Efforts have paid off

The organisers of the Taiwan Hardware Show report significant growth in all key figures. The 15th edition of the fair from 12 to 14 October 2015 recorded 26 865 visitors and thus seven per cent more than a year ago. The number of exhibitors increased by twelve per cent to 382, the exhibition area in the Greater Taichung International Expo Centre by 20 per cent to 15 100 m². Around 70 per cent of exhibitors returned after multiple participations, the number of new principal brands and producers increased by 33 per cent.
With this in mind, the organiser Kaigo, which belongs to the German Messe Dusseldorf, announced an extension of their commitments. According to Gerd Keim, Chairman of Kaigo: "As the show was oversold this year, next year we will have an additional hall with more new and returning exhibitors as well as higher participation from international companies." The 16th edition of THS from 12 to 14 October will take place in Taichung.
The positive development of the key figures reflects the efforts made by Kaigo in recent years to make the Taiwan Hardware Show more appealing. Thus, the not entirely risk-free relocation of the exhibition from the capital Taiwan to Taichung has paid off. Around 90 per cent of the Taiwanese hardware production is concentrated in this region. An industry cluster has been developed here "that can meet production demands and is well supported by an industrial development and research center driven by the government", as Gerd Keim explained.
For both visitors and exhibitors this has really practical as well as attractive implications for the fair's support programme. It means that the organizer can arrange factory tours and visits to manufacturers within a manageable timeframe.After all, a quarter of the visitors came from the important sales regions of Europe (18 per cent) and North America (7.5 per cent). The largest groups of visitors came, as expected, from Japan and Korea (together 21.4 per cent) and other Asian countries (37.7 per cent).

One of the major themes that the THS really handles well, just as with the other Asian sourcing fairs, is the product quality. It's not surprising that the organisers particularly highlight this fact with the positive remarks that have been made on this topic…