EuroShop 2011: Boasting over 106,000 visitors and 2,038 exhibitors biggest EuroShop of all times

The world’s biggest trade fair for retailers’ investment needs, EuroShop 2011, has drawn to a successful close in Düsseldorf on Wednesday (2 March 2011). The 2,038 exhibitors from 53 nations unanimously report good to excellent contacts and business deals. Add to this the very avid follow-up business. In excess of 106,000 visitors (104,766 at the previous event) travelled to the Rhine to gather information on the products, trends and concepts for retail and its partners exhibited on over 107,000 square metres of rented exhibition space.

Voicing his extreme satisfaction Hans Werner Reinhard, deputy managing director at Messe Düsseldorf, said: “This year’s EuroShop was phenomenal,” and added: “After the severe crisis in 2009 the scheduling of EuroShop in 2011 was truly a stroke of luck both for the exhibiting industry and for us as organisers. All sectors of this industry are experiencing a dynamic upswing. The mood prevailing in the halls was extremely positive,” said Reinhard.

Exhibitors primarily praised the high internationality of EuroShop. Over 60% of EuroShop trade visitors travelled from more than 90 countries around the globe to Düsseldorf this year. Especially positive was the increase in visitors from Italy, Brazil and the USA.

“This great international interest demonstrates very clearly how dynamic global retail is and the exceptional position of EuroShop as its economic driver,” said Professor Dr. Bernd Hallier, Chairman of the EuroShop Advisory Board and CEO of the EHI Retail Institute, Cologne, and went on to say: “At EuroShop the Who’s Who of international retail got together. Such a high-calibre audience cannot be found at any other retail fair in the world.”

This was also reflected at the exhibition stands of EuroShop 2011 and made for smiling faces amongst exhibitors: “The trade fair was a super success, many Asians as well as many regular customers and especially independent retailers with specific projects were among our visitors,” reports Beni Heiden, Creative Director at “Schweitzer Ladenbau”, adding: “It was also important to see thing are now moving on the French food market. We received super feedback on our exhibition stand with many major retail chains using it as a “homebase” for their visit.”

The segmentation at EuroShop with its four independent themed areas EuroConcept, EuroSales, EuroCIS and EuroExpo also proved beneficial this year. One topic now for the first time a clearly recurring theme across all areas was sustainability. Visitors saw the greenest EuroShop ever – from energy-saving chilling cabinets and the use of sustainable materials for shop fitting and display mannequins to the employment of regenerative energies and energy-saving technology for store lighting. “The implementation of our motto “naturally innovative” met with enormous interest,” reports Tiziana Raiteri, Marketing & Communication Manager at the Italian refrigeration furniture and systems manufacturer Arneg, and went on to say: “Trade visitors sought detailed information on our latest environment-friendly products, services and technologies. We welcomed to the tune of 1,000 visitors at our exhibition stand on every day of the fair.”

Held for the first time now, the ECOpark also went down very well. The lectures presented at its forum by Honeywell London on the successful refitting of Walmart stores in Asia with LED lighting systems were a special highlight.

In the EuroConcept area lighting proved to be one of the fastest growing segments. Be it sales-promoting illumination, light as an emotional design tool in shop fitting or energy-efficient and sustainable light architecture: Over 150 international lighting exhibitors occupied one entire exhibition hall. Particularly up-and-coming here are the latest LED lighting solutions. Commenting on this Nicole Borngesser, Marketing Manager, Central Europe, at GE Lighting from Hungary, said: “We are very happy with the way EuroShop went. We doubtlessly registered most interest in the LED segment. LED is clearly the technology of the future.”

In the EuroSales segment numerous highlights came care of the manufacturers of premium display mannequins. These included abstract, elegant mannequins in high-impact black & white for the prime segment as well as colourful kids’ mannequins not forgetting quirky, cartoon-like groups of mannequins. Commenting on this Marc Lacroix, Brand & Project Manager at the French producer Cofrad Mannequins said: “EuroShop 2011 was very positive for us. We met exactly the audience we were seeking. Many new contacts came from India, Brazil and Mexico. We are already looking forward to the follow-up business.”

The EuroCIS area focused on further developments related to mobile devices, both for units operated by outlet staff and for customers’ self-scanning solutions and Smart Phone applications. “EuroShop 2011 is a success for us – the fair’s focal themes “Mobility” and “End-to-End Processes” were right on target,” reports Hildegard Gerhardy, Brand & Business Development Manager Retail Store Solutions at IBM Deutschland, and went on to explain: “Customers are becoming increasingly digitalised. They can and want to gather product information digitally before they enter a physical store. And retail needs to respond to this.”

The EuroExpo segment once again fascinated visitors with examples of outstanding stand construction supplying proof of the sector’s high creativity. “People come to EuroShop. It is the meeting place for the industry,“ summarises Elfie Adler, CEO at the FAMAB Association for Direct Business Communications; and Hans Bruder, CEO at Octanorm, voiced his extreme satisfaction: “For us this was the best EuroShop of all times. Customers were in high spirits and the sector’s willingness to invest was equally high. EuroShop has confirmed its position as the global No. 1 once again.”

In the programme of EuroShop side events,the EuroShop Retail Design Conference generated special enthusiasm thanks to top-notch architects and experts from world-famous retail companies such as Brendan Sullivan, VF Corporation; Sharon A. Lessard, Supervalu; Ignaz Gorischek, Neiman Marcus and Harald Fischer, Rewe Group, to name but a few.

The next EuroShop will be held from 15 to 19 February 2014; the next EuroCIS will be held as early as 2012 – from 28 February to 1 March.