imm cologne and LivingKitchen Achieve Record Global Reach

March 1, 2019  by Laurie Northington in Business Strategy, Designer Weekly, Industry   

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 percent of trade visitors coming from abroad, the co-located events achieved an even greater global reach than ever before and had visitors from 145 countries. Attendees from other European nations also increased for the trade fair duo.

"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 CEO of Koelnmesse.

Echoing Böse’s comments, Jan Kurth, chief executive of the Verband der Deutschen Möbelindustrie (Association of the German Furniture Industry, VDM), said: “After a challenging 2018, this edition of imm cologne was an outstanding event and a successful trade fair that we as the industry are very pleased with."

Speaking on behalf of specialist retailers, Thomas Grothkopp, managing director of the Handelsverband Wohnen und Büro (German Retail Association for Home and Office Furniture, HWB), said: "imm cologne and LivingKitchen were once again a hotspot for inspiration and business contacts for specialist retailers. They created an appetite for interior design and made for a dynamic start to 2019."

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.

imm cologne and LivingKitchen also attracted a high quality audience of retailers and wholesalers. Specialist retailers and high-profile 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.

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 U.S. Online retail companies in attendance included Amazon, the Otto Group and Wayfair.

For seven days, 271 exhibitors from 28 countries showcased the industry's and the event's innovative drive, high design standards and quality. Innovative presentations by manufacturers, world premieres of new kitchen furniture, electrical appliances, accessories and the program of events 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 neighboring Belgium and the Netherlands, took the opportunity to discover this year's trends on the public days.

LivingKitchen's rich and diverse blend of concepts and product innovations transformed tomorrow's kitchens into a tangible experience. "The excellent atmosphere in the halls of LivingKitchen throughout the trade days shows how important the event is for the industry and for the German economy as a whole," said Böse.