Tendence is Germany’s most international and biggest fair for the living, furnishing, decorating, gift articles, jewellery and fashion requisites' sectors. Held twice a year, in late August will take place the Autumn/Winter's edition and we've been talking with the Group Show Director of Tendence, Philipp Ferger to discover all the novelties and highlights of the next event.
Tendence is an international platform for consumer goods, what do you think that stands out Tendence from other similar shows?
Tendence has an unmistakable profile. Its unique selling proposition is its character as a multi-sector fair and, in particular, the combination of the Giving and Living sectors. With the focus on the busy Christmas business and a preview of the spring and summer collections, Tendence is and will remain Germany’s most international and important order platform for the second half of the year. Tendence offers a host of highlights that many other shows simply cannot offer in this way.
The show is also the perfect place to discover new products for Christmas business. What are the coming trends?
That’s right. I can reveal that this year’s Christmas decorations will be very restrained. Extremely popular are shades of blue and green and, of course, the classic colours, red, white, silver and gold. In the case of baubles, the traditional round form is being supplemented by slightly more daring outlines and it is now quite acceptable to have onion, oval or pine-cone shaped baubles hanging from the tree. The nature trend also continues with Advent wreaths and whole Christmas trees being made of branches, bark or driftwood and decorated with pastel rhinestones. Materials such as wood, stone, cork and hide are also a must for festive occasions.
And on the same line, what can you highlight from the next edition? What is going to be the novelties?
The coming Tendence will be distinguished by a broad spectrum of highlights. I must firstly mention, however, that we have restructured the product groups to make orientation at the fair easier for buyers and to generate lots of new buying impulses.
Now, visitors will find the Pure & Elegant design and a premium segment in Hall 9.0 while, in Hall 8.0, they can discover the complete spectrum of new indoor and outdoor decoration and furnishing trends at the Lovely Home and Seasonal Decoration segments. We have concentrated the Accessories & Jewellery segment in Hall 9.2 while Hall 11.1 is home to two segments, Young Gifts and Culinary Gifts. At Young Gifts, visitors will discover original gift ideas. At the trend segment par excellence, Culinary Gifts, the spotlight is on foodstuffs suitable for giving as gifts, e.g., vinegar, oil and high-grade spices, as well as accessories for preparing, serving and enjoying the food. In this area, we also give retailers the opportunity to expand their horizons at the new Liquid Gifts area.
At this point, I must also mention our Academy programme. With the Tendence Academy, we are, for the first time, bundling all lectures and workshops to support the retail trade in a pragmatic way with an extensive programme of events. Covering the spectrum from special window-dressing ideas, via retail design trends, to practical tips for the online trade, as well as the latest developments and ideas from the world of jewellery and fashion accessories, retailers will find a multi-faceted programme on two stages in Halls 9.2 and 11.1. As you can see, our aim with Tendence is to not only to offer the trade an order and networking platform but also to give retailers the opportunity to improve their competitive situation.
The ‘Village’, which is also making its debut at this year’s Tendence, will generate new impulses and purchasing incentives: ten leading companies show how products can be skilfully presented at the point-of-sale. Thus, in addition to the individual product presentations, this is a perfect setting for showing different brands and collections alongside each other, for boldly spotlighting products and, therefore, for generating consumer buying impulses.
There is another subject that should not be forgotten here: sustainability. Hence, the tendence catalogue will include for the first time an Ethical Style Guide – a directory of sustainably or ethically made products that offers orientation and information about the various aspects of sustainability for buyers in an extremely complex segment of the market. It is one of the social themes of our times – especially in the media and public debate. So, you can see, the coming Tendence has much to offer – and all up with the times.
The show attracts exhibitors from many segments of the consumer goods sector. Can you give some tips for those exhibiting for the first time, not just in Tendence but in Frankfurt?
Many visitors come from abroad because Tendence is Germany’s most international and biggest order platform for trends and new products. Accordingly, a professional presentation is important for all exhibitors. However, they should also be able to export their products. Messe Frankfurt offers a wide range of services to help exhibitors get the most out of their time at the fair, e.g., stand-construction service, hire furniture, catering, cleaning, logistics, personnel, online solutions and marketing aids. Whatever exhibitors need, we will be pleased to help.
During the exhibition, we can also enjoy many activities: FORM, BMWI area, Home & Trend Award... Do you recommend us an activity in particular?
As a supplementary product group, the arts & crafts segment at Tendence gives visitors a special opportunity to order one-off products that no other competitor will have in their assortment. The promotional area of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy, FORM 2016 and Home & Trend Award are just some of the highlights where visitors will find hand-crafted individual articles or design-oriented, industrially made products – in other words, something extremely distinctive for every business.
At all events, I would like to recommend our Next promotional areas, which are a component part of Tendence and give young companies that have already gained initial experience in the market the chance to present their product ideas to an international audience of trade visitors. In addition to the Next areas in the ‘Modern Crafts’ and ‘Accessories & Jewellery’ segments in Halls 9.0 and 9.2 respectively, there are two new areas this year, ‘Young Gifts’ and ‘Culinary Gifts’ in Hall 11.1.
The Talents areas are also well worth visiting. At this year’s Tendence, 35 ‘Talents’ from 13 countries are presenting extraordinary products well away from the mainstream in two areas: ‘Modern Crafts’ and ‘Accessories & Jewellery’. I am very much looking forward to seeing the spectrum of creations that awaits us in these different areas.
Lastly, can you give us some participation results from the last edition
Last year, Tendence presented the latest products and trends on 95,000 square metres of exhibition space (gross). More than 1,100 exhibitors from 48 countries showed their new collections to almost 28,000 visitors from 83 countries. The top-ten visitor nations were Germany, Switzerland, Austria, France, Italy, China, the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland and Spain.
