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Sylvia Herzog, DIY in Europe, Germany Managing Editor
This year's International Hardware Fair/ Practical World will for the first time be opened to consumers, or at least the Practical World DIY section. This poses new challenges to the exhibitors as regards stand design and their approach to target groups. Do the approximately 400 suppliers from abroad really know what is in store for them, and what to expect when consumers and trade professionals from the greater Cologne area suddenly throng Halls 6 and 7? Two years ago the Practical World exhibitors occupied three halls, but two are enough now. It seems that mainly Asian suppliers will be represented in one of them, and the other will bring together the rest of the DIY world. Unfortunately, visitors to Cologne will search in vain for many well-known companies this year. Is that because the big companies tend to take an 'all or nothing' attitude? Either be present at the show with a suitably prestigious stand that highlights the company's importance, or stay at home, not least because of the expense? Last year at the National Hardware Show in Orlando, the American hardware and garden fair, it was possible to get a slight foretaste of how the trade fair landscape might be developing. Exhibitors who, in the previous year, had been conspicuous for their spacious stands, were actually present but no longer with a stand of their own. They were renting separate rooms where they could receive their business contacts. On the one hand this saves them all the expense of stand, staff and catering, etc, and on the other, it is a way for producers to protect themselves from the copying enthusiasm of plagiarists, at least for a while. Is it to be feared that the bell is tolling for the end of the current trade fair culture? Hardly, or at least not in the foreseeable future, since the small and medium-sized manufacturers will keep them alive. Companies that refrain from trade fair participation, for whatever reason, now have other means of presenting themselves to a wide target group. Placing advertisements, for instance, is one part of the fund of proven measures for attracting attention.
This year's International Hardware Fair/ Practical World will for the first time be opened to consumers, or at least the Practical World DIY section. This poses new challenges to the exhibitors as regards stand design and their approach to target groups. Do the approximately 400 suppliers from abroad really know what is in store for them, and what to expect when consumers and trade professionals from the greater Cologne area suddenly throng Halls 6 and 7? Two years ago the Practical World exhibitors occupied three halls, but two are enough now. It seems that mainly Asian suppliers will be represented in one of them, and the other will bring together the rest of the DIY world. Unfortunately, visitors to Cologne will search in vain for many well-known companies this year. Is that because the big companies tend to take an 'all or nothing' attitude? Either be present at the show with a suitably prestigious stand that highlights the company's importance, or stay at home, not least because of the expense? Last year at the National Hardware Show in Orlando, the American hardware and garden fair, it was possible to get a slight foretaste of how the trade fair landscape might be developing. Exhibitors who, in the previous year, had been conspicuous for their spacious stands, were actually present but no longer with a stand of their own. They were renting separate rooms where they could receive their business contacts. On the one hand this saves them all the expense of stand, staff and catering, etc, and on the other, it is a way for producers to protect themselves from the copying enthusiasm of plagiarists, at least for a while. Is it to be feared that the bell is tolling for the end of the current trade fair culture? Hardly, or at least not in the foreseeable future, since the small and medium-sized manufacturers will keep them alive. Companies that refrain from trade fair participation, for whatever reason, now have other means of presenting themselves to a wide target group. Placing advertisements, for instance, is one part of the fund of proven measures for attracting attention.
