CENS Attends One International Show in February

Due to the Chinese New Year holiday (Feb. 2-7), CENS attended only one international show in February, the EuroShop that was staged from Feb. 26 to Mar. 2 at Messe Dusseldorf, Dusseldorf, Germany.

EuroShop
EuroShop is a leading show for retail investment and trend barometer and innovation platform, staged once every three years and is unparalleled in terms of quality, variety and global representation for both industry professionals and visitors.

EuroShop 2011 was spread across an expansive 200,000 square meters and set up in four zones—EuroConcept, EuroSales, EuroCIS and EuroExpo.

1. EuroConcept: shop-fitting, lighting, architecture and store design as well as refrigeration equipment.

2. EuroSales: product presentation, visual merchandising and POS marketing.

3. EuroCIS: the latest IT solutions and security technology.

4. EuroExpo: new and unusual constructions and designs for exhibition stands and special events.

The five-day show attracted 2,038 exhibitors from 53 nations to display a wide variety of products, drawing over 106,000 visitors.

Global Representation
The exhibitors mainly praised the high global representation of visitors to EuroShop, with over 60% of the trade visitors coming from over 90 countries. Especially positive was the increase in visitors from Italy, Brazil and the United States.

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

“This great international interest demonstrates very clearly how dynamic global retail is and the exceptional position of EuroShop as its economic driver,” said Bernd Hallier, chairman of the EuroShop Advisory Board and CEO of the EHI Retail Institute, Cologne.

4 Themed Zones
The segmentation at the show with its four independent themed areas also proved beneficial this year. One inaugural theme that was clearly recurring across all areas was sustainability. Visitors saw the greenest EuroShop ever—from energy-saving coolers and the use of sustainable materials for shop-fittings and display mannequins to the employment of regenerative energies and energy-saving technologies for store lighting.

“The implementation of our motto ‘naturally innovative' was met with enormous interest,” noted Tiziana Raiteri, marketing & communication manager at the Italian refrigeration furniture and systems manufacturer Arneg. “Trade visitors sought detailed information on our latest environment-friendly products, services and technologies. We welcomed 1,000 visitors at our stand each day of the fair.”

In the EuroConcept zone 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 hall. Particularly up-and-coming are the latest LED lighting solutions, for many believe that LED is clearly the technology of the future.

In the EuroSales zone numerous product highlights revolved around premium display mannequins, including abstract, elegant mannequins in high-impact black and white for the upscale segment as well as colorful kids' mannequins in quirky, cartoon-like forms.

The EuroCIS zone 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 themes ‘Mobility' and ‘End-to-End Processes' were right on target,” said Hildegard Gerhardy, Brand & Business Development Manager Retail Store Solutions at IBM Deutschland. “Customers are becoming increasingly digitalized, so can and want to gather product information digitally before entering a physical store, and retail needs to respond to this.”

The EuroExpo zone once again fascinated visitors with examples of outstanding stand construction supplying proof of the sector's high creativity. “People come to EuroShop for it is the meeting place for the industry,” stated Elfie Adler, CEO at the FAMAB Association for Direct Business Communications. And Hans Bruder, CEO at Octanorm, voiced extreme satisfaction: “For us this was the best EuroShop of all time. Customers were in high spirits and the fair confirmed its global lead once again.”

As usual, CENS sent a local representative to the show to promote trade magazines, with “CENS Furniture,” “CENS Lighting,” “CENS Hardware,” “Guidebook to Taiwan Hand Tools,” and “Taiwan Industrial Suppliers” catching ample attention.