EuroShop 2020 Germany - The Global Retail Trade Fair

EuroShop 2020 - The world most important Retail Trade Show

Held every 3 years, EuroShop is the who's who of anything retail. The past 3 fairs have had over 100,000 visitors, 2000 Exhibitors and 100,000 m² of space.

EuroShop is one of those fairs where you have to plan a day or two before going in head first. To make it easier they have broken it down into 8 general categories.

It wouldn't hurt to google some of the names and see what they do if you haven't heard of them before. What kind of contact is your business hoping for? There is just so much potential for our industry purely because Australia's retail sector is a good 10 years behind in terms of technology and competition. Almost any world class brand you approach is an opportunity for partnership, ideas, importing, representation,... .

Best way to do so is to use their own website and build a planner:

https://www.euroshop-tradefair.com

They also have an interactive map with links to each exhibitor that you can access here.

As you can see with a quick browse, there is an abundance of German, Belgian, Dutch, French, Swiss, Spanish, Korean, British, Italian, Danish, Polish, Austrian and American companies present.

Basically this is where you go not to find the cheapest Chinese supplier that makes a product but to find the company that invented the product, the one that makes the best quality product and ones that have all the ideas.

Fun Fact: EuroShop was held in 1966 for the first time as an exhibition of shop fitting. In the 60's retail was moving from brand owned and operated stores towards supermarket and self service style stores and this was where you could find the solutions for this transition.

Time & Date: February 2020

Sunday 16th of February 2020 to Thursday 20th of February

10am to 6pm

Fun Fact: If you go a few days early you can catch the International Endoscopy Symposium!

Organizer: Messe Dusseldorf

One of the largest trade fair organizers in the world with 40 fairs per year at it's 300,000 m² facility a few km's north of Dusseldorf city center and close to the airport. They've been doing it for over 70 years and have a 300,000 foreign visitors from over 100 countries so you can trust them to be organized and provide an enjoyable experience.

Fun Fact: They once hosted a Davis Cup final match.

Location: Dusseldorf, Germany

An important German city with 500 years of history, the city has a population of less than a million but is home to numerous global advertising, industrial, telco and financial corporations. Dusseldorf has a very high quality of life but to be honest, it isn't one of the "must see" cities of Europe. Most rankings don't even list it in top 5 and top 10 touristy cities of Germany.

However it would be nice for a day or two. It has a very smooth hoppy bear called Altbier and a diverse range of food including German roasts and bakes.

Temperature is between 1 to 7 degrees so open up that winter suitcase you just put away.

So our recommendation would be to get in on the weekend, spend 2-3 days at the fair, 2 days to explore the city and head back the next weekend.

Fun Fact: the upside-down man logo seen all over Dusseldorf and stamped on it's souvenirs is not the flayed man from House Bolton of the Dreadfort, it's actually a boy doing cartwheels which is like the town's "thing".

Transport and accommodation

Qantas in partnership with Emirates has 1 stop flights from Sydney and Melbourne, 22 hours each way and under $2000 return. Hotels are a bit expensive during the fairs and be ready to pay at least €200 a night. We're not going to recommend any hotels or flights, it's 2019, just Trivago the hotels, Skyscanner the flights and check Airbnb for good deal as well.

Fun Fact: Üter Zörker, the German exchange student in the Simpsons is from Dusseldorf. When they show the cartoon in Germany he claims to be from Switzerland!

Where will Hang & Display be?

We will be with our parent company under the banner "Sitour"

We have a very large space along with all the other subsidiaries and brands of ISD in hall 1 booth C51 showcasing our retail technology. We also have another space in hall 3, E34, where we showcase retail marketing products.

We will be marketing our group to the visitors while on the look for new partnerships on opportunities. Our Group, ISD, provides products and services in 49 countries and EuroShop is a great way improve our market reach.

Should you go?

This is your opportunity to start shifting away from China and balancing your dependency. China can only hold prices down for so long, currency and market manipulation are not sustainable trade strategies. China's plan is to kill our industries and with the know-how escaping us, they will eventually balance exchange rates and prices. So you want to have a few other suppliers and partners in your pocket when that happens.

The other reason you need to strengthen your ties with the rest of the world is that working with China has a very low barrier to entry, a strong relationship with China is not really a company strength. You want to have a point of differentiation and that comes from the west. Sprinkle some innovation into what you do to stand out from companies that just import from China and resell in Australia.

Now you just have to ask yourself, are you in your growth phase? Do you have time to chase up leads? Are you prospecting and do you chase up every inquiry no matter the size? Then yes, if you want to continue to grow, send your Director, BDM or an energetic Manager.

On the other hand, are you always behind on orders? Do you have a pile of unanswered emails? Did Karen from accounts quit and you are doing accounts receivable as well as sales management and almost everything else by yourself? Are you still contemplating that new website project you started in 2015? Do you still use a fax? Then no, don't waste your time or money. This fair will take a good few weeks from your best employee or yourself. It will also require a lot of follow up work even going overseas a few months later to these companies and factories. Finish the website and replace your fax with a nice coffee machine.