Movement in the market

High energy prices are fuelling demand for building craftsmen - good for consumer fairs.

Even though regional trade fairs and consumer exhibitions in Germany did mirror still-sluggish activity on the domestic market, some sectors and sub-sectors nevertheless registered highly gratifying development in the exhibition year 2005, so officials stated at the annual meeting and general assembly of the German association of private and local-authority regional show organisers FAMA ("All business is local") end-November in Fürth/Germany.
In the building trade, for instance, low interest rates got the market moving. The new Heat Insulation Ordinance appears to have triggered an absolute boom, with high energy prices also helping to fill the order books for building craftsmen and heating contractors. "This trend has had a very positive impact on consumer fairs," Heiko Könicke, the chairman of FAMA, says. Added to this is growing demand from an ageing society for security products in and around the home. Indeed, the exhibition organisers gathering in FAMA have identified the over-50 year-olds as a particularly open-minded target group hallmarked by high incomes and concentrated purchasing power. Könicke is convinced that this target group, with its experience of life and consumption, will exert considerable influence on organisers future exhibition concepts and exhibitors trade fair appearances.
The successful B2C shows, the FAMA members regional consumer fairs, have changed enormously in terms of their supply structure and presentation as well as their public impact. With a focus on lifestyle and theme parks, as well as exhibition-related events and infotainment, audiences and prospective buyers are attracted into positive worlds of experience. This has drawn new exhibitors and, in their wake, more visitors. Exhibitors taking a similar line with their presentations have enjoyed demonstrably greater success.
The bottom line: a slight increase in attendance on balance, visitors demonstrating a greater willingness to buy and more satisfied exhibitors compared to the previous year.

m+a report Nr.8 / 2005 vom 08.12.2005
m+a report vom 8. Dezember 2005