EuroCIS 2013, Europe’s leading trade fair for retail technology, has drawn to a successful close on Thursday (21 February 2013) in Düsseldorf. Over the duration of three days 7,040 trade visitors in total were registered, which corresponds to a 10% increase in visitors against the previous year.
All in all, 233 exhibitors from 22 countries occupied 6,810 m² of net exhibition space. This means EuroCIS 2013 also registered an 8% increase in exhibition space over the last event now occupying not only Hall 9 but also the neighbouring mall of the exhibition centre for the first time.
Biggest fair since 2006
“EuroCIS 2013 kicked off with two trail-blazing days. The last day was somewhat affected by the airport strike but this was nonetheless the biggest EuroCIS since its inception as a stand-alone event,” delights Hans Werner Reinhard, Deputy Managing Director at Messe Düsseldorf, and stresses: “While the extraordinarily high level of corporate presentations was particularly striking for the exhibitors, visitors impressed exhibitors with their high decision-making competence.”
Underlining the strategic importance of technology for commerce
Drawing a very positive balance, Ulrich Spaan, Member of the Board and VP Trade Shows + Research at the EHI Retail Institute, says: “We are extraordinarily satisfied with EuroCIS 2013. It has impressively stood its ground as Europe’s leading trade fair for retail technology while underlining the strategic importance of technology for commerce just as impressively. We are particularly delighted with the high percentage of international visitors.”
The international expert audience came to Düsseldorf from a total of 41 countries. The top-5 countries of origin after Germany were the Netherlands, Russia, Switzerland, Italy and France.
Mobile in focus
The themes covered by EuroCIS 2013 above all reflect the dramatic developments in Smartphones and Tablets. Exhibitors showcased a particularly high number of innovative and forward-looking solutions for the mobile segment. The integration of web, mobile, social media and offline commerce was discussed in depth by suppliers and retail decision-makers at the stands.
One in two companies is currently looking at multi-channel integration
The EHI Retail Institute’s study “IT Trends in Retailing” presented at EuroCIS 2013 showed that the number of retail companies planning multi-channel projects had almost doubled compared to 2011. One in two companies is currently looking at multi-channel integration. This was also underpinned by the Multi-Channel Forum at EuroCIS. Under the heading “Multi-Channel in Practice – Strategies, Concepts and Solutions” it met with keen interest on all three days of the trade fair.
"Classical" topics also draw attention
In terms of "classic" retail topics there was a strong demand for supply chain management, business intelligence and the wide panoply of PoS solutions at EuroCIS 2013. Avid interest was also taken in the wide spectrum of payment solutions and loss prevention issues.
IT solutions specifically for the fashion industry
After its debut in 2012 the “Fashion Select Village” succeeded in further consolidating its position within EuroCIS. Speaking for Mobi Media, one of the nine companies offering custom IT solutions specifically for the fashion industry at the Fashion Select Village, Hannes Rambold at Mobi Media management, summed up: “The trade fair went well. The traffic at our stand within the Fashion Select Village was twice as high as two years ago when we took part with one single stand; we feel “in very good hands”. It is correct to address retail by industry in a targeted manner, i.e. in our case the fashion sector. We managed to have intense consulting sessions with both industry and commerce representatives.”
Received well across the board by both exhibitors and visitors alike was EuroCIS’ increased engagement in the field of social media. This caused a stir not only in the run-up to the trade fair but also - thanks to several twitter walls in the hall and a first LinkedIn-meeting - during the trade fair.
The next EuroCIS will be held as part of EuroShop 2014 from 16 to 20 February 2014 in Düsseldorf.
