RX Global CEO Hugh Jones: Practicing Long Termism and Expecting Continuous Double-digit Growth in China Business

RX Global CEO attended CIIE's opening ceremony in Shanghai. End Quote

(1888PressRelease) November 11, 2023 - On November 5th, the 6th China International Import Expo (CIIE) officially opened in Shanghai. Hugh M. Jones IV, the global CEO of RX, a leading global exhibition organizer, attended the opening ceremony and main forum activities of the Hongqiao International Economic Forum at the invitation of the organizing committee. RX is a supporter of the concepts advocated by CIIE, including global sharing, higher level of opening-up, green development and digital innovation.

RX was also present as an exhibitor, with a grand booth, under the theme of ‘Reboot, Reconnect, Rebuild’. This stand introduced the remarkable achievements of its series of measures in 2023 aimed at accelerating industry and international trade recovery through RX flagship exhibitions in China and overseas. The company showcased its suite of digital applications, and sustainable development concepts and practices to guests and customers.

During his communication with guests and delegates at CIIE, Hugh shared the thriving development of RX globally and in Greater China, as well as his profound insights into the future trends of the event industry.

Strong recovery of global exhibitions, promoting customer business development

Hugh said that 2023 was a busy bumper year for RX business across the globe. RELX’s first half year global results showed that RX grew 27%.

Since its rebranding in 2021, RX has been fulfilling its purpose of being “in the business of building businesses”. In the post pandemic era, customers are facing issues such as a lack of pipeline, a lack of supply chains and rising costs. They are trying to rebuild their businesses and RX events are crucial to their recovery. RX focuses on customer pain points and strives to create a favorable environment for building businesses. Thanks to RX’s ‘build back better and smarter’ strategy, many RX global events in 2023 are exceeding pre-pandemic levels of participation, and even setting new all-time records. 

For example, JCK, Las Vegas, the most important jewelry industry gathering globally, successfully held its 2023 edition in June with a sold-out show floor and attendance exceeding the 2022 event, which had already surpassed pre-pandemic 2019 levels.

Over 30,000 industry professionals from all facets of the jewelry industry joined JCK and Luxury for a week of product sourcing, education, and networking. 18,000 attendees (up 8% from 2022) from over 100 countries conducted business with over 1,900 exhibiting companies. 

In the past three years, despite the impact that the pandemic has had on the events industry, RX continues its longstanding tradition of acquiring key events in growth sectors and markets. In 2021, RX acquired a majority stake in Asia's leading exhibition, the National Hospital Construction Conference and the China International Hospital Construction, Equipment and Management Exhibition (CHCC), through a joint venture between RX and Sinopharm Group. In 2022, RX announced the acquisition of one of the largest data and analytics conferences and exhibitions in the UK, Third Street Group Limited, the owner and organizer of the London Big Data Exhibition (LDN). In 2023, RX acquired Corp Events, the owner and organizer of the Paris Big Data and Artificial Intelligence Conference and the Toronto Big Data and Artificial Intelligence Conference.

In the future, RX will continue acquiring events when the right opportunities present themselves. It is willing to support its joint venture companies in their investment and acquisition of related exhibitions in their service fields. RX takes years and makes serious efforts to curate and grow these events, making RX their natural home and creating sustainable values for our customers and partners.

Outstanding performance at local exhibitions, full of confidence in the Chinese market

In 2023, RX China's exhibition business also experienced a strong recovery, with many of events registering record-high exhibitor number and audience size. July and October represent peak seasons for RX Greater China every year. In July, Shanghai was its home ground with Aluminium China, Lightweight Asia, AMTS and AHTE, WEPACK, Luxehome, Shanghai Gift and CDATF happening. And in October, Shenzhen took center stage, with NEPCON Asia, Ctouch, Film & Tape, Automotive World China, Shenzhen Gift Show, and CMEF running at Shenzhen World in quick succession. All these events featured strong performance and remarkable growth over pre-Covid editions.

Responding to emerging needs in the local market, RX has also made several new launches this year, which have been quite successful and very well received by related industries and geographic markets. For example, Automotive World China, focusing on the R&D and manufacturing of intelligent connected vehicles and supporting Shenzhen to build a "new generation world-class automobile hub", brought together a total of 306 exhibitors and over 35,000 trade visitors from 63 countries and regions.

Hugh said, "2023 is a year of full recovery and rapid growth for RX in both the global and Chinese markets. We are confident in the Chinese market and will continue to provide new business opportunities and value to customers in key growth sectors.“

Predicting emerging trends and supporting customer growth over the long run

For RX, meeting customer needs is crucial. To this end, RX has implemented a number of strategic actions to drive growth.

Capturing insights into exhibitors’ enthusiasm in rebuilding their databases, engaging on a world stage and meeting new buyers, RX started building smarter events four years ago. RX's parent company, RELX, boasts abundant resources and rich application experience in big data and artificial intelligence, giving RX advantages in technology, know-how, experience, and talent. RX provides its RX Dashboard for exhibitors to compare their exhibiting performance against competitors and to visually identify areas for improvement. Artificial Intelligence aids RX product development to aggregate and improve product and customer information, offering real time recommendations to buyers and sellers about who to meet based on their behaviour at the show.

The changes that will come to the exhibition industry in the next 5-10 years are not just limited to technology. From a more macro perspective, Hugh summarized two points: firstly, trade shows will become more serious venues to do big business, with the exhibition hall no longer crowded with bustling visitors, but instead will be filled with more senior decision-makers with stronger purchasing power; secondly, trade shows will place more bets on showing industries what lies ahead, whether it is AI or ESG.

As an exhibition organizer, RX's duty is not to put on the same show every single year, but to place the bets and show the industry what is coming and what is new and to support customers to develop their business. Participating in CIIE, a world-class platform, is an important measure for RX to showcase confidence and new trends to the Chinese market and customers, as well as to make commitments to assist customers in expanding domestic and international business and achieving growth over the long run. Hugh emphasized: "We will continue to invest in China which is one of the world's largest economies, thus accelerating the business growth of Chinese and foreign enterprises in China.”

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