MILAN – Preparations are in full swing for the next edition of Venditalia, the most important international Vending event, scheduled from 15th to the 18th of May 2024 in the innovative Fieramilano Rho fairground. Organized by Venditalia Servizi and promoted by CONFIDA, the Italian Association of Vending Machines, Venditalia can already count on a large number of exhibitors, more than 250, 33% of whom are foreign.
The event will take place in a particularly propitious time for the market: the vending sector, in fact, continues to run fast. In Italy in 2023 there were almost 4 thousand (3,742) activities in the sector, (+1.5% compared to 2022; source: elaboration of the Business Register for CONFIDA, Italian Association of Automatic Distribution, on data for the fourth quarter of 2023).
The vending machines installed in our country exceeded 835 thousand units and consumptions amounted to about 4 billion for a turnover of 1.5 billion Euros. The region of Lombardia, with its 478 vending companies, remains in first place and is confirmed as the Italian vending valley, with a weight of 13% of the national amount. Milano, with 208 companies, is the second city in terms of number of companies after Rome (with 249 companies).
Venditalia will bring to the event the best of the production of machines, services and products, all of which are characterized by a strong innovative charge, but with particular attention to the theme of sustainability. In order to live up to the standards of its sector on this now fundamental issue, Venditalia has started the calculation of the carbon footprint of the event, with the collaboration of Fiera Milano.
This is the first event hosted in the fieramilano fairground to start this type of procedure, which involves the entire production chain of the event, from the engagement of the exhibitor to the dismantling.
Thanks to the experience of Fiera Milano, in fact, which has already started calculating the carbon footprint of some directly organized events, it has been possible to calculate the emissions of the last edition of Venditalia. The calculation was carried out taking into account pre-event activities (counting, for example, structures and materials), during the event (where visitor and exhibitor mobility had a strong impact) and post-event (where waste had a strong influence). Starting from this first measurement, the goal will be to start a virtuous circle of monitoring the emissions generated edition after edition and undertake efficiency initiatives limited to specific emission sources.
For this reason, Venditalia and CONFIDA have already launched a series of activities to raise awareness among exhibitors and fitters to concretely implement useful behaviors to reduce the carbon footprint.
The event will not only be a business opportunity, but also a training opportunity for all operators. In fact, there will be conferences and workshops on the dynamics of the sector and on the technological innovations proposed by the exhibitors. In a rapidly evolving context such as the vending wold, in fact, the professionalization of all employees is essential to remain competitive and look at the new challenges of the sector with awareness.
The appointment with Venditalia 2024 is from the 15th to the 18th of May 2024 in pavilions 8-12 of Fieramilano Rho.
