Int'l Hardware Fair Cologne 2010 Draws Quality Trade Visitors
Exhibitors from China, Taiwan, India
2010/07/26 | By Steve Chuang
Another sought-after advantage of the IHFC is the willingness of the show organizer to meet the explicit wish of buyers and suppliers to hold an event that offers the most potential to initiate business, build contacts and close deals. In fact many buyers know the IHFC as a platform that is conducive to business and one-stop sourcing. Before the show this year, buyers and suppliers said the hardware and hand-tool segments, despite the gradually recovering global economy, still need strong motivation to pick up speed this year.
Statistics compiled by the Federal Association of Germany DIY Stores and Garden Centres (Bundesverband Deutscher Heimwerker-, Bau- und Gartenfachmarkte, BHB), show overall sales in the German home improvement and DIY sector for 2009 rose approximately 0.5%, as consumer demand for such items recovered in the second of the year to offset recession in the first half, with a documented sales growth of 3% in December as proof.
Meanwhile, Germany's Central Association of the Hardware Trade (Zentralverband Hartwarenhandel, ZHH) reports a 2.5% decline in overall sales in the business-to-business tools segment this year, contrasting the remarkable growth in the DIY and home improvement segment amid the sputtering recovery. However, ZHH stresses that the segment has also weathered the trough since the third quarter of 2009, indicative of an overall but slight turnaround in Germany's tool industry in the second half this year. Therefore, the biennial IHFC was highly expected by industry insiders to offer timely spark to the sluggish business growth this year.
Quality Visitors
Seen as the best opportunity to build business for the future, the IHFC drew 2,686 companies from 52 countries, over 80% of which from abroad. The organizer says that foreign exhibitors from China, Taiwan, India and the U.S. were the four largest national groups represented, with the Italians outnumbering those from any single European country.
Over 56,500 trade visitors from 124 nations attended the show this year, 59% of which from overseas. Despite the visitor number this year being shy of the 63,000 posted last year, the show organizer says the quality of trade visitors remained good, for the survey shows over 76% of trade visitors polled were in charge of procurement or decision-makers, and 35% were buyers, which enhanced business potential and efficiency of the event.
Oliver P. Kuhrt, vice president of the show organizer Koelnmesse GmbH, did not neglect to plug the event: “During troubled economic times the International Hardware Fair generates positive impact on the national and international hardware industry……shown by the good mood among exhibitors. This means our concept works and is bearing fruit. We want to continue building on this.”
To optimize organization for easier sourcing, the organizer this year strategically set up five prime product categories: tools, industrial supply, fastening & fittings, locks & fittings, and home improvement across nine halls in the Koln-Deutz, where just about everything one needs to build, finish and furnish a home was on display, including hand, pneumatic and power tools, workshop and factory equipment, industrial supplies and building materials, hardware, fasteners and fastening technologies, furniture fittings, flat-pack furniture, paints, chemical products, electrical supplies, lamps and lightings, sanitary ware and fittings and houseware.
Live Demos
More than a mere product display, the IHFC was also an interactive event, where the newest, most popular, innovative, multi-functional, effort-saving tools were offered to visitors to try on-the-spot to leave real-world impressions and feedback in real-time.
For example, a German supplier displayed a combination power tool, one that planes and grinds with an abrasive roller and a blade-integrated roller that planes; while others as modified screwdrivers, improved sanders and diamond cutting discs for structural and civil engineering jobs also impressed visitors.
User-friendly Trend
With many products trying to improve work efficiency, the show this year suggests a trend towards, especially after being buffeted by the global downturn, introducing tools that are more user-friendly, ones that can raise productivity, minimize clutter in work settings to cut cost ultimately.
Even items as seemingly mundane as screws were given new life at the IHFC. Exhibitors showed incredible improvements in durability and stability. One innovative screw shown featured redesigned thread geometry to achieve better performance over partial-threaded screws. This screw has full-thread shaft but varying thread geometry from head to tip. And the improved fasteners were displayed in the dedicated Fastening Technology Innovation Center set up in cooperation with a local polishing company.
A logical outcome of the global meltdown has been sapped spending power that has forced consumers to do more DIY home improvements, hence fueling sales of products for such application. As expected, home improvement tools with practical, user-friendly design and pleasing aesthetic were big hits with buyers of various stripes this year at the IHFC; while nostalgia again proved effective as selling point: photo frames and wallpaper with a retro birch bark finish or late-70s look were popular.
Other innovative items that caught ample attention included magnetic door handles and latches, automatic window-closing and damper systems, drawer pull-out systems and fittings.
Tapping advantage of the Net and the show's reputation as global leader, the organizer offered the online Business Matchmaking, enabling trade visitors to conveniently look up exhibitors, before traveling to the event, according to need to streamline product sourcing and efficiency.
Coupled with the Business Matchmaking online, the Buying Day held the day before opening day also further consolidated the event's role as a successful business platform. Mainly organized by the Home Improvement Presidents Council and Kolenmesse to promote personal meetings between buyers and suppliers, the Buying Day minimized inefficiencies typically resulting from firms that treat trade shows as junkets rather than genuine business opportunities.
The 4-day show also saw the forum themed “Tools Live, Highlights on Stage,” held in Hall 4.1, a successful “infotainment” platform, where trade visitors participated in panel discussions with manufacturers about products, which the organizer touted as effective business builders.
The special exhibition “Modern Power Tools For More Productivity, Safety and Ergonomics,” organized by the show management and Association of the German Tool Industry, included wide-ranging rechargeable power tools, saws, drills and hammers as well as accessories like bits and brushes.
Remaining focused on its mission to help Greater China suppliers tap global markets, CENS again organized a sizable group of Taiwan-based exhibitors to take part in the IHFC, without neglecting to promote its line of export-oriented magazines, of which Guidebook to Taiwan Hand Tools and CENS Hardware proved to be convenient, popular product-sourcing guides.
The next International Hardware Fair Cologne is scheduled for March 4-7, 2010.
