(PRESS RELEASE) Gold/Italy, the gold and jewellery sector’s first international business workshop organized at the Arezzo Expo Centre by IEG – Italian Exhibition Group – came to a close after three days of work and profitable meetings.
The indicators of the last edition were confirmed in terms of traders with a considerable increase in the number of foreign buyers, also thanks to incoming activities promoted by IEG.
The American delegation, led by the attendance of important chain stores, such as Saks Fifth Avenue, Macy’s, Jcpenney, Helzberg Diamond Shops and Richeline Group, was extremely valid.
The show’s new format with its digital platform for business matching among exhibitors and buyers, received particular approval from many of the sector’s players.
Eleonora Gori, vice president of Graziella Group, also agreed that the format was effective. “The new Gold/Italy 2018 provides the sector with an on-line platform which is very useful for managing meetings between companies and buyers in this most important season of the year when the Christmas festivities are fast approaching. In this way, you can already have meetings planned on themes of mutual interest even before the Show begins, thus optimizing everyone’s precious time and resources.”
“Gold/Italy’s new format is an ideal launching pad for jewellery companies internationalization and is a useful starting point for extending distribution areas into the world and for selecting customer targets, both from the Italian company’s perspective and that of the customer itself. In the future, we hope that a common retail project can be triggered in the world to give new added value to Made in Italy Jewellery,” said Maria Loretta De Toni, president of Maria De Toni SRL.
And if the companies particularly appreciated the effectiveness of the model, international buyers were eager to remark not only on the value of Made in Italy but also on the elegance and amiability of Arezzo itself, the quintessence of that Italian style so admired all over the world.
Frani Morrone from Quality Gold (USA) underlined how gold has suddenly come back into fashion and how Gold/Italy represents this re-affirmation in honor of Italian artistic creativity and product design.
Phillip Gabriel Maroof, creative director and designer for Royal Chain Group in New York commented on how the beauty of Arezzo, the quality of the hospitality and the excellence of local wine and food are part and parcel of the Gold/Italy experience.
Hanna Kinda from Hanna Frères (Lebanon) highlighted how, in a particularly difficult market, traditional reference points like Arezzo are indispensable, which is why the Arezzo Show continues to be so appealing for international operators.
The fact that the show offered an image of a sector that is determined to maintain its leadership in the world by investing in the future was confirmed by Silvano Manella, the Lazio, Tuscany and Umbria Area Manager at UBI Banca, Gold/Italy’s sponsor: “Just before the opening of Gold/Italy, which has become a reference point for Arezzo and foreign buyers, UBI Banca started providing specific services for the sector in all the Italian gold districts available to a growing number of companies that are qualified gold market players. In financing terms, we are seeing an increase in requests for short-term arrangements, like, for example, deferred loans. A positive trend that is ongoing in Arezzo and the surrounding area.”