Floradecora sees number of visitors and buyers increase
In terms of visitors from outside Germany, however, the increase amounted to seven percent with no less than 19 new countries represented. “The further increase in visitor numbers and the higher level of internationality confirm that the world market is at home at Christmasworld in Frankfurt am Main. This completely underscores its role and power of attraction as the world’s leading trade fair for seasonal and festive decorations”, said Julia Uherek, Group Show Director Consumer Goods Fairs, Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH. On the visitor side, the level of internationality rose from 59 to 63 percent while remaining stable on the exhibitor side at a very high level of 78 percent. After Germany, the top European visitor nations were Italy, France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Poland. Large increases were also noted, for example, from the USA, Canada, Australia, Mexico, Brazil, Russia, China, the Ukraine and Turkey.
The high level of internationality was given a very warm welcome by the exhibitors: “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. Many order more than before”, confirmed Weihnachtsland CEO Helmut Schmidt.
Floradecora benefits from new location in Galleria 1
With real greenery and brilliant flowers, Floradecora in the heart of Christmasworld offered trade buyers a fresh addition to seasonal decorations that can easily be integrated into almost any assortment. The highlight was a display of 40,000 red roses, which attracted no less attention than the lisianthus, orchids, cacti and grasses, which also offer a fresh potential for sales in the retail trade. “We are pleased to be a part of Floradecora. With its fresh flowers and plants, it’s the right add-on to Christmasworld. With our sea of roses, we wanted to help the visitors discover the enormous potential of fresh decorations and make them feel more comfortable using them”, said Örjan Hulshof, Sales & Marketing Manager, De Ruiter.
At Floradecora, exhibitors rated order behaviour during the fair, the visitor standard and the extent to which visitor target groups were reached as being significantly higher than at last year’s première. “The visitor standard is high. They include florists, trend watchers, a few DIY stores and people who work in event marketing, such as wedding planners, and a large number of retailers”, said Auke Heins, Portfolio Manager, Trade Fairs & Events, Royal FloraHolland. Jan de Boer, CEO of Barendsen added, “We have been at Floradecora since it started, and we are extremely pleased. The concept of Floradecora within Christmasworld completely works for us; it provides the buyers with 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.”
The new location in Galleria 1 had a direct impact on the higher rating. “We have many more visitors here in the Galleria. We had very many visitors during the first hour on Friday”, said Rokus Hassefras, Marketing Manager Dümmen Orange. Peter Botz, Director of the Association of German Garden Centres (Verband Deutscher Garten-Center e.V.) also took a positive view: “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 present, and they are impressed by the abundance of flowers.”
At Floradecora, the greatest areas of buyer interest were cut flowers (69 percent), decoration green (43 percent), plants for the balcony and terrace (37 percent), indoor plants (33 percent) and bulbs (24 percent). In this case, too, a large percentage of visitors (89 percent) said that they had achieved their goals for the fair. Altogether, more than 10,200 visitors from the Christmasworld, Paperworld and Creativeworld trade fairs visited Floradecora for business reasons on the five days, about the same number as the previous year.
For more information:
www.floradecora.messefrankfurt.com