Branded tissue products or Private label? New forum will address this key question at Tissue World Miami

-- For the first time Retailers, manufacturers and technology suppliers meet in March 2014 to exchange viewpoints at the world's leading Tissue Paper Products Event

NEW YORK, Sept. 6, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- In Miami Beach during March 18-21 at Tissue World Americas the brand-new Tissue Retailers and Distributors Insight Forum (TRIF) focusing on retail and distribution channels will be added and will explore key questions such as:

• Brands and Private Label: What Strategies are Best
• On-Line Retailing, the Next Generation and Impact on Tissue Sales Channels
• Sustainability and the Environment: Are you Leading or Following?
• Consumer Trends and Preferences
• New Technologies in Papermaking and Converting for Tissue Products

(Photo: http://www.prnasia.com/sa/2013/09/05/20130905220325793063.html )
(Logo: http://www.prnasia.com/sa/2010/04/19/20100419602891.jpg )

Tissue is giant business for retailers. Worth an estimated USD 80 billion worldwide each year and rising, it is very often their largest non-food category and the 3rd largest of all according to Nielsen consumer research data. Despite its relevance there has to date not existed a single event that brings all players in the value chain together.

As one retailer recently clearly stated: "The interaction between the tissue products manufacturers and the retail/distribution side is poor. As a comparison, in the food and beverage business, there's much better exchange between the manufacturing community and retail/distribution. The top F&B trade shows are showcasing both the manufacturers and the technology suppliers, so you can get a complete view and interact with all sides of the business very fluently. To me, there is a big opportunity for Tissue World to give all players in the chain that complete view."

Already numerous world-class retailers such as Costco, Kroger and Winn-Dixie, among many others, have registered for the TRIF. All and any tissue paper products buyers and specifiers, from the largest retailers and distributors to the smallest are welcome to participate in this unique opportunity to discuss and learn about the entire value chain from raw materials to finished products.

For more information, go to TRIF page on the website.

Big brands, big retailers and big manufacturers

One of the hottest topics in the tissue category today concerns the balance of market share held by nationally-branded products ("the brands") versus private label products ("PL" or "store brands"). Famous brands include the biggest of them all, Kleenex, as well as numerous others such as Bounty, Charmin and Tempo. Although it is very subjective numerous studies show that Kleenex is among the world's top 100 brands with brand equity estimated at $5 billion. PL products are those that a retailer such as Walmart, Tesco or Carrefour put their own "store brand" on. For example Costco, the world's number 6 retailer, last year announced that its Kirkland store brand bathroom tissue is its single top-selling item, with yearly sales of USD 400 million.

In Europe PL has gained a dominant market share of about 70% depending on which country and segment such as toilet paper or facial tissue. In the USA, and in much of the rest of the world, branded products dominate the tissue categories, with brands taking about 70% share in the USA. What will happen in the future?

A compact learning experience

Issues such as these and numerous others including environmental/sustainability questions about the origin of the wood fibers used in tissue, as well as new trends like online retailing where giant companies such as Amazon.com and Staples are moving tissue products over the Internet, will also be discussed in detail. On top of this the traditional exhibition of machine and equipment suppliers as well as the in-depth technical conferences, which normally attract thousands of industry visitors, offer a complete compact learning experience for anyone involved in this category.

Tissue World is well-established since 1993 as the global tissue industry show focusing on the production and manufacturing side of tissue products. The dates are March 18-21, 2014 at the Miami Beach Convention Center, Miami, Florida, USA. With the addition of TRIF, the entire value chain from retailer to raw material suppliers is covered, offering extraordinary insight in a short period of time.

Register today at www.tissueworld.com.

CONTACT
Ivan Ferrari
+65 6592 0886
Ivan.Ferrari@ubm.com