imm cologne and Living Kitchen 2019

imm cologne/Living Kitchen drew to a close on (20 January 2019) with excellent results. A total of 150,000 visitors – including estimates for the final day of the events – made their way to Cologne to be inspired by the interior design worlds and kitchen showcases on display. With 52 per cent of trade visitors coming from abroad, the co-located events achieved an even greater global reach than ever before. Overall, more than one in two trade visitors travelled from abroad to attend the events. The visitors came from 145 countries. Growth in overseas trade visitors was especially strong. But the trade fair duo also attracted greater numbers of visitors from other European nations. “These results underscore once again that Cologne is the place to be for the global world of interior design. The past seven days have shown clearly that it is here in Cologne that the industry sets the direction for the coming year,” said Gerald Böse, President and Chief Executive Officer of Koelnmesse. Echoing his comments, Jan Kurth, Chief Executive of the Verband der Deutschen Möbelindustrie (Association of the German Furniture Industry, VDM), said, “After a challenging 2018,

increase in visitors from Eastern Europe. Even though traditionally the numbers of trade visitors from the major European export markets have already been very high, this year’s edition of the trade fair duo achieved small increases in the audiences from individual countries. Visitor numbers from Belgium rose by 5 per cent, while visitors from the Netherlands increased by 3 per cent and visitors from France by 2 per cent.

But imm cologne and LivingKitchen did not just excel quantitatively. Registration data for the co-located events shows that they attracted a high quality audience of retailers and wholesalers. Specialist retailers and highprofile international visitors from the furnishings trade and interior design business were recorded as visitors, with many of them coming from the global top 30 chains. Growth here was especially strong from the United Kingdom, with visitors from DFS, Heal’s, John Lewis, Hatfields and Kingfisher. The events also drew a strong audience from Scandinavia in the form of IDdesign, JYSK, Svenska Hem, the Indoor Group from Finland, Bromölla Möbelaffär and Sängjätten, whose entire purchasing teams attended several days of the trade fairs. They were joined at imm cologne by decision-makers from the major international department stores, including Alinéa from France, El Corte Inglés from Spain, Nitori from Japan and Boston Interiors from the USA. The major industry players in online retail – including Amazon, the Otto Group and Wayfair – also used the event intensively for their business. The Pure segment attracted significantly larger numbers of design-led retailers in the homewares and interiors segment from the US, Canada, Asia, Russia and Korea to imm cologne, demonstrating the strong appeal of the trade fair’s offerings for international specialist retailers and wholesalers.

LivingKitchen closes with good results

LivingKitchen also proved that it can deliver on all fronts, despite challenging conditions. For seven days, 271 exhibitors from 28 countries showcased the industry’s and the event’s innovative drive, high design standards and quality. And with the proportion of visitors from abroad at 53 per cent, the event once more proved to be very international. Innovative presentations by manufacturers, world premieres of new kitchen furniture, electrical appliances, accessories and the inspiring programme of events – the outstanding mix of everything connected to kitchens and cooking ensured steady levels of visitors on all days of the fair as well as satisfied exhibitors. Some 50,000 end consumers, including large numbers from neighbouring Belgium and the Netherlands, took the opportunity to discover this year’s trends on the public days. The atmosphere among trade visitors was characterised by business, networking and the search for trends.

renowned and established industry meeting places. These fairs comprehensively represent the upholstered and case furniture segment, the kitchen industry, the office furniture sector and outdoor living as well as the innovations of the furniture supply industry. Over the last few years, Koelnmesse has specifically added international fairs in the most important fast-expanding markets to its portfolio. These include idd Shanghai, interzum guangzhou in Guangzhou and Pueri Expo in Sao Paulo. With ambista, the online portal for the interiors business, Koelnmesse offers direct access to products, contacts, expertise and events relevant to the industry all year round.