"China is a crowd-puller"
The innovation in 2005 is exclusive fairs for Asia and China - located in Germany and intended as platforms for the whole of Europe. Attention is guaranteed.
The Far East is coming closer - in the form of exclusive fairs, debuting in 2005. Only companies from Asia, foremost among them China, may participate. Named Asia Pacific Sourcing, Asia Styles and China Sourcing, they are being launched by Cologne and Nuremberg exhibition companies and Reed Exhibitions Deutschland in Düsseldorf. Frankfurt Fair is also looking to join in on the new trend, but its vessel - asianliving - is still sailing rather coyly under the Ambiente flag, where it somewhat resembles a trial balloon.
Exhibition organisers are avid number crunchers. They must be itching to go, given the breakneck race to the top that Chinese exhibitors are currently displaying at German fairs. Whereas in 1994 the Chinese were represented by 550 companies at 47 exhibitions, in 2004 AUMA, the Association of the German Trade Fair Industry, Berlin, registered more than 6,000 Chinese exhibitors at 85 shows. Going by tradeshow statisticians, China has already overtaken the United States: In the league of premier foreign exhibitor nations, the People's Republic moved up to fourth place in 2002, outstripping the US for the first time. In practice this buoyant demand is causing overcrowding: not always do the Chinese and their neighbours from Asia feel warmly welcome at German fairs.
"In recent years China has developed into the biggest production centre in the world for consumer goods and is one of the global export majors in this market segment." This statement comes from Sha Kezhong, Director of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT). With Asia Styles - Trade Fair for Consumer Goods, Gifts and Houseware in Nuremberg, the semi-public institution is organising its first proprietary trade fair in Europe. The reason: "Independent Chinese businesspeople and factories haven't stood a chance so far of showcasing themselves adequately in Europe." At the same time Germany is the most important market in Europe and the major trade partner for consumer goods in the EU (see box). So the Chinese are turning the tables and emulating the German organisers busy exporting their exhibition blueprints to Asia, and China in particular. "We were dissatisfied with the situation at the existing exhibition venues. The space available to Chinese firms did not meet our needs by far," Sha explains. Frank comments, underscored by clear action: The date for Asia Styles at the end of August was set to run concurrently with the autumn fair Tendence in Frankfurt. "That was definitely a deliberate move by the organisers," Axel Bartkus, the competent project manager at Nürnberg Global Fairs (NGF), is sure. The Chinese partners are looking to approach firms "that don't stand a chance of participating in other fairs". Asia Styles 2005 will focus on giftware and household goods. While the CCPIT is handling exhibitor canvassing for China, Macao, India and Malaysia itself, Bartkus is responsible for the rest of Asia. It is planned to launch the show on August 29 with around 650 exhibitors on 12,000 m2. Up to 5,000 professional visitors are expected, the target groups being corporate buyers, bulk buyers, importers and distribution specialists. The Chinese are serious about the show: Asia Styles is to take place annually, the contract with NGF runs for five years.
"The exhibition activities by the Chinese also reflect their growing self-assurance," Britta Wirtz, authorised signatory at Reed Exhibitions Deutschland, maintains. "True to the motto: If we aren't given enough attention, then we'll go out and get it!" Wirtz is organising the Düsseldorf premiere of the trade fair China Sourcing, scheduled to take place annually in future, in a joint venture with the China Chamber of Commerce for Machinery and Electronic Products (CCCME). It is the only show in Germany at which none but Chinese companies are permitted to exhibit: the member firms of the powerful, semi-state association. The CCCME issues export licences to its member companies, without which no Chinese business can operate internationally. China Sourcing, which will be presenting household and kitchen appliances, building and sanitary supplies, and automotive components and accessories from September 12 to 14, is being welcomed everywhere with open arms, Wirtz maintains: "China is a crowd-puller."
The state of North Rhine-Westphalia's Asia-friendly locational policy, she continues, creates a good environment, and Düsseldorf makes an ideal exhibition venue with its China competence centre. So the service companies that are to advise suppliers and visitors on their business will be the only exception as non-Chinese exhibitors. A special fringe programme is also designed to help prepare the ground for business with China. "China Sourcing is being viewed quite critically, but also with considerable curiosity," Wirtz adds. Four hundred exhibitors are being targeted, for whom Hall 14 has been reserved with around 11,000 m2 display area. Wirtz is not prepared to make any predictions on attendance in advance. Companies such as Audi, the SEB Group (buyers for Rowenta/ Krupps/ Calor/ Tefal/ Arno), Lux Werkzeuge, Zeus GmbH & Co. KG and DIY market chains such as Praktiker Bau- und Heimwerkermärkte AG are already said to have expressed interest.
The success of Asia Styles and China Sourcing will hinge on the quality of the offering. Bartkus and Wirtz insist the CCPIT and CCCME are aware of this. At Asia Styles a ban on displaying pirateware has even been written into the exhibitor documents. Both shows will be focusing on brand manufacturers offering superior products. "Chinese manufacturers realise that they've got to meet European standards," the Reed Exhibition executive says, adding that the Chinese are increasingly at pains to develop and export their own brands. This is demonstrated, she maintains, by successful, established Chinese labels such as Brilliance (automobiles), Kelon (white goods), Haier (white/brown goods).
Frankfurt and Cologne already have their pioneering work behind them. asianliving - organised in a go-it-alone by Messe Frankfurt Ausstellungen (MFA) - ran concurrently in February with Ambiente in the Offenbach exhibition halls. Hailed as the "ultimate hub for export-based suppliers", it did not put its 180 exhibitors in the best of moods, however. Even two months on from asianliving, the internet presentation still says nothing about how the event went. On the contrary, the homepage still displays the targeted figures (250 exhibitors, 8,000 visitors), and a promised exhibitor database is not retrievable. The closing report delivered on request mentions 6,000 Ambiente visitors who made their way into suburban Offenbach. Nicolette Naumann, in charge of the consumer goods shows Ambiente, Tendence Lifestyle and Collectione as section manager, is more specific: "In Offenbach 75 % were Chinese suppliers, in 2006 the figure will probably be higher." Frankfurt is unfazed by the competition from Nuremberg: "There can be no question of a slowing in demand - quite the contrary. Frankfurt's consumer goods shows can look back on a long tradition of cooperation with companies from Asia. With more than 530 Chinese exhibitors from the product segments tableware and kitchenware, giftware and lifestyle, Tendence Lifestyle is representatively and attractively positioned." At the same time, Naumann stresses "our mission at international fairs is to achieve a balanced structure in the overall range relative to the space available". With Asian Styles in mind, the Ambiente executive says travelling to Nuremberg will involve buyers in additional costs, "which are bound to be keenly calculated, particularly since the Asian firms on show there are without the international environment offered to buyers in Frankfurt at Tendence Lifestyle with somewhere in the region of 3,500 exhibitors".
Meanwhile, Cologne Fair is making positive noises. Its Asia-Pacific Sourcing trade fair featuring Asian products for the home, garden and ambience came about because in 2004 the International Hardware Fair switched to a biennial frequency. That put out participants from Asia, who wanted an annual showcase appropriate to their buoyant market dynamics.
Product manager Hans-Joachim Kampen explains: "Asia-Pacific Sourcing aims to create a platform in Europe, we're continuing down the route already taken." On three exhibition days 546 manufacturers and distribution companies from 15 countries presented their products and services, led by companies from the People's Republic of China (399 suppliers) and Taiwan (92 suppliers).
Participations came about in collaboration with public or private export promotion organisations, but the show is a strictly proprietary event by Koelnmesse. It reported 7,000 professional attendees from around 60 countries, more than two-thirds of whom came from abroad. "The national and international key players among the commercial bulk distribution enterprises were present, including the big foreign DIY market chains Home Depot, Carrefour and Baumax, alongside Obi, Hornbach, Metro/Praktiker, Rewe and Bauhaus, plus buyers from the discount and mail order trade such as Lidl and Otto-Versand," according to the final report. At its premiere Asia-Pacific Sourcing occupied 32,000 m2 gross exhibition space in Cologne exhibition centre.
And while we're on the subject of figures, none of the Asian fairs is FKM-audited. Reed Exhibitions are alone in announcing that "as an important quality standard" China Sourcing will be monitored by the FKM as from the third edition, that is 2007.
So from that year the AUMA statistics, being based on FKM fact-finding, will no longer fully reflect Asian and Chinese exhibitors presence at the German shows. Petra Schmieder
m+a report Nr.3 / 2005 vom 27.04.2005
m+a report vom 27. April 2005