The International Manufacturers and Distributors Forum is returning to ExCeL London, taking place at Professional Beauty London on 3-4 March 2024. The IMF is a unique global gathering that brings together like-minded individuals willing to share experiences and discuss the challenges that brands are facing in today’s market.
Meet the speakers and discover the key learnings that wil be discussed in each panel.
Sunday 3 March
10:30 - Brand Stories: Overcoming setbacks and failures to achieving success
11:15 - Producing Your Own Brand: Strategies to master formulation, packaging and production
12:00 - The Price is Right: Pricing your products for success, not long-term failure
13:00 - Lunch and Networking
15:00 - How do professional brands execute a successful multi-channel strategy?
15:45 - Finding and developing a great brand-distributor relationship in today's environment
Monday 4 March
10:30 - Wholesalers: Where do they fit in your channel partner strategy?
11:15 - Launching Into New Markets: "I want to be a global brand! Get me out of here!"
12:00 - Customer Centricity: How brands and distributors can excel at delivering excellent customer service to spa and salon customers
12:45 - Lunch and Networking
14:45 - Education: The role of brands in skilling up the community
15:30 - Practical Sustsainability: How do brands and distributors adopt the sustainability path and achieve commercial viability?
What to expect from each panel
Brand Stories - This panel is about sharing experiences and “war stories” from brand owners and distributors who have spent years building their businesses from scratch in this industry. It's a unique opportunity for the delegates to interact with brand owners and distributors who seem to have made success look easy; but only they know the hurdles and challenges they had to overcome to ensure their businesses not just survived but thrived.
Join Global President & Co-Founder of Elemis - Noella Gabriel, Founder & Managing Director of Slow Ageing - David Lieber, and Founder of Ex1 Cosmetics - Farah Naz on Sunday 3rd March at 10:30am
Producing Your Own Brand - In this panel discuss how you go about building your product from scratch before you even get into the pricing, distribution and sales export mindset. Our panellists will dissect the case for building in-house vs outsourcing to a third party manufacturer; define the starting steps and building blocks of developing a product from scratch; how to navigate the new world of ethically mindful customers; how to remain regulatory compliant; how to choose a manufacturing partner and what essentially are the business ingredients to making your own product.
Join CEO of Beauty Bridge Labs - Chris Dodge, Director of Eve Taylor - Chris Taylor, and Founder of Rhea Cosmetics - Gianmarco Alfonso on Sunday 3rd March at 11:15
The Price is Right - A strong pricing strategy helps your brand to expand overseas or move into a multi-channel distribution model. Have you got the price right for the long term? In this panel learn what goes into building the right pricing model across various sales channels, how to price exports, as well as examples of how the wrong pricing strategy can damage a business’s growth plans and future.
Join the disucssion between industry experts, Mark Woolley - Founder of Electric Hair, Corinne Barbereau - Founder of MBW Expertise, and Pierre-Louis Delapalme - Co-President of Biologique Recherche on Sunday 3rd March at 12:00
Multi-Channel Strategy - Explore the question ‘How do professional brands execute a successful multi-channel strategy?’. This topic is increasingly a challenge for “professional” brands as the temptation to scale and see the bigger piece of the iceberg hits them even harder. And covid didn’t make this any easier as brands, distributors and salons battled for survival and looked to sell products anyhow they saw that a strong retail component was an important part of a professional brands strategy. But lines are getting blurred and we have seen in recent years many professional brands adopt the non-traditional channels of expansion, such as e-commerce and high street stores. This panel deals with that conundrum that professional brands have when they go multi-channel and how to manage that expansion without alienating their professional customers.
Listen to Founder of M4 Trinity - Michael Schummert, Managing Director of Care Cosmetics - Duco van Keimpema, and COO of Madi International - Rabih Madi on Sunday 3rd March at 3:00
Brand-Distributor Relationship - This panel is the crux of the IMF: the brand and distributor relationship. From what used to be a one-sided relationship, where brands were the dominant player in the relationship, to today where there is a more nuanced and balanced relationship that has good importers and distributors as important as the brands they partner with for their territories. Discover how and where you find the right distributor partner for your business. Unlock valuable strategies for cultivating successful brand-distributor relationships, pinpointing the key to building successful partnerships, and selecting ideal growth partners.
Josko Deletis - Business Director for Middle West, Africa and South Asia at Asclepion Laser Technologies, Colleen Martorano - VP of Global Professional Distribution at Amika, and Ankit Virmani - Director of Esskay Group on Sunday 3rd March at 3:45
Wholesalers - Explore the topic of ‘Wholesalers: where do they fit in your channel partner strategy?’. Here our panellists will discuss a key, but at times overlooked, part of the distribution strategy for brands: the role of wholesalers and how relevant they still are in the brand distribution model. During this session, our panel of industry experts will share insights on how brands should interact with wholesalers and highlight the distinctions between the roles of wholesalers and distributors in the overall brand distribution strategy.
Come and listen to Katie Steeden, National Store Manager at Alan Howard, Paul Bulman, Founder and CEO of PTB Consult, and Minna Laakkonen, Managing Director of Norris Cosmetics on Monday 4th March at 10:30
Launching Into New Markets - Participate in the panel discussion as the panellists share the key points that brands should understand when thinking of expanding internationally. Learn how to identify which markets to launch into first and where to go from there, the right distributor and sales strategy for each market, and the most common mistakes when brands decide to go overseas.
Listen to insights from Edouard Falguières - International Franchise Director of Guinot Mary Cohr, Fernando Duarte - International Sales Director of KLAPP Cosmetics, Margareta Bernauer - International Sales Director of REVIDERM, and Paul Bulman - Founder and CEO of PTB Consult on Monday 4th March at 11:15
Customer Centricity - The key question that is paramount to the brand and distributor relationship is how can they best service their spa and salon customers better. At the IMF we have a dedicated panel to just this: how brands and distributors can excel at delivering excellent customer service to their spa and salon customers. The panellists will explain that in a highly competitive environment the ability to service clients better is more and more paramount. Hear from brands as well as the salon and spa customer on: What motivates loyalty and helps the spa/salon to build their business with their chosen brand?; What are their expectations when working with brands? And examples of good and not so good service levels from brands and distributors.
CEO of Pure Spa & Beauty - Becky Lumsden, Estella Benz - Founder & CEO of Skin Match Technology, Karen Thompson - Managing Director of Beauty Secrets Spa & Salon, and Samir Hariharan - Director of Enrich Salons on Monday 4th March at 12:00
Education - We have an incredible line up of brands who have education at the heart of their business model. Join the discussion on the role of brands in skilling up the community and explore how differentiation is a key strategic concern for brands. Discover how education is one area where brands can highlight their advantages over competitors, fostering long-term brand loyalty and gaining a competitive edge.
Join Rupert Schmid - Co-President of Biologique Recherche, Lydia Sarfati - President & Founder of Repêchage, Fabienne Lindholm - Founder of Fabienne Lindholm Consultancy, and Debbie Merdjan - CEO of Thalgo UK and Owner of Camelot Spa Group on Monday 4th March at 14:45
Practical Sustainability - Demands increase daily for brands to deliver in an environmentally responsible way. What does this mean practically, and how can businesses turn this into a profitable advantage? Not to be missed, a thought-provoking panel which delves into how do brands and distributors adopt the sustainability path and achieve commercial viability? Plus explore why brands chose BCORP® on their road to net zero, and the pros and cons of doing so.
Join the discussion with Pauline Prescott - Founder of Formulae Prescott, Beatrice von Thurn und Taxis - International Sales Director of Team Dr Josef, Stevi Lowmass - Founder of The Camel Soap Factory, and Oriele Frank - Chief Product and Sustainability Officer & Co-Founder of Elemis on Monday 4th March at 15:45
How much does it cost to attend the IMF?
IMF Delegate Passes are available to book now: 1 day delegate pass £195*, 2 day delegate pass £295*. *all prices are inclusive of VAT
Book your IMF Delegate Pass.
**Your IMF delegate pass will give you access to Professional Beauty London, where you can meet and connect with the brands exhibiting at the show.
For enquiries regarding the IMF please contact Miranda Baron on [email protected]