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New exhibition halls, a new hall structure, many new products, an interesting supplementary programme and a high level of internationality were all features of this year’s leading world fair
The International Hardware Fair/Practical World closed its doors on 8 March. According to information from the organisers Koelnmesse, with the inclusion of estimates for the last day, almost 75 000 trade visitors from 140 countries (2004: 114) accepted the invitation to come to Cologne. This means the results of the 2004 event were exceeded by a good 1 per cent. The foreign proportion of trade visitors came to around 53 per cent. Koelnmesse has announced a 60 per cent increase in visitors from South America, 26 per cent more from the USA and nearly 20 per cent more from Asia. And, in the words of Oliver Kuhrt, Koelnmesse’s executive vice president, “There was a fresh influx of visitors to Cologne from eastern Europe!”
But visitors arriving by car, however, did not always find it easy to access the exhibition site. Rather than showing the way to the East, West and North entrances, the signs indicated Gates A to D, which was no help at all to strangers.
There was turmoil at the East and West entrances on the first day, when visitors had to wait a good three-quarters of an hour to register. By contrast, things went smoothly at the North entrance located in the new fair halls.
This divergence in the inflow of visitors was noticeable in the halls themselves as well. While on the Sunday there was quite some hustle and bustle in the hardware and tools halls, as well as DIY Hall 6, which was occupied by Asian exhibitors, visitor footfall was considerably scarcer in DIY Halls 7 and 8. However, following the somewhat restrained start on that opening Sunday, the new halls dedicated to the builders’ and DIY supplies segment of the fair were much busier over the following days.
The hope must be for the next event of this kind that the DIY exhibitors in Halls 7 and 8 will benefit from a definite upswing in visitor footfall in their halls once the central boulevard has been completed. The new halls did at least come in for a great deal of praise from both visitors and exhibitors. They are constructed without intrusive columns and offer a great deal of daylight as well. A number of exhibitors took advantage of the possibilities offered by the new hall structure to increase the size of their stand and to thoroughly rework their show image.
Altogether there were 3 491 companies from 58 countries exhibiting on a gross show space of 255 000 m². 797 of the firms came from Germany and 2 694 were from abroad, which amounts to an international share of 78 per cent.
The main complaint in the tools segment was the failure of the leading power tool manufacturers to participate, but there were also gaps in the range shown in the DIY segment: you could search almost in vain for lighting manufacturers, and the spectrum of products offered by the suppliers of sanitaryware, paint and timber was extremely patchy.
The new structuring of the event offered visitors a clear overview. The exhibitors in the builders’ and home improvement/DIY supplies segment were accommodated in the new halls 6, 7 and 8 in their entirety. And in the tools section the separate presentation of hand tools, power tools and accessories, as well as workshop and business equipment/industrial supplies, ensured improved orientation. This year’s products from Asia were located in halls of their own. As product manager Hans-Joachim Kampen reported, the total of 625 Chinese firms occupied the same amount of space as in Cologne in 2004, but were about 100 fewer in number.
The new “Practical World Forum supported by EDRA” with a total of around 500 participants provided one of the highlights of the builders’ and home improvement/DIY supplies segment. A “Speakers’ Event” with international representatives made the Forum on Tuesday, 7 March – following an exclusive get-together the previous evening on MS Rheinenergie – into an informative industry congress, organised by the European DIY Retail Association (EDRA), the BHB and Koelnmesse. They were able to call on the following proven industry experts as speakers: Frank Loncar of Lowe’s (USA), Gerry Murphy, CEO of Kingfisher (UK), Horst Paulmann, chairman of Easy Home Centers (Chile), and Murray Armstrong, president and general manager of Ace Hardware International (USA). Unfortunately the response from participants was extremely poor. Which is not really surprising, because what representative of industry can afford to be absent from his stand for hours on end?
Information and entertainment were offered by the three so-called Forums, which provided links between the three fair segments following the exhibition’s claim to offer a “route of solutions”. In addition, the “Innovative Pliers” show and an innovations forum for fastenings offered a compressed overview of the new products in these segments.
The next International Hardware Fair/Practical World will be held in Cologne from 9 to 12 March 2008.
Download:
But visitors arriving by car, however, did not always find it easy to access the exhibition site. Rather than showing the way to the East, West and North entrances, the signs indicated Gates A to D, which was no help at all to strangers.
There was turmoil at the East and West entrances on the first day, when visitors had to wait a good three-quarters of an hour to register. By contrast, things went smoothly at the North entrance located in the new fair halls.
This divergence in the inflow of visitors was noticeable in the halls themselves as well. While on the Sunday there was quite some hustle and bustle in the hardware and tools halls, as well as DIY Hall 6, which was occupied by Asian exhibitors, visitor footfall was considerably scarcer in DIY Halls 7 and 8. However, following the somewhat restrained start on that opening Sunday, the new halls dedicated to the builders’ and DIY supplies segment of the fair were much busier over the following days.
The hope must be for the next event of this kind that the DIY exhibitors in Halls 7 and 8 will benefit from a definite upswing in visitor footfall in their halls once the central boulevard has been completed. The new halls did at least come in for a great deal of praise from both visitors and exhibitors. They are constructed without intrusive columns and offer a great deal of daylight as well. A number of exhibitors took advantage of the possibilities offered by the new hall structure to increase the size of their stand and to thoroughly rework their show image.
Altogether there were 3 491 companies from 58 countries exhibiting on a gross show space of 255 000 m². 797 of the firms came from Germany and 2 694 were from abroad, which amounts to an international share of 78 per cent.
The main complaint in the tools segment was the failure of the leading power tool manufacturers to participate, but there were also gaps in the range shown in the DIY segment: you could search almost in vain for lighting manufacturers, and the spectrum of products offered by the suppliers of sanitaryware, paint and timber was extremely patchy.
The new structuring of the event offered visitors a clear overview. The exhibitors in the builders’ and home improvement/DIY supplies segment were accommodated in the new halls 6, 7 and 8 in their entirety. And in the tools section the separate presentation of hand tools, power tools and accessories, as well as workshop and business equipment/industrial supplies, ensured improved orientation. This year’s products from Asia were located in halls of their own. As product manager Hans-Joachim Kampen reported, the total of 625 Chinese firms occupied the same amount of space as in Cologne in 2004, but were about 100 fewer in number.
The new “Practical World Forum supported by EDRA” with a total of around 500 participants provided one of the highlights of the builders’ and home improvement/DIY supplies segment. A “Speakers’ Event” with international representatives made the Forum on Tuesday, 7 March – following an exclusive get-together the previous evening on MS Rheinenergie – into an informative industry congress, organised by the European DIY Retail Association (EDRA), the BHB and Koelnmesse. They were able to call on the following proven industry experts as speakers: Frank Loncar of Lowe’s (USA), Gerry Murphy, CEO of Kingfisher (UK), Horst Paulmann, chairman of Easy Home Centers (Chile), and Murray Armstrong, president and general manager of Ace Hardware International (USA). Unfortunately the response from participants was extremely poor. Which is not really surprising, because what representative of industry can afford to be absent from his stand for hours on end?
Information and entertainment were offered by the three so-called Forums, which provided links between the three fair segments following the exhibition’s claim to offer a “route of solutions”. In addition, the “Innovative Pliers” show and an innovations forum for fastenings offered a compressed overview of the new products in these segments.
The next International Hardware Fair/Practical World will be held in Cologne from 9 to 12 March 2008.
Download:
