On their way: Exhibits to Rostov-on-Don

When exhibitors rely on the experience of exhibition and forwarding professionals, a perfect appearance is no problem, even at the gateway to the Caucasus.

Taking part in a trade fair is a good way of laying the foundation for entering the Russian market. "But planning and organising a participation in a foreign fair, especially in a growth market, creates fresh challenges, above all for smaller companies venturing into difficult markets for the first time," says Michael Johannes, managing director of GiMA GmbH & Co. KG, Hamburg, an affiliate of the ITE Group plc., London. The company is one of the most important international exhibition organisers in Russia.

"Every market has its own laws and development potential. It's easier for customers that are acquainted with the market. For companies treading new ground in business terms and looking to stay the course there, it's crucial to know all about the local conditions - or to know somebody else familiar with them," says Rita Höpfner, managing director of IFWexpo Heidelberg. The exhibition organiser has been in Moscow since 1993 with shows on agriculture, the food industry and end products.
But the company has also identified potential in the more difficult-to-reach-regions. "We continue to pursue the idea of actively building up the regions and have already been staging a fair in southern Russia for eight years, initially in Rostov-on-Don. Once business demand was satisfied there and companies had set up local joint ventures or found representatives, after thorough research we moved our exhibition concept on to Krasnodar," Höpfner explains. That fair, too, which in collaboration with Krasnodarexpo was placed in the heart of the south in Russia's major agricultural region, has registered good development.

But the chronological coordination of an exhibition appearance in unknown regions is often not transparent for exhibition newcomers. "So it's important to draw up a schedule beforehand and plan the individual stages of the project well in advance," Johannes insists. Work should begin on this about nine to twelve months before the fair. There are lots of issues to address: Is the company basically in a position to cope with a time- and cost-intensive exhibition participation in Russia, and what are its exhibition targets? Even choosing the right fair poses certain challenges for those making the decision. "However, we as organisers are glad to help exhibitors look for the right event and business region and offer them extensive consultancy," Höpfner adds.

Also, the exhibiting company should gen up on politics, business, culture, and to a certain extent also on the language of the target country, and make allowances for cultural differences in the negotiating approach. "Personal relationships play a very important part in negotiations in Russia, and establishing contacts at a trade fair is an important criterion for the successful initiation of business relations," Johannes says. "Culturally appropriate behaviour" gives a company an edge on its competitors that should not be underestimated. "But when planning, it is also important to consider from the very first whether and what exhibits to take along," he adds.

"Professional visitors in Russia are accustomed to see, feel and test. They're more likely to stop at a stand where exhibits are on display, where presentations are running and somebody is demonstrating what can be done with this and that machine, showing what quality is produced et cetera," Höpfner says. And for exhibitors, too, it is much easier to approach a trade visitor who has stopped at an exhibit and whose expression registers interest. Exhibition-makers rely on freight forwarders to transport the exhibits. "It's enormously important to have a local partner with expertise, not least because questions and problems very often arise when dealing with customs issues."

Forwarding specialists like Hartmut Böck from DHL Trade Fairs & Events enter into the picture here: "In terms of settling customs-related specifics for individual exhibits, it's important to contact us well in advance." Plenty of lead time needs to be scheduled for transporting exhibits to Russia, especially in the case of heavy, extra-wide or extra-high goods. "With consignments of this kind to a Russian fair, we apply for permits for each individual country we pass through," the forwarding expert explains. First come the individual German states, then Poland and Lithuania or Belarus, depending on the route. For Russia itself the consignment must also be registered and licensed. If exhibits have to be shipped by sea it saves the individual domestic permits. "But then the sailing times have to be calculated. Transport by sea can take much longer than overland, there's no comparison," Böck points out.

Once exhibitors have decided on an exhibition and know what products they wish to display there, the forwarding agent will issue them with specimen forms such as packing lists or pro forma invoices for prior checking. These then have to be translated into Russian. "The Russian customs authorities don't accept English yet.
It's also important that the customs code numbers ultimately tally with the goods. It still happens often enough that decrees are issued without advance warning," Martina Schmidt, who is employed at Düsseldorf-based Panalpina Welttransport GmbH's exhibition department, cautions. "To prevent our customers from being confused by all this bureaucracy, we provide them with a schedule," the DHL man reports. The rough planning for the enterprise is in place, but it is discussed step by step and in detail with the show organisers or exhibitors and put into practice by the specialists.

Consequently, exhibitors need not trouble themselves with the complicated customs guidelines in Russia. "To prevent problems arising, the specifications and packing lists are sent to the staff at our offices in Russia. The simple fact that there is no further language barrier is incredibly helpful." Schmidt cites the example of "new instructions cropping up unexpectedly from the customs people", recalling that from one day to the next CDs suddenly counted as promotional material and were cleared only at one specific customs office. But with experienced local specialists on site who can negotiate in Russian, even a problem that arises out of the blue can be solved. The logisticians place their faith in well trained staff.
DHL Trade Fairs & Events maintains permanent offices at a host of east European exhibition locations, under the management of the exhibition headquarters in Frankfurt. The staff rotate among the various locations to guarantee the internal transfer of know-how. Often, they are proficient in three languages: German, English and the national language, because "the close cooperation between Danzas Trade Fairs and the local authorities and exhibition companies considerably facilitates the workflow for exhibitors," Böck says.

These intensive contacts are vitally necessary to ensure that things run relatively smoothly. "For all the pronouncements to the contrary, changes in customs procedures are evident only inasmuch as the administrative handling has, if anything, become greater and more cost-intensive," says Detlev Simon, head of the foreign trade fair department Eastern Europe at Schenker. Besides two other locations for handling export and import consignments in Moscow, the company belonging to railway operator Deutsche Bahn also maintains an accredited office with three Russian employees to process exhibition transports on Moscow's biggest exhibition site, Krasnaya Presnya. Its activities are coordinated centrally from Schenker Deutschland's competent office in Düsseldorf. Clearance and customer care at other fairgrounds, both in Moscow and at the other exhibition facilities on the territory of the Russian Federation, are handled individually by German specialists from the exhibition office in Düsseldorf with the support of the local Russian staff.

The first exhibitions in Moscow for which Schenker took care of the freight forwarding side were back in the early 1960s. Initially, activities were confined to the Moscow region. A little later the first expos were handled in St. Petersburg. Over the years the forwarding contractor's activities were expanded to many regions of the former Soviet Union, respectively the present-day member states of the CIS. The development potential is huge: "To and from exhibition sites in the Russian Federation alone Schenker Düsseldorf handles roughly 500 vehicle units a year. Added to this is a host of air shipments," Simon explains. With such experience in its baggage, all that remains is to wish a good journey!"

m+a report Nr.5 / 2005 vom 12.08.2005
m+a report vom 12. August 2005