NL – Under the motto a “Dutch Touch”, this year’s edition of the Supplierdays, which was staged in Houten on September 3-4, 2025, aimed to radiate a touch of the Netherlands. 270 exhibitors from 17 countries, who represented a wide spectrum of segments of the promotional products industry bid the visitors a warm welcome. As usual, the show was exclusively open to importers, distributors and agencies for promotional products. The guests were able to look forward to a colourful assortment of Christmas items, small treats, stationery, textiles and much more.
The Dutch hospitality quickly became apparent – the staff at the stands were motivated and addressed the guests in Dutch, English and German, sparking off lively discussions in every corner. Bustling aisles proved that the trade show, which is organised by the Dutch publishing company, Het Portaal Media, and the Dutch association, PPP (Promotional Products Professionals), is a fixed date in the event calendar. This was also reflected by the attendance figure. In total 1,784 visitors (2024: 1,602 visitors) attended the show over the two days – which corresponds to an 11% increase compared to the previous year.
The focus remained to be sustainable products, but also Christmas items were well-represented at the fair. “Our small Christmas trees are going down very well. If one takes good care of them, with a little luck one can perhaps still manage to grow a small tree this year,“ reported Gerben Anema, Account Manager at the Dutch company, pieterpik. There was also a Christmassy atmosphere at koziol’s stand, who were celebrating their premiere at the Supplierdays. With biscuit cutters and storage boxes in Christmas red, the stand attracted interested visitors. “The Dutch love the seasonal items. Our stand and our products are popular,“ reported Leonie Jäger.
Alongside numerous first-time exhibitors, who expressed their overall satisfaction, established suppliers were also present – including Jason Wilmot from Kingly: “The trade show is noticeably bigger than in the previous years, which means the visitor distribution is slightly different, but we are still satisfied. Our Christmas boxes are very popular.”
As in the previous year, the HAPTICA® live team was also represented with their own stand to present the show to potential exhibitors. “We meet numerous international suppliers here, who haven’t exhibited at the ‘Experience of Haptic Advertising‘ before or who are not yet familiar with our special concept – so it is good to be present on-site and have plenty of time for in-depth discussions,” the Project Manager, Till Barth, explained. “Because we have a partnership-like relationship with Het Portaal and mutually support each other’s trade show projects and media, this works very well.”
In addition to the stands, various seating areas offered the possibility to chat with other visitors or exhibitors while enjoying a drink or a small snack as well as the typical Dutch “gezelligheid”.
As always, the Night of the PromZ and the award ceremony of the PromZ Awards for the best distributors, suppliers and online distributors brought the first day of the show to a close. uma Schreibgeräte Ullmann (Specialist category), Araco (Multi-Specialist category) and PF Concept (Generalist) won the “Supplier of the Year” awards. The Kick and Rush Group from Belgium was distinguished as “Distributor of the Year,” and BeGlobal Promotions picked up the PromZ Award as Dutch Retailer of the Year. Pasco Promotion from Belgium and Robitex from the Netherlands secured the awards in the audience ranking for the best retailers.
Christmas items like the products from koziol were well-represented at the fair. As always, the Night of the PromZ and the award ceremony of the PromZ Awards brought the first day of the show to a close.
The organiser, John Swaab, General Director of the publishing company, Het Portaal Media, drew a positive balance after two exciting days at the trade show: “We once again saw growth on both the exhibitor and visitor side, so we have every reason to be satisfied. For the first time in 22 years, we had bad weather, but that didn’t detract from the success. It was a relaxed event after the summer break, but we are satisfied.”
// Sophia Arnold
Photos: Sophia Arnold, Till Barth, Helen Lorenz © WA Media
