concludes, “The show seemed to be well attended and we had plenty of visitors to our stand, which lead to strong sales on the traditional Hewlett Packard signage products.  There was also a lot of interest in the new Omega 2 by Durst and this allowed us as a business to connect in a different way with both current and new customers. Our goal for the show was to sell solutions, but also to meet with Print Providers and understand their current challenges and how we can adapt our offering to save them time and money. On both counts our goal was achieved helped in part by the great variety of attendees from a diverse group of industries.”

Next year's Sign & Digital UK will be held at Birmingham NEC Hall 2 between 30th April to 2nd May 2014.

[Photo shows busy halls at Sign UK with Stanford Marsh Group Graphics' Steve Guest at the centre of the action (wearing white shirt)]