Drinkable seawater. How does this compare to drinkable vinegar? What about jelly bread spread made from tea, or medical diapers that enable urine sampling for sick babies? These and many more remarkable private-label items were showcased at PLMA's World of Private Label trade show in Amsterdam.
PLMA President Peggy Davies commented, “This is the place to be to spot innovation. Retailers know shoppers want the very best of quality, innovation, and performance.
“The exhibitors at PLMA's World of Private Label trade show offer products and packaging to support retailers' product development plans.”
On 28 and 29 May, PLMA’s World of Private Label trade show was, as it always is, a meeting place for retailers, buyers, category managers and other visitors, who walked the 43,500 square-metre trade show floor to browse what the almost 3,000 exhibiting companies from 73 countries offered.
This was a challenging task, given the show floor space and the abundance of food and non-food exhibitors, which was 10% higher compared to last year.
“Retail is a highly competitive market, so it’s key to always stay one step ahead with our retail brand," a category manager said. “The PLMA Trade Show is the event for inspiration and doing business.”
To guide visitors to identify innovation on the expansive show floor, PLMA’s Idea Supermarket area was buzzing with trends as it highlighted hundreds of innovative and newly developed products from retailers and manufacturers around the world.
“For my company, this trade show gains relevance year by year”, a manufacturer commented. “The trade show floor is full of retailers that are truly interested in our products and our way of working.”
Product Trends Spotted On The Show Floor
Innovative Beverages
Sea water and vinegar are unlikely to be someone’s favourite beverage. Still, product developers succeeded in creating refreshing drinks based on these ingredients.
Other highlights of the show were functional teas with added zinc to support the immune system, or tea for men with herbs to maintain a healthy prostate.
A jelly bread spread made with tea was also showcased at PLMA’s New Product Expo.
Halal And Kosher
A notable number of interesting Halal and Kosher products could be seen, including a Ramadan Calendar for fasting.
New items that comply with the requirements of Halal and Kosher are being developed to such an extent that they may even lead to special ranges in retailers’ private-label architecture.
Functionality In Non-Food
In non-food, private-label manufacturers developed functional and unexpected new products, such as a probiotic cleaning cloth, or medical diapers that enable urine sampling for babies that are sick.
The New Product Expo even showed an AI-enabled air fryer that identifies its content and automatically adjusts the cooking time.
Similarly remarkable was an aromatherapy product for pets, and in packaging, the addition of braille on tampons packaging stood out.
PLMA 2024
PLMA's World of Private Label kicked off on Monday, 27 May with two workshops addressing the topics of how to build a strategic partnership and the evolution of packaging design in the Gen Z era, followed by a seminar programme with presentations from Circana and Euromonitor.
Picnic, the trendsetting online-only retailer, gave an insight into its clear vision of the future of retailing in Europe while Coop Italia gave a speech on its revolutionary approach to private labels.
This article was written in partnership with PLMA.
