The industry unites at Professional Beauty London
29,017 visitors attended over the two days to discover the latest products, brands and trends that will shape the industry for 2019. An increase in the number of owners and managers cemented the show’s reputation as the go-to event for serious buyers.
Samantha Sweet, co-founder of Sweet Squared, commented:
"We had a truly fabulous show, just fabulous and great connections. Our team loved every second and we just haven’t felt like that in a while”.
The show is a key date in the beauty industry’s calendar, giving professionals the opportunity to keep up with the competition by getting a feel for the products and treatments they are adopting into their businesses, as well as meeting the brains behind the brands.
Charlotte Skinner, head of marketing for iTEC and VTCT, said:
“That face to face contact is unrivalled in terms of relationship building and understanding what’s actually going on. It’s an industry that moves really quickly and the only way to really keep up with that is to actually to get in front of people and have the conversations, discussing the challenges and how can we move through them together.”
As part of Professional Beauty’s commitment to supporting development of the current and future beauty workforce, visitors had access to over 60 hours of low-cost training and education across the extensive live stage and seminar programme, with CPD-accreditation offered by VTCT to reward and encourage. Popular sessions included ‘How to have a successful solo therapist business’ and ‘Instagram: navigating your fastest growing business tool’.
This year’s show offered even more networking for businesses at every level, including the first Salon & Spa Networking Lunch which saw salon and spa owners, sole traders and industry experts from across the UK gather to network and learn from one another’s business experience.
Matteo Brusaferri, general manager of Lemi Group, said:
“The networking opportunities have been great. We have got really good, interesting leads from the UK and have met with lots of key people who have given us good feedback about our brand. Having the World Spa & Wellness Convention at the same event has been very useful for us as the delegates are our target clients.”
Alongside the World Spa & Wellness Convention which takes place at the show for senior management of spas, hotels and wellness centres, the spa and wellness offering was expanded with the introduction of a Live Wellness Zone on the main floor, featuring demonstrations from key wellness and fitness brands, including equipment supplier Matrix Fitness, which drew a crowd with demos of its latest equipment.
As well as returning favourites from across the industry, the show featured a New Brand Showcase for the first time, introducing visitors to new, niche brands and leading industry disruptors from skincare, wellness and salon tools.
Hundreds of rising stars of the industry also attended the popular Nail and Warpaint Make-up Championships that returned to the show this year, along with the first ever Lash Championships to take place at Professional Beauty London.
Professional Beauty London 2020 will take place on 23-24 February at ExCeL London. To register your interest for tickets please click here.