Euroshop 2014: Growth in exhibition segment too

From 16 to 20 February the world’s biggest trade fair for retail investment will hit the stage in Düsseldorf. The exhibition service providers there will present an even larger offering.

A good two months before the kick-off date, and already the organisers can report new records. EuroShop 2014 will be held in 16 instead of 15 halls. All in all, the event with its over 2,000 exhibitors will occupy more than 200,000 gross sq. metres. The reason for the expansion in space occupied is the growth in some of the categories. In particular the EuroShop segment “EuroConcept” has increased strongly – especially in the shop construction, lighting, and refrigeration equipment areas. The “EuroExpo” for exhibitions, design, and events in Halls 9 and 10 has similarly registered strong demand. In the future products and services relevant to exhibitions will also be displayed in Hall 5.   

New at EuroShop is also the duration, which from 2014 on will be shifted to one day later. Instead of Saturdays to Wednesdays as before, the show will be open from Sundays to Thursdays. This fulfils the desire of the participating exhibitors and visitors. A deal that is good for both sides. After all, “the companies purposefully schedule their product innovations and range of offers for the EuroShop dates,” explains Hans Werner Reinhard, Vice-Managing Director at Messe Düsseldorf.

Just like at the last EuroShop three years ago, the focus will be on materials, more precisely, on their increasing variety. It is all the more important for planners and exhibition and shop designers to get a broad overview of the new possibilities. “Materials should be employed as a language and emphasises the company’s philosophy,” states the internationally active designer Karl Schwitzke, engaged by Messe Düsseldorf as an expert. For this reason it is important to be acquainted with the “images” of materials and colours, to purposefully use or avoid them. The mental notions associated with each material can vary internationally – something that can be easily tested in the Düsseldorf exhibition halls with more visitors from over 90 countries. On the whole, once again over 100,000 professionals are expected to journey to the Rhine to EuroShop (www.euroshop.de).

Coinciding with the dates of EuroShop 2014, Thomas Stiefel, CEO of Retailpartners AG, Wetzikon, has published a study on shopping centres in Switzerland. According to it, retail trade is experiencing a dynamic transformation, driven by changing shopping behaviour via online channels. In contrast, shopping centres change only slowly because of long amortisation times. The result: The offerings of shopping experiences in online and offline are widely diverging and shopping centres are being left behind in the digital area. In addition, stationary retail and retail trade via Internet is used simultaneously and mobile across all age groups. For operators of shopping centres this means that the design of the shopping experience has to bring together both channels. The technical structures for connecting the two worlds, however, have yet to be created. Mobile technology plays a crucial role in this. The smartphone will become the future “switchboard” for more and more users. Mobile devices provide shopping centre designers diverse possibilities for applications such as apps, free hotspots, indoor navigation, or multi-media info spots. In such a multichannel environment shopping centres can be positioned and marketed at the same time as pick-up spots for goods reserved online. Apropos online: The study by Retailpartners can be downloaded for free (www.retailpartners.ch).