Press February 2018 Christmasworld - Seasonal Decoration at its best International Frankfurt Trade Fair for Seasonal and Festive Decorations Frankfurt am Main, 26 to 30 January 2018 Katrin Westermeyr Tel. +49 69 75 75-6893 katrin.westermeyr@messefrankfurt.com www.messefrankfurt.com CWFD18_15_Statements_gb Fair feedback 2018 - exhibitor statements Hall 8.0 Ronald van Veen, CEO, Edelman Our conclusion: an extremely good close to the best fair! We are seeing an increase in orders and will leave the fair with significant business growth. Michiel Folkers, Managing Director, Kaemingk We are very busy on our 2,400 square metre stand. And the customers are very impressed. They had a good season and are looking to the future with confidence. We feel that the number of visitors is good - both in terms of new customers and regular customer contacts. We mainly showcase our products to people from Europe - German, Italian, Spanish and lots of French people - and to Eastern Europeans, from Poland and Russia, for example. Philipp Österreich, Sales and Marketing, Pattberg We are seeing our established customers and making new contacts. Our export business particularly benefits from this fair. We have less passing trade than fixed appointments with customers from abroad. We can conduct annual talks here and meet our customers in person. It s considerably easier to work together, if you can put a face to the voice. Wietse Olijve, Director, HBX The fair is fantastic, and we enjoy it. Our regular customers, who are seeing us here anew after the relaunch, are impressed. And we are attracting new customers. At this fair, we ve found the first prospective customers for our new shop-in-shop system. We have completely changed in name and style. We want to go forward with natural, many-coloured trend products. We have the feeling here at the fair that our message is getting through and that we are recognised by the market as brand suppliers. Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH Ludwig-Erhard-Anlage 1 60327 Frankfurt am Main The atmosphere is very good. And we have also invested rightly in getting our stand designed by top people. This is paying off. Our own people are proud as well, and that makes it fun. People are very keen to
place orders. We have 30 salespeople ready to go and they are all busy for almost the entire day. Detlef Fielbrand, Director/CEO, Kaheku Visitor levels are very good, better than last year. In this regard, and in terms of purchasing behaviour, the fair is also bucking the trend, unlike other trade fairs where we exhibit, such as Munich, Hamburg and Switzerland. Agathe Litschel, Sales and Marketing, Wiedemann We use the fair to acquire new customers and support existing ones. This works here. Regular customers come to see our new products. New customers come to gather information and they place orders afterwards. We are pleased and we all have plenty to do. Vincenzo Introna, Owner, Cereria Introna We really like the fair. It is very international. Apart from Milan and Paris, Frankfurt is the most important fair for us. In Milan we have an Italian audience, in Paris we have visitors from central Europe. We hope to make international contacts with the Japanese, Chinese, American and Russian visitors who come here. Antonio Pernici, Sales Manager, Cereria Pernici This is our fourth appearance at the fair. It s important for us, because we meet important customers here from all over the world - from New Zealand, Australia and Japan. We are showing the new collection and using the opportunity to meet existing customers as well as make new contacts, with whom we can develop new business after the fair. Hall 9.0 Franz Pfaff, Sales Representative, Jasaco It s a good fair. At Christmasworld, we generate our sales for autumn and Christmas. There is a good atmosphere overall but purchasing power in Germany is decreasing. It s going better with our big customers from the Netherlands, the Benelux countries and Portugal. Galleria 1: Floradecora Auke Heins, Portfolio Manager Trade Fairs & Events, Royal Flora Holland Our stand position is better than last year. Everyone comes this way. The quality of the visitors is good. They include florists, trend watchers, journalists, a few DIY stores and also people who work in events marketing, such as wedding planners, and a large number of retailers. Jan de Boer, Owner/CEO, Barendsen We have been at Floradecora since it started, and we are extremely pleased. Visitor quality is consistently high. The 'Best of the Sector' come to Frankfurt. We meet a very trend- and design-oriented group of buyers here, who are looking for something special and beautiful for their highquality ranges. That s exactly what we need. The visitors include interior designers, hoteliers, florists and events managers who want to create an ambience - with on-trend flowers in Page 2
appropriate containers. We can offer them custom-made solutions. We can solve their problems. We talk to them about their ideas and we are able to offer them a service. The concept of Floradecora within Christmasworld completely works for us; it provides the buyers with a quick orientation. There were visitors from Japan, China, Germany, France and Spain on our stand, as well as many Italians, and visitors from Canada, Ireland and Bulgaria. Rokus Hassefras, Marketing Manager, Dümmen Orange We have many more visitors here in the Galleria. We had very many visitors during the first hour on Friday. We want to win new customers here - customers who use our product as an additional part of their product range or as gift items. Örjan Hulshof, Sales & Marketing Manager, De Ruiter We have brought 40,000 red roses to the fair with our partners Isinya Roses, Porini Flowers, PJ Dave Flora, P.J. Dave Flowers and Rising Sun. What we particularly wanted to achieve in doing this was to help the visitors discover the enormous potential of fresh decorations and make them feel more comfortable using them. The reactions to our 40,000 roses are very positive. We are pleased to be a part of Floradecora. With its fresh flowers and plants, it s the right add-on to Christmasworld. We are primarily interested in business with new customers, which Floradecora makes possible for us. For example, we also meet wedding event organisers here and we talk about partnerships with vase manufacturers. We ll be here again next year - with a larger stand and a wider colour spectrum. Peter Kemei, Executive Director Mzurrie Flowers, Kenya Flowers This is our first time here and our aim is to expand our market. Up till now we ve been at fairs in the Netherlands and Great Britain, but Germany is the largest consumer market for flowers in general. This is why we re here. Our visitors so far have been German florists, who are looking for unique flowers, wholesalers from the Middle East, and wedding and events managers from Asia. Peter Botz, General Manager, Association of German Garden Centres (Verband Deutscher Garten-Center e.v - VDG). We feel very much at home in the light-flooded hall. The new location at the centre of Christmasworld is perfect. The very lavish and inviting design of the stairs draws buyers directly into Floradecora and provides a wow factor. All our members are here, and they are impressed by the abundance of flowers. We are meeting new contacts here, including hotel buyers, for example. We are struck by the high quality of business partners in Frankfurt. In addition to Germany, the countries that are strongly represented are Italy, Switzerland and the Far East. Page 3
Galleria 0 Dirk Naeve, Vice President Sales and Logistics, Boltze We have a more international audience, which is very pleasing. We have taken a good deal of trouble with presentation and this is reflected positively. The themes are more clearly separated, so it s quicker to see what you can do with them. We try to find solutions for retailers. The challenge today is to become more and more precise. The fair offers contact with many new customers as well as existing ones. On the first two days of the fair we felt we had more customers and larger orders. People are keen to order they are not holding back. Sales for the Christmas season went well and the consumer climate is good. Galleria 0 and Foyer 9.0: Christmas Delights Andreas Korthaus, Owner, Amodeo Christmasworld is an outstanding fair for food producers. The people that come to us run delicatessens, concept stores and garden centres. We also met several of our existing customers. We have some business deals in the bag now, so Christmasworld has already paid off for us. Jakob Stoffel, Co-owner, Naschlabor We had some very good discussions and contact with overseas customers is also going well. Up till now we ve only had a presence in Germany, but we are ready for export. It s fun to meet the customers in the flesh. Our visitors are small decoration shops, stationers, fashion boutiques, garden centres, and large food chains like Rewe and Edeka - so a wide variety - and they are all impressed. This is a good start to the year, because we can see that people are keen on our products. Michael Holzschuh, CEO, Tafelgut The fair makes sense for us and we definitely want to come again in 2019 - but with a bigger stand. The position here is perfect. Everyone who goes from Hall 8 to 9, or vice versa, has to walk past here. Susanne Kaumanns, Design, Tafelgut We came here with low expectations and regarded the fair as a networking opportunity. We didn t expect to sell so much straightaway. We are totally impressed at how international the audience is here. It includes many Italians. Markus Kickbusch, Sales Director, Bayernwald The visitors don t expect to see food products, but they are proving popular. We think it was a good idea for the fair to include these product lines. We are confident that the marketing of food products at Christkindl and Christmas markets will become more and more important. Here at Christmasworld there s the right clientele, as they are involved in Christmas markets. Halle 9.1 Hamid Yazdtschi, Director, Gilde Handwerk Macrander The internationality is phenomenal, and the quality of the buyers has Page 4
risen again dramatically. A very important event in the trade fair landscape in Europe would be missing without Christmasworld. Important orders for the forthcoming Christmas season are placed here. All those who are active in the living, giving and decorations segments need to be here. The fair plays a fundamental role in our market structure, because Christmas comes around again and again. Werner Voß, Owner, Werner Voß It s a very good fair. We have a great many customers and orders. We are growing year on year. We will achieve a plus again this year. This is the most attractive fair for us by a long run. Competent companies and larger customers come to Frankfurt. And in terms of international business, there are good numbers of Italians and Greeks. The atmosphere is excellent Helmut Schmidt, Director/CEO, Weihnachtsland Christmasworld is the most important fair in the year for us. We are extremely pleased because we have a very international audience here. Americans, Australians, South Americans, Russians, lots of Italians, and customers from all over Europe come here. The atmosphere in the trade is very positive; people are keen to order and many are ordering more. Sven Deutloff, Director, Unoferrum This is our third time at Christmasworld and we have a better position this year along a great walk through. People find us here. We have many new, international contacts and that s why we come. Egon Krissmann, Sales, Cepewa It s a good fair. Sales are pleasing. Christmasworld is always the pointer to the business year for us, showing what s going down well and where sales are going. Dieter Uhlmann, Director, Erzgebirge Association of Craftspeople and Toy Manufacturers (Verband Erzgebirgischer Kunsthandwerker und Spielzeughersteller e.v.) Our exhibitors are happy overall. They have come into contact with a large number of new customers and are anticipating good business after the fair. Orders are at last year s levels, not forgetting that business last year was already extremely good. Hall 11.0 Klaus Müller-Blech, Executive Director/CEO, Inge s Christmas Decor The mood in the sector is good. Consumers continue to spend well. This year s Christmasworld is likely to be our best in terms of visitor levels and the number of orders placed directly. We had a large number of visitors, particularly from the international sector - mainly from southern and eastern Europe. Visitor quality at Christmasworld is outstanding. It couldn t go any better. Klaus Hirschfeld, Brand Manager and Area Manager Berlin and Austria, Inge-Glas Manufaktur The first day? Fantastic! In contrast to last year, the first day was very Page 5
good. The customers had a good Christmas season and we were able to fix lots of appointments for the fair. The mood is positive, but we won t know the score till the end of the fair. In 2017 we saw an increase of 40 percent. Francesco Roberto, General Manager, RBR Light The fair bodes very well. This is our first time here and we re getting a good impression. We had many contacts in the course of the first day. We will come back again next year. Thomas Tykesson, Director, Gnosjö Konstsmide It s a fantastic fair. It s very important for us. We have been coming here for 35 years now and have increased the size of our stand from 20 to 600 square metres. We are always very successful. The visitors are top quality and we are able to grow further at a high level. All the major customers come here - both German and international, existing customers and new ones. So, we can show our new products to a broad audience. We are pleased that these are going down very well again. Thomas Henze, Key Account Manager Christmas and Decorative Lighting, Gnosjö Konstsmide We were positively surprised by the high rush of visitors from the very beginning. Even the Friday was a very strong day this time. Visitor quality is very high, and we have been able to collect more contact data than last year. The visitors this year include many potential new customers from the States, eastern European countries and Italy. All in all, they are attracted by the mood in the sector. Christine Blachère, Communication, Blachère The first day was outstanding. The quality of the visitors at Christmasworld is good; we ve been coming from the very beginning and we ll be here next year as well. Miroslaw Chodacki, Owner, Glas Witch S.C. We had a good start on the first day. The number of visitors is good. People are interested and open to new things. They are orienting themselves and will come back. Kathryn Thompson, Sales Director, Aerloom The first day was good, interesting. Now we are 'tired and happy'. Visitors come from all over the world - Japan, America. We had antiques dealers, buyers from large department stores, interior designers, florists, luxury hotel chains and a British heritage home on our stand. This is our first appearance here and we will definitely come back. Jose Luis Pretel Recio, CEO/Consejero Delegado, Prilux After many years as visitors, we are here as exhibitors for the first time. We are happy with the visitor response from all parts of the world - from South America and Canada to Europe and Australia. Page 6
Thomas Grothkopp, Director, German Home and Office Association (Handelsverband Wohnen und Büro e.v. - HWB) There is no place in Europe other than Christmasworld where you can experience the latest trends of the season in such a compact and up-todate space. The visit to Frankfurt is the most important date in the calendar for German and central European retailers. And, also, for retailers who are on the lookout for items to round off their product ranges. As in previous years, the consumer goods fairs will take place next year around the last Saturday in January: : 25-29 January 2019 Paperworld and Creativeworld: 26-29 January 2019 Note for journalists: More information and photographic material can be found at: https://christmasworld.messefrankfurt.com/press www.floradecora.messefrankfurt.com/press www.paperworld.messefrankfurt.com/press www.creativeworld.messefrankfurt.com/press Background information on Messe Frankfurt Messe Frankfurt is the world s largest trade fair, congress and event organiser with its own exhibition grounds. With over 2,500 employees at some 30 locations, the company generates annual sales of around 661* million. Thanks to its far-reaching ties with the relevant sectors and to its international sales network, the Group looks after the business interests of its customers effectively. A comprehensive range of services both onsite and online ensures that customers worldwide enjoy consistently high quality and flexibility when planning, organising and running their events. The wide range of services includes renting exhibition grounds, trade fair construction and marketing, personnel and food services. With its headquarters in Frankfurt am Main, the company is owned by the City of Frankfurt (60 percent) and the State of Hesse (40 percent). * preliminary figures for 2017 For more information, please visit our website at: www.messefrankfurt.com I www.congressfrankfurt.de I www.festhalle.de Page 7