January 24-27, Essen
IPM Essen 2017 offers purchasers green range and products for shop fitting
Plant breeders from all continents will introduce their new creations here: from bedding, balcony and vegetable plants via nursery goods and herbs right up to house plants and cut flowers. Garden centres and the specialised retail trade will be offered a multifaceted platform for obtaining information, exchanging specialist ideas and placing orders - directly on the pulse of the sector. It will be possible to find the Plants area not only in Halls 1 and 2, the Galeria as well as Halls 5, 7, 8, 10, 11 and 12 but also in the temporary Halls 13 and 14 and in the foyer of the Grugahalle.
Meeting place for international decision takers
IPM Essen will be not only the number-one ordering platform but also a high-quality trade fair in order to come into contact with all the international stakeholders in the sector. The BGI Trade Center in Hall 1 will be a good place for networking in 2017, too. Services from the fields of the wholesale trade, production, logistics and IT will be presented on the area of the Association of the German Flower Wholesale and Import Trade (BGI). The BGI Trade Center is a popular and established meeting place for trade visitors and exhibitors from all over the world. The joint booths of foreign representatives will make a further contribution to the high internationality. In the coming spring, 20 nations will be represented with booths with many variants. IPM Essen will make it possible to directly enter into discussions with plant breeders and producers from the respective countries of origin. No matter whether orchids from Taiwan, bonsai from Japan or magnolias from France - the range of products will be colourful and broad.
"Innovation Showcase" presents tomorrow's strong-selling trends
The Innovation Showcase of the Central Horticultural Association in the Green City in Hall 1A will be a must as far as new breeds are concerned. From as yet unknown wild and growth forms right up to newly discovered classics: Plant exhibitors at IPM Essen will show the highlights and sales trends of the coming season in the following categories: Spring-Flowering Plants, Bedding and Balcony Plants, Tub Plants, Flowering House Plants, Green House Plants, Cut Flowers as well as Woody Plants. An expert jury will choose the new products on the day before the fair. Therefore, the winners in the individual categories will already have been decided on the first day of the fair. For the first time, visitors will be able to choose their favourites and award a public prize during the period of the fair.
Show Your Colours Award
Entertaining stories make plants come to life: The Show Your Colours Award will honour the best tales about all aspects of woody plants, nursery goods as well as shrubs and will thus put the emphasis on the marketing technique of "storytelling". Good stories are a turnover-promoting sales strategy. Because, for a long time already, the trend-conscious customer has no longer decided solely on the basis of aesthetic criteria. Addressing them in an emotional way using interesting background info lowers the end consumer's inhibition threshold for purchasing: Where was the plant discovered? How did its name originate? What value added does the product offer? The submissions for the Show Your Colours Award will be presented at the crossover from Hall 10 to Hall 5. The winners will be announced on the Thursday of the fair.
Customer-oriented marketing in the Green City
The green and floral specialised retail trade will find a lot of additional ideas about addressing customers in the correct way in the Green City in Hall 1A, e.g. in the Trend Hotspot of the Trade Association of German Florists (FDF). All-encompassing developments in society are leading to alterations in the consumption behaviour which will also be reflected in the designing of garden centres in the long term. The consumer trends in 2017 which the Holland Flower Office has picked out will be introduced. In addition, trend experts from Europe will convert atmospherically charged scenarios into compact moodboards which will be understood as a compass for successful product marketing. In the FDF Flower Lab, attention will focus on the Generation Y, the millennials. This young target group is searching for sensible, sustainable, authentic and unique products as well as new communication channels. An inspiring showroom will tell the story which will relate to the flower and will be precisely adapted to these needs. The specialised trade will be able to find further ideas for the creative upgrading of its own sales areas on the Bloom's booth in the Green City as well as in the g&V CreativCenter also in Hall 1A.
Products for modern shop fitting
At IPM Essen, it will be possible to order not only the newest plant breeds for the coming garden season but also the entire equipment for sales and presentation areas. All the market leaders will be represented at the world's leading fair for horticulture. In Hall 3, garden centres will find numerous suppliers of till software and shop fitting as well as of irrigation systems and label design; in addition to innovative soils, fertilisers and substrates which are interesting for the end customer's own garden, too. Cachepots made of glass, ceramic, porcelain, plastic or enamel will be exhibited in the Floristry area in Halls 4 and 6.
For more information:
www.ipm-essen.de