The 29th annual Natural Products Expo East tradeshow brought together more new exhibitors and new products than ever before. According to show host New Hope Natural Media, a Boulder, Colo.-based division of Penton, more than 23,000 attendees and 1,277 exhibitors filled the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore during the tradeshow, which took place Sept. 18-20.
The event brought together exhibitors from a variety of categories, including food and beverage, supplements and ingredients, as well as beauty and natural living, in order to highlight the natural, organic and healthy products marketplace, which is poised to reach $226 billion by 2018 with an annual growth rate of 8.6 percent, according to New Hope. Trends identified at the show included: protein power; probiotics; cold-pressed juices; clean, simple ingredients; and farm-to-fork.
Natural Products Expo East’s conference sessions included a keynote presentation from Doug Tompkins, an American environmentalist, conservationist, entrepreneur and the founder of The Foundation for Deep Ecology. Other conference sessions covered topics such as mapping future industry growth opportunities, leveraging in-store nutritionists for enhanced consumer engagement, social media strategies, insights into health-and-wellness shoppers, and digital strategies to boost sales, among others.
Natural Products Expo East 2015 will return to Baltimore Sept. 16-19, 2015, and Natural Products Expo West will take place March 5-8, 2015, in Anaheim, Calif.
