Outlook on growth areas and highlights for 2024

Under the motto " Home of Consumer Goods ", the Ambiente , Christmasworld and Creativeworld fairs in February redefined the largest and most important networking platform and constituted the nerve center of the global consumer goods sector. In a short stop, Julia Uherek and Philipp Ferger answered questions from visitors and revealed what is planned for 2024 and what new exhibitors and visitors can expect.

"Wow – the comeback was sensational and overwhelming", opens Julia Uherek, Vice President Consumer Goods Fairs, the conversation. After a break of more than two years, the international consumer goods sector finally met again on site in Frankfurt. The three consumer goods fairs occupied the entire exhibition centre and welcomed 154,000 visitors from 170 participating nations. "The high degree of internationality and the terrific satisfaction ratings exceeded all expectations. Frankfurt is the one-stop shop for the global consumer goods sector", says Uherek. In the fully booked exhibition halls, there was euphoric reunion joy and a lively ordering mood for five days. "With the three leading fairs together, we have managed to create unique synergy effects worldwide. Our market research proves this. Now it's time for fine-tuning, there is potential for optimisation that we want to exploit," adds Vice President Philipp Ferger.

For 2024, optimisations are to be made, taking into account the feedback from exhibitors and visitors in order to create growth potential for new exhibitors and to improve the routing for the different target groups. "We are pleased about the enormous rebooking rate at all three trade fairs – basically we are already overbooked. Also the big players are back at Christmasworld and Creativeworld. This is a great sign of confidence from the industry and spurs us on to do even better next year," says Ferger. The challenge now is to meet all the needs and create space for growth in a fully booked exhibition centre: "We are in contact with the companies to offer suitable space. As fair organisers, we want to offer our exhibitors the best possible placement and at the same time the greatest possible variety for our visitors".

What is new in 2024?

The signs are on growth in terms of quality and quantity – above all at Ambiente Dining and Working as well as in the Global Sourcing section of Ambiente and Christmasworld. In the Dining segment, Ambiente remains the world's unrivalled No. 1 with an unique variety of products for the table, kitchen and household. "We are in talks with many exhibitors who did not exhibit in 2023. For example, we are currently discussing placement options with Fackelmann, Kuhn Rikon, and Zwiesel. The new layout in the western part offers short distances and optimal structures for buyers. There are only minor optimisations here," explains Ferger. For a better description of the product ranges, the product groups in Hall 9.2 will be renamed "Clean Home & Storage Solutions" and in Hall 9.3 "Top Deals & Collections". "Hospitality is and remains a strategic growth area. This does not rule out an expansion of the programme in Hall 11, but also outside it. For example, the HoReCa Academy will move into the foyer to generate more space for new exhibitors who have already registered," says Ferger. In Hall 11 there is a clear focus on the segments "Front of House" and "Out of House". In the future, offers from the "Back of House" segment will be found in the Cook & Cut area in Hall 8.

Growth segment Working

There is also news at Ambiente Working: after the positive response to the segment, which was introduced for the first time, additional space for growth is planned for 2024 with the Festhalle and the Forum. Office suppliers for commercial office supplies and technology will move into Forum 0 and the Festhalle. Remanexpo, the platform for remanufactured printer components, is located in the Congress Center and additionally in Forum 1. The entire range of gifts, school articles and stationery will in future be united under one roof in Hall 4.2 and will expand to the section Urban Gifts, Stationery & School. "We are planning additional space for the PBS segment that was not available to us in 2023," says Ferger. "We are thus creating our own PBS cosmos with a more efficient circulation in the eastern part with a direct connection to Interior Design and Urban Gifts, Stationery & School. We are already pleased about the numerous registrations from the stationery brand industry, such as Jakob Maul, Sigel and Han. Trade visitors and buyers from the commercial sector will benefit from the optimised routing and proximity to Creativeworld. The range of products and services in the Future of Work area will be given a new name, 'Office Design & Solutions', and will move to the eastern part of Hall 3.1. The trade fair highlight Future of Work will thus continue to reflect the facets of the meta trend New Work in an attractive interior design environment. A new addition is a promotional area for young, innovative suppliers who can use Ambiente as a steppingstone for their businesses.

This means that the specialist trade side with European brands and suppliers can grow in the eastern part, but high-volume suppliers of stationery will also be given more space in the western area of the fair ground. As the biggest platform outside China, the Global Sourcing section of Ambiente and Christmasworld will be strategically expanded: Hall 10 will be redesigned to accommodate the growing range of products in the Ambiente Giving and Working segments for stationery, office with office supplies and technology and in the Dining segment for tableware. In return, the Global Sourcing range of Christmasworld will move to Hall 6.2 and thus into the trade fair itself.