Trade show news

OutDoor has grown in leaps and bounds

The Friedrichshafen trade fair’s ability to counter that tendency at an unyielding rate has been based on at least three factors: the uncompromising focus of trade fair organisers on meeting industry needs, the vitality of the outdoor business itself, and the unabated trend away from all-encompassing, generalised trade shows to high-profile, specialised events.

When OutDoor first opened its doors in 1994, there were only 231 direct exhibitors and fewer than 5 500 trade visitors in attendance on the former trade fair grounds in Friedrichshafen. By 1997, the number of direct exhibitors had nearly doubled to over 450. That year, there were already more than 7 700 visitors.

Once the former trade fair grounds near Friedrichshafen’s central district had reached its growth potential, the city fathers and trade fair organisers decided to start the new century with a new trade fair venue. “The move in 2002 was a quantum leap,” explains Messe Friedrichshafen Director Klaus Wellmann. “As a result, we’re now the home of several leading international trade fairs, such as Fakuma, OutDoor and EUROBIKE.”

By last year’s 15th edition of OutDoor, the number of exhibitors had risen to 787, and that of trade visitors to 18 900. The reasons for this rapid growth are complex, and can partly be found among commercial customers. Despite the sustained process of consolidation in the retail sector, a healthy structure of small- and medium-sized stockists specialising in outdoor goods remains. The demand exists among these businesses for an industry event that, while proficiently offering the major outdoor goods providers, also provides a venue for the many small, innovative and specialised brands. Furthermore, it has become increasingly worthwhile for general sporting goods stockists to attend the specialised OutDoor trade fair, as they continue to allot more floor space to the lucrative outdoor segment.

A pivotal factor in the success of OutDoor as a specialised trade fair was the increasing globalisation and internationalisation of the industry in recent years, which Friedrichshafen has strengthened in its role as a worldwide outdoor industry showcase. “When OutDoor was established, it was primarily supported by German brands, which were mainly doing business in German-speaking countries. These brands subsequently became increasingly active abroad, and meanwhile a growing number of foreign brands began to penetrate the central European market,” explains Project Director Stefan Reisinger. As a consequence of these developments, the sponsorship of OutDoor conveniently changed hands from the German industry group Outdoor 2003 to the newly founded European Outdoor Group. The EOG represents essentially all brands that are recognised and respected across Europe, and support the progressive internationalisation of OutDoor.

The opening of the 16th edition of OutDoor on 16 July will also mark the inauguration of the expanded trade fair grounds. In its role as a vibrant centre of business, Friedrichshafen will then have a state-of-the-art trade fair venue to offer with twelve halls comprising an exhibition area of 85 000m2. This year, with an anticipated 19 000 trade visitors from around the world, OutDoor is on course to set a new attendance record.

For further information, please visit www.outdoor-show.com.

Innovate in hard times

Messe Friedrichshafen and the Zukunftsinstitut, a future-oriented business thinktank, will present the key principles of the future of the outdoor market at the OutDoor 2009. The complete presentation Innovation in Difficult Times will take place on 16 July in the ‘Berlin’ Conference Room at Messe Friedrichshafen.

The financial crisis has captured the attention of the media and the markets like no other issue. And although it is impossible to rationalise away the recession, now is the perfect time to actively shape the future. After all, crises are normal and economies have always been affected by the downturns and upswings of entire industries. The outdoor industry in particular can emerge from this crisis as a winner — if social developments, trends and opportunities are recognized in time.

The financial crisis — although not entirely — is to a large extent also a direct reaction by consumers to obsolete technologies and purely profit-maximizing objectives. As a matter of fact, it is precisely those markets and sectors that are innovative, authentic and engaged in an ongoing dialogue with customers that are now also producing positive results. This has allowed, for example, the ecological sector to effectively resist the recession, and the pioneers of the pleasure market are also still making profits. Innovative concepts for the outdoor market of the future are based on the following principles:

1 The new consumer demands regarding health, neo-ecology and individualisation offer outstanding opportunities for the outdoor markets.

These megatrends go far beyond the mere desire, at every age, to take responsibility for one’s own body, spirit and soul, as well as new approaches to adopting personal lifestyles vs. leading standardized lives. Such trends also have to do with a new understanding of the great outdoors. Nature is no longer perceived as something that is boring, passive and detached from everyday life. People’s new relationship to the great outdoors is active, functional and conscious. The outdoor market is becoming an integral and pleasurable part of everyday consumer life.

2The outdoor markets must closely observe and reflect on the influence of leading industries.

What does this mean for the outdoor industry? In view of these megatrends, the outdoor sector cannot see itself as an independent segment, which exists isolated from other markets. If there is anything that we can say about future boom markets, it’s that the economic drivers of tomorrow will be cross-industries. The meta-markets of the future include cultural industries, the care cluster, smart tech and energy markets. Just like the health, food, tourism, service, fashion and primarily the technology industries, the outdoor sector will integrate into the new cross-markets.

3 The outdoor customers of the future are not an isolated target group — they are engendered by the LOHAS lifestyle.

Consumers are increasingly demonstrating their power with their purse strings. Instead of cheap is cool, the new consumer motto is ethical is in. This emerging widespread awareness of ecology and ethics is commonly referred to as the lifestyle of health and sustainability, or LOHAS for short. Current forecasts indicate that in the future over a third of the population will “operate” this way. This primarily requires that markets become more transparent and honest. Hierarchically flat markets, such as the outdoor segment, must therefore increasingly address the concerns of the critical public that constitutes the new ethical market.