Bizcommunity retail launches at Big 7 expo

Africa's Big Seven (AB7) is an annual event staged in Johannesburg, South Africa, and attracts over 7000 retail buyers, manufacturers, distributors, retail service providers and other trade visitors from around the globe. The last expo held in July 2006 attracted over 7000 qualified trade buyers from 31 countries – a much larger than average attendance for a specialized trade show held outside of Europe – but it's not all about numbers, as the show director, John Thomson of Exhibition Management Services (EMS) points out: “Almost 51% of the attendees were owners, managing directors, or directors of companies and could authorize purchases for their business.”

This expo – its name comes from its seven constituent elements in the consumer packaged goods and food processing industries – is the only event of its kind in Africa and is rapidly developing into a continental clearing house where fresh and processed foods are displayed for export, specialty foods and beverages are marketed to Africa's importers, wholesalers and retailers and manufacturing processing and packaging technologies are traded internationally.

According to Thomson, it attracts all role players under one roof annually: farmers, manufacturers, suppliers, wholesalers, retailers and everyone else in between.

Daily news for the industry

Bizcommunity.com, Africa's leading daily media, marketing and advertising news and information portal has launched daily news for the African retailing community in respect of the consumer packaged goods industry. News will focus on the broader retailing industry, trends, in depth analysis, expert knowledge and research, international news, all manufacturer product news such as new products, line extensions, promotions, marketing and brand efforts, as well as related supplier news: technology, packaging, catering, finance, supply chain and so on.

This will be the most comprehensive retail news site and marketplace ever launched for the South African and broader retailing community on the African continent and was a logical and inevitable brand extension of the successful Bizcommunity.com media, marketing and advertising news portal launched in South Africa six years ago and another 15 English speaking countries in Africa in March of this year. It now boasts a readership of 192 000 unique users of the website each month; 77 000 weekly subscribers (requested) to the daily, bi-weekly and weekly electronic newsletters (ezines) and 2.4 million page impressions a month on the website. Bizcommunity.com is a member of the Online Publishers Association (OP) and all figures are audited by Nielsen Netratings.

Bizcommunity.com Retail is headed up by the formidable team behind the success of Bizcommunity.com Marketing – as well as a new addition to head up sales on the retail portal: Cheryl Harper. Cheryl is a veteran in sales and marketing in the FMCG retailing environment, working across almost every FMCG publication in her 25 years plus in publishing. Says Harper: “I'm delighted to be joining Bizcommunity.com to help launch a superior product offering into the retail market. The retail market is primed for a daily news brand of the calibre and professionalism that Bizcommunity.com already provides to the media, marketing and advertising community in Africa.”

All news can be sent to: ; subscriptions to the free daily newsletters direct to your email inbox: https://www.bizcommunity.com/signup.aspx.

The big seven

The trade show is made up of seven co-located events to bring the industry together annually:

1. Pan Africa Retail Trade Exhibition
Supermarket@Retail | C-Store@Retail | Forecourt@ Retail

2. Retail Solutions Africa
Retail IT | Security & Cash handling equipment | Shopfitting | Refrigeration | Store Layout | Merchandising | Display Equipment | Point of Sale Systems | Back Office Software | Lighting

3. IFMA Africa: International Fair for the Meat Industries of Africa
Exhibit profile: everything from abattoir design through to retail products

4. Agri-Food: Manufacturers & Producers Expo
Fresh produce | Product development | Ingredients, additives & flavourings | Processing | Quality control | Value added food products

5. FoodTech Africa: International Food & Beverage Trade Fair for…
Ingredients, additives & flavourings | Manufacturing technologies | Production, processing and packaging equipment

6. Interbake Africa
Ingredients, processes, equipment

7. Stationery & Housewares Africa

Halaal World

“Every edition of AB7 is updated to reflect current world trends and meet the demands of local market conditions,” explains Thomson. “Our 2007 expo will showcase some really exciting topics. Our research indicated a rapidly escalating interest expressed by visitors in Halaal products. As a result of this, and following extensive negotiations we have tied up with the South African National Halaal Authority (SANHA) to both present the exhibition “Halaal World” and facilitate the ‘2nd International Halaal Conference'. These events will see speakers, visitors and delegates from around the world converging on South Africa in July to investigate the Halaal readiness of our food industry,” he concluded.

Ebi Lockhat, spokesman for SANHA was equally enthusiastic ,“Without doubt this is one of the most relevant and significant platforms for all role players in the World of Halaal to access the burgeoning African Market. We are delighted to add value to it.”

Malaysian Palm Oil

Another first for the show this year is the international Trade Fair and Conference being staged at Africa's Big Seven by the Malaysian Palm Oil Council. It is expected to attract interested parties from throughout sub Sahara Africa and the Far East. This event, called MA-POTS 2007 (Malaysia-Africa Palm Oil Trade Fair & Seminar), is being coordinated by Durban based MPOC representative Uthaya Kumar. Kumar said in a press release issued by EMS: “MA-POTS 2007 will be the opportunity for a Malaysia- Africa partnership for food, fuel and feed industries. “ For more information, contact the Malaysian Palm Oil Council, Regional Office in Durban on +27-31-5666 171 or email: .

“Anyone wanting to do business in or with Africa needs to be at Africa's Big Seven Exhibition,” Thomson reiterated. “There simply is no other opportunity like this to network, show your wares, find suppliers and gain access to one of the world's most rapidly-growing consumer markets.”

What's new

There are a host of new products and technologies on exhibition at the show in addition to the regular manufacturers who exhibit year after year: