Natural Products Expo East Provides Unique Show Floor Buying Opportunities for Natural Products

BOULDER, Colo., Oct. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Natural Products Expo East (www.ExpoEast.com), produced by New Hope Natural Media, a division of Penton Media Inc., garnered a strong attendance with nearly 20,000 industry members and more than 1,300 exhibits representing 96 countries.  This year's event in Boston, Mass. was the hub of the organic industry, featuring All Things Organic, the Organic Summit, Organic Products Expo-BioFach America and a premiere benefit event for Farm Aid and the Organic Farming Research Foundation.  Expo East also hosted the launch of www.NewHope360.com, the natural, organic and healthy lifestyle industries' new premiere digital marketplace.

Erica Stone, show manager, noted that, "Expo East is about buyers and brands doing business on the show floor.  Our charge, each year, is to create an accelerated opportunity for entrepreneurs as well as our legacy brands launching new product lines, to meet with retail buyers and press in one place."

The overall sentiment from first-time exhibitors, such as Nib More Chocolates and Simply Elizabeth was they were able meet and create relationships with large-scale natural buyers like Whole Foods, a wide range of independent retailers and some of the industry's top distributors including United Natural Foods, Inc (UNFI) and Tree of Life (a Kehe Company). Traditional Medicinals and Stonyfield Farms were among the many legacy brand mainstays present at the event. Coming off this impressive show, many of the leading brands have recommitted to exhibiting at next year's show in Baltimore,  including Fage Dairy, Country Life Vitamins and Hugo Naturals.

"Exhibiting at Expo East was one of the best decisions we made to launch our all-natural ready-to-eat product line into the natural products market. We received an overwhelming response and strong acceptance from retailers, representing all industry categories such as natural markets as well as hospital and college foodservice buyers," said Julia Stamberger, CEO and President of GoPicnic.

Innovation and excellence within the natural, organic and healthy living industries were recognized by awarding these brands with top honors—selected for the New Products Showcase Awards by a vote of retail buyers attending the show.  Premium Olive Oil by Nova Oliva (Best Packaging), Reusable 6-Bottle Wine Bag by Enviro-Tote (Most Innovative), The EcoTensil by EcoTensil Inc. (Green/Environmentally-friendly), Lemonade by Maine Root Hand Crafted Beverages (New England's Best), Organic Dude Ranch Multigrain Snack Chips by Late July (Food), Zum Tub Shea Butter Bath Salts by Zum Bar Soap/Indigo Wild (Health & Beauty), and Rescue Gum by Nelson's (Supplements/Herbs). The first-ever Best of Press award recipients (selected by a vote of attending press members) were Beanitos by Bean Brand Foods and Moringa Tea Bags by It's Moringa.

Natural Products Expo East continues to lead the tradeshow industry in sustainable footsteps by eliminating printed collateral for digital alternatives, donating over 40,000 pounds of unused product and food to the Boston Food Bank, and encouraging buyers to us mass transit and offsetting their travel carbon footprint by purchasing Bonneville Environmental Foundation green tags.

Join the industry next at these events:

Natural Products Expo West, Anaheim, California, March 10-13, 2011

Natural MarketPlace, Las Vegas, Nevada, June 23-25, 2011

Natural Products Expo Asia, Hong Kong, China, August 25-27, 2011

Natural Products Expo East, Baltimore, Maryland, September 21-24, 2011

Attended by as many as 25,000 industry professionals and featuring thousands of exhibits, Natural Products Expo East (www.expoeast.com) is the largest natural, organic, and healthy products trade show on the East Coast. With the newest and best-selling products and branded ingredients available this show features the best in organic at All Things Organic/Organic Products Expo-BioFach America, offers an extensive retailer training program and provides an advocacy platform through a strategic partnership with Natural Products Association East. Natural Products Expo East is ranked as one of the top 200 tradeshows in the US.

Natural Products Expo East is produced by New Hope Natural Media (www.newhope.com), a division of Penton Media Inc., the leading media resource and information provider for the natural, organic and healthy products industry, with print, in-person/event, and e-business products and services.

SOURCE New Hope Natural Media