Uncertainty

There wasn’t much time for relaxation at the end of the year, and we can say the same thing about the beginning of 2020. In January the market started the new year in busy fashion – a period that used to be kind of slow sales-wise in the past. This wasn’t only true for sales as a result of last year’s supplier-retailer negotiations and plans for 2020, but also for personnel changes, at all levels of company structures.

I must admit that although I am fond of new ideas, things and innovations, I am the kind of person that needs stability and constancy, so that I can plan and start new things on a firm basis. Well, this time I have to prepare for a future that is full of uncertainty.

Distracting factors have appeared in the market. Last year it was the swine flu, then bird flu returned and now we have the coronavirus, which at first glance might look like a disease similar to ordinary flu, but the possible scenarios of its spreading and its impact on the economy make us realise that we might be facing something much more dangerous here…This isn’t something that will create a simple uncertainty, as things can go in the direction of a simple pandemic passing through, but can also turn into an apocalyptic phenomenon if the virologists aren’t mistaken…

The year stared very well: we opened our Future Store stand at the Sirha Budapest trade fair. It was bigger than ever before with a floor space of 650m², where 25 partners were waiting for visitors with their retail technology and product innovations. We had more than 1,000 visitors and it is a truly amazing feeling to have attracted this many people. It was also a big surprise to us that on the first day of the trade show we received the Exhibitor Marketing Award of the Hungarian Marketing Association (MMSz) for the Future Store stand. Let me also add that the issue of Trade magazin that came out for Sirha Budapest was the longest in the magazine’s 15-year history at 208 pages. On the third day of the trade show we founded the HoReCa&Event section of MMSz, together with 14 other companies.

If your are more interested in the opportunities offered by the new year than in personnel changes and the coronavirus, then flip through the pages of this year’s first issue of Trade magazin, where you can read analytical articles and market forecasts from many experts, plus you can also find the list of the most important trade programmes in the first half of the year. Plus you can read about the many new things connected to the different seasons of the first few months of the year.

Have a good time reading our magazine!

Zsuzsanna Hermann, Editor in Chief