PL Connection - Private Label in Latin America (2026) — Event Research Description

Official event details (from the event website)

• Event name: PL Connection - O Maior Evento de Marcas Próprias da América Latina
• Dates: 25 e 26 de agosto de 2026
• Venue: Expo Center Norte
• City/State/Country: São Paulo - SP, Brazil
• Hall/Area: Pavilhão Amarelo

Event overview

PL Connection is positioned by the organizers as the largest Private Label event in Latin America, described as the place “where retail and industry define the future of private label in Brazil”. The event brings together retailers and industrial suppliers to build partnerships, launch and develop private label programs, and move from strategy to commercial outcomes.

The event website emphasizes a business-forward format with networking, media visibility, and content sessions, focused on private label leadership, sourcing, brand exclusives, and buyer decision-making. The scale of the fair experience is reflected in the organizer-stated metrics: 150+ exhibitors, 5,000+ qualified visitors (including C-levels and purchasing decision-makers), and 20 hours of content across lectures and panels.

1) Who attends (BUYERS / ATTENDEES)

This event is designed primarily for private label buyers, sourcing leaders, and category decision-makers. While there will also be broad industry participation via exhibitors, the event messaging strongly targets the buyer side: “C-levels e decisores de compra” among the 5,000+ qualified visitors.

Main buyer/attendee groups we expect to find

• Private Label decision-makers: directors and managers responsible for private label strategy, brand architecture, and brand exclusives.
• Sourcing & procurement leaders: executives in sourcing, procurement, supplier development, and vendor selection for private label categories.
• Category & merchandising leadership: roles aligned with category performance, assortment building, and product mix planning for store brands.
• Retail corporate executives (including C-level): leadership accountable for growth, margin strategy, and supply chain alignment for private label.
• Industry partners (as exhibitors) with commercialization intent: brand and manufacturing partners coming to pitch capabilities, innovations, and production fit for retailer private label needs.

What makes the audience “buyer-rich”

The organizer specifically highlights that the audience includes C-levels and purchase decision-makers, and that the major Brazilian retailers are actively seeking new industrial partners and that attendees can meet them directly at PL Connection.

2) Where the show is happening + attendee geographic origin

Where the show is happening

• Expo Center Norte, São Paulo - SP, Brazil
• Pavilhão Amarelo

Geographic origin of attendees (best-supported inference)

Because the event is explicitly framed as the “biggest event of private label in Latin America” and described as an event where the largest retailers in Brazil seek industrial partnerships, the strongest attendee concentration is expected to come from:

• Brazil (national audience), especially executives and sourcing teams from major retailer headquarters and private label leadership hubs.
• Major city influence: since the venue is São Paulo, we expect a higher density of attendees from the Southeast corridor and the São Paulo metro region, while still pulling from other states for buyer and category teams.
• Latin American industry interest: given the “Latin America” positioning, there may be incremental international supplier participation (exhibitor-side and partner-side), but the website’s concrete buyer emphasis remains Brazilian retailers and industrial partners.

3) Audience reach (Local / National / Global)

National + Latin America positioning. The event is hosted in São Paulo and is described as the largest private label event in Latin America, but the organizer-stated buyer focus is clearly centered on major Brazilian retailers looking for industrial partnerships.

Therefore, the most accurate way to classify reach based on the official information is: National (Brazil) audience depth with regional (Latin America) industry and supplier interest.

4) Sample buyer company names (BUYERS ONLY) + websites

The buyer side of PL Connection is private label leadership from retail organizations. Below is a buyer-only sample set aligned with the named speakers/brands on the website and with the typical private label buyer ecosystem. For each buyer, we list a best-fit title to target in research databases.

Note: For companies where the official website excerpt did not provide a reliable homepage URL, the Website field is left blank to avoid introducing unverified information. If we receive your preferred buyer-company target list or access to your client profile, we can finalize the missing URLs accurately.

5) Job profiles, industries & event type

Best job profiles to target (buyer titles)

• Diretoria / Executive leadership: Diretor(a), Diretora Executiva, CEO (when the role owns brand strategy or procurement).
• Private label management: Gerente de Marcas Próprias, Diretor de Marcas Próprias, Coordenador(a) de Private Label.
• Exclusive/brand leadership: Gerente de Marcas Exclusivas (store exclusives and private label differentiation).
• Sourcing & innovation: Sourcing & Inovação, Desenvolvimento de Produtos de Marcas Próprias.
• Category & assortment buyers: Gerente de Categoria, Merchandising & Assortment for store brands.
• Procurement and supplier development: Compras, Desenvolvimento de Fornecedores, Supplier Qualification.

Industries & categories likely present

The event states: 150+ exhibitors from major industries of the sector and the core theme is Private Label. Based on typical PL Connection category coverage (and the retailer examples shown in the speaker list), the most relevant buyer industries include:

• Retail (Grocery/General Merchandise)
• Pharmacy / Health Retail
• Home improvement / Construction & DIY retail
• Marketplaces / delivery ecosystems with retail/pharmacy programs

Event type

• Private Label + Retail Industry Partnership Event
• Buyer-focused networking + executive content
• Exhibitor showcase aligned to sourcing and product capability pitching

6) Estimated attendance (expected total footfall)

The official website reports:

• 5k+ qualified visitors (including C-levels and purchase decision-makers)
• 150+ exhibitors
• 20h of content across talks and panels
• 100 decision-makers from the largest retailers in Brazil (as stated)

Since the website provides “5k+ visitors” rather than a precise single number, our best-supported “expected total footfall” estimate is: approximately 5,000+ total visitors (buyer-heavy, with exhibitor participation).

7) Key focus areas & buyer engagement

Key focus areas

• Building partnerships between retailers and industrial suppliers for private label development
• Launching private label brands and evolving existing programs
• Sourcing, sourcing innovation, and supplier selection for store brand production
• High-level retail strategy discussions on differentiation, brand exclusivity, and commercial expansion
• Networking with decision-makers (explicitly positioned as C-level and purchase decision-makers)

Buyer engagement format

Based on the official messaging, engagement is expected through three main mechanisms:

• Networking de alto nível connecting with qualified visitors
• Palestras e painéis with leading private label specialists (20 hours of content)
• Geração de negócios in a results-oriented environment aimed at closing partnerships

8) Client-product fit: buyer segmentation approach (we need your client website)

We can refine “best buyers” for your exact lead list needs only after we review your client’s product and value proposition. The official event positioning is centered on private label partnerships, which means different buyer roles become “best fit” depending on whether your client sells:

• Manufacturing capacity (then we prioritize production/sourcing decision-makers)
• Packaging / labeling / compliance services (then we prioritize quality, regulatory, and sourcing-integration leaders)
• Food/non-food ingredient solutions (then we prioritize category and product development buyers)
• Retail systems or data solutions for private label planning (then we prioritize strategy, analytics, and procurement transformation leadership)
• Testing, certification, and quality assurance (then we prioritize QA/QC and supplier qualification teams)

Please share your client website. Once we receive it, we will:

• map your product to the most relevant buyer job families
• select the best-fit retailers from the PL Connection buyer ecosystem
• produce a prioritized buyer list aligned to your requirements and category
• include recommended Apollo-style industry targeting logic using the industry taxonomy you provided (we will adapt it to the event context)

For now, based solely on the official event positioning (private label partnership, retailer buyer emphasis, and named private label executives), the highest-confidence buyer targets are the executives behind Marcas Próprias / Marcas Exclusivas / Sourcing & Inovação at major Brazilian retailers.

9) Suggested industries to use (from your provided industry list)

For PL Connection, we recommend using a combination of retail, sourcing, and professional services industries from your Apollo industry list. Since the event is private label and retail partnership oriented, we prioritize the most directly mapped categories:

Recommended industry filters (top tier)

• Retail
• Wholesale
• Consumer Goods
• Consumer Services
• Food & Beverages (if your client targets consumables private label categories)
• Health, Wellness & Fitness (if your client targets pharmacy/health private labels)
• Apparel & Fashion (only if the category coverage includes non-food apparel/store-brands)
• Events Services (generally less relevant for buyers; more for event operations/exhibitors than retail decision-makers)

Recommended job-function-aligned industries (secondary tier)

• Business Supplies & Equipment (packaging inputs, store-brand tooling)
• Packaging & Containers (packaging-focused solutions for store brands)
• Printing (labels/brand assets for private label SKUs)
• Quality / Testing-related proxies (we would map via closest-fit industries available in your taxonomy)
• Logistics & Supply Chain (if your solution supports supply chain enablement for private label)

Positioning message we recommend for buyer outreach

For PL Connection, the buyer message should be aligned with the event’s core claim: retailers and industry partners building private label partnerships in São Paulo. The strongest outreach positioning is to reference:

• private label strategy and execution
• sourcing and innovation readiness
• match to buyer decision-makers and category leaders
• high-intent networking aligned to closing supplier partnerships

Action item: share your client website so we can finalize the “Best Title to Target” and the most relevant retailer buyer segment list. We will then return an improved priority-ranked table (with verified websites where needed) tailored to your product category.