Interzoo 2004: Leading exhibition continues its upward trend

 Interzoo 2004 in Nürnberg, the world's biggest trade fair for pet supplies, excelled with a new record result: From 13-16 May 2004, 1,101 exhibitors (2002: 1,015) from 47 nations (2002: 43) presented their latest range of food, grooming aids, pet accessories and services on a net rented display area of 40,262 m² (2002: 38,437 m²). The 28th Interzoo with 26,876 trade visitors (new FKM method: 31,072*) registered some 18 % more visitors than Interzoo 2002 (22,718).
 
"The whole national and international trade including the big names were also present at this Interzoo in Nürnberg and again emphasized the importance of Interzoo as indisputably the most important and most distinctive pet supplies trade fair for the industry", declares Klaus Oechsner, President of the Zentralverband Zoologischer Fachbetriebe e.V. (ZZF). "In view of the strained economic situation, the pet supplies buyers showed a high degree of motivation and willingness to invest - the sales transactions and the keen interest in innovations and new products were better than expected despite the lack of planning reliability."
 
Hans-Jochen Büngener, Chairman of the Interzoo Exhibition Committee, also summed up the result in a correspondingly positive way: "Interzoo has once again confirmed its position as the world?s biggest trade fair for the industry. The exhibitors presented high-quality products on mostly lavishly designed exhibition stands. The completely successful course of the exhibition was marked by intensive talks and promising new contacts, especially with the new EU member states."
 
More international than ever
The high degree of internationality of Interzoo is also confirmed by the statistics: Whereas 68 % of the exhibitors came from abroad in 2002, 73 % of foreign companies presented their products at Interzoo 2004. Leading exhibitor nations besides Germany were the People?s Republic of China with 126 (2002: 80), the USA with 111 (2002: 102) and Italy with 105 companies (2002: 88).
 
* The new method of counting introduced by FKM is based on the number of visits to the exhibition and not the number of visitors. Permanent tickets are therefore counted twice, as is usual worldwide practice.
 
The internationality at the trade fair also increased among the visitors: Both German and international attendance at Interzoo 2004 increased in absolute figures, and the share of visitors from abroad in percentage terms climbed by 5 % over 2002 to reach 49 % (new FKM method: 53 %).
 
Global growth in number of visitors
Interzoo 2004 registered more visitors from all continents: The countries with the largest shares of visitors were Germany with 13,697 (new FKM method: 14,569), Italy with 1,503 (new FKM method: 1,729), France with 972 (new FKM method: 1,089), the Czech Republic with 759 (new FKM method: 814) and the Netherlands with 752 experts (new FKM method: 857).   
 
Overall, the attendance increased from all European countries except the Ukraine. Large increases came from the new EU member states: 
2,142 trade visitors (new FKM method: 2,456) travelled to Nürnberg from the ten East European countries, which is 53 % more than 2002 (1,396). 74 % more visitors came from Turkey than in 2002 and noticeably more European visitors came from Scandinavia, Great Britain and Ireland this year (altogether plus 58 %).
 
The overseas attendance also increased: by 3 % from North America, 28 % from South and Central America and 32 % from Australia/Oceania. As many as two thirds more visitors came from Africa than in 2002 and attendance from Asia rose by 8 %. The growth was mainly from Singapore, Taiwan and Japan, whereas the number of visitors from Thailand and Indonesia dropped.
 
Exhibitors and trade visitors reached their exhibition targets
The companies exhibiting at Interzoo 2004 largely reached their targets. Gaining new customers was the target of around 88 % of the exhibitors, over 69 % wanted to cultivate contact with their customers, 68 % wanted to source information about products in general and 56 % about new products. 96 % of the exhibitors reached their key target groups and some 95 % made new business connections. It is therefore not surprising that slightly less than three quarters of the exhibitors rate their overall success at Interzoo 2004 as good to very good. Nine out of ten companies expect follow-up business from the contacts made. Over 93 % of the exhibitors think the significance of Interzoo for marketing and sales activities is important to outstanding.
 
One important criterion was the calibre of the trade visitors at Interzoo 2004. The largest groups of visitors included self-employed businessmen and proprietors (50 %), general managers (16 %), department managers (15 %), and employees (11 %), mainly from the retail trade (48 %, new FKM method 46 %) and the wholesale and foreign trade sectors (29 %, new FKM method 30 %).
 
Two thirds of the visitors were experts from the pet supply trade (excluding garden centres, do-it-yourself stores and supermarkets). Nine out of ten visitors are involved in purchasing and procurement decisions in their company.
 
Over 59 % of the trade visitors visited Interzoo with the aim of sourcing information on new products, 39 % wanted to obtain a general survey of the market, 38 % intended to cultivate business contacts and 38 % wanted to pave the way for new business contacts. As over half of the exhibitors had a new product to show and over one third an innovation, virtually all exhibition visitors (99 %) were satisfied or very satisfied with the products on display at Interzoo 2004. The exhibition organization and service also met the expectations of 97 % of the trade visitors. 72 % have already firmly decided to visit Interzoo 2006 and 26 % are still thinking about it.
 
In their assessment of the economic situation in the industry, exhibitors and visitors are cautiously optimistic: 45 % of the exhibitors and over half the visitors currently expect a slightly to strongly improving situation. 30 % of the exhibitors and almost 29 % of the visitors rather expect stagnation. "The industry assesses the economic situation realistically, but nevertheless shows a high degree of motivation. This is due in no small way to the steady to growing worldwide interest in keeping pets, which is reflected in the good sales figures for the pet supplies market", comments Herbert Bollhöfer, General Manager of Wirtschaftsgemeinschaft Zoologischer Fachbetriebe GmbH (WZF) on the result of the survey. The global market for pet supplies reached a volume of some 43.5 milliard euro in 2003. The European pet supplies industry turned over around 17 milliard euro of this and the US industry about 16.7 milliard euro. Bollhöfer is therefore not surprised that 78 % of the exhibiting companies had already firmly decided straight after the exhibition to definitely exhibit again at the next Interzoo in two years.
 
The next Interzoo takes place in the Exhibition Centre Nuremberg from 
11-14 May 2006.

Source: Interzoo Nürnberg press office