The twelfth trade and order fair for the European kitchen industry area30 in Löhne was again an all-around successful event with best demand. Over the course of six days, 12,316 trade visitors were inspired by the variety and range of new products presented by the more than 200 exhibitors and brands - the influx of trade fair visitors not only took place from the morning until the evening hours, but also from the first to the last day of the event. With trade visitors from around 60 countries, this B2B event is rightly considered to be European, if not global in scope. As conceptually projected, Germany as well as BeNeLux represented over 90 percent of the visitors. The highlight - as is familiar from other Trendfairs - was the stage at area30 with its extensive and first-class lecture program.

The area30 trade fair between September 16 and 21 in the heart of the German, perhaps European, kitchen industry was thus once again the undisputed networking hub for new product launches and know-how transfer. The industry should be completely satisfied after this event - certainly also because the trade fair atmosphere and optimistic mood formed the opposite of the often colocated recession fears.

During the trade fair, the supplier world met with sector specialists from trade and industry, buyers, media representatives and multipliers. The strongest rush of visitors occurred on the Sunday and Monday of the fair, with over 3,000 people registered in each case. Germany the home of the largest group of visitors and counted over 9,000 visitors (79%).

With around 1,350 trade visitors, the Federal Republic was followed by visitor groups from the BeNeLux countries (12 %), Austria, Switzerland and Italy - followed by the important kitchen countries France and Spain. Some trade fair guests from the export-relevant markets of Canada and the USA, as well as visitors from the import nations of Poland and China, took advantage of the area30 to exchange ideas and do business. Additional color to the event was also brought by "exotic" visitor nations such as New Zealand or Thailand, like the UAE, Oman or Uzbekistan...

The attraction of area30 is also made clear by the fact that visitor numbers are growing continuously despite increasing consolidation and market shakeout, despite cost pressure and increasingly hardening competition. The importance of area30 in the "kitchen autumn" is shown in parallel by a survey among exhibitors: according to this, two thirds see themselves as "successful" or "very successful" at this trade fair, the quality of the contacts is even rated by three quarters of the exhibitors with the school grade 2 or better. And for 70 percent of the respondents in each case, both the relevance of area30 is above average. According to the visitor structure, area30 is a typical decision-makers' trade fair, at which the "executive floor" - the majority of the industry companies are owner-managed SMEs - and sales and purchasing actively conclude business deals and make new contacts or maintain existing ones. Thanks to this lively networking, important decisions are made on the days of the trade show and beyond for the coming kitchen season or for the next few years. 2023, more than 3,500 owners or managing directors and around 3,700 executives from sales and distribution underlined the outstanding importance of the event. Around 500 designers and buyers each found their way to Löhne, plus around 1,000 product managers/developers, fitters/customer service staff, sales representatives and marketers. The presence of well over 100 media representatives was just as pleasing for the organizer Trendfairs GmbH from Munich as it was for all the exhibitors.

In terms of business origin, most visitors came from kitchen studios (5,300 guests). Kitchen stores and the furniture trade were represented in Löhne with over 1,000 trade visitors each. Almost 800 registered experts from the kitchen furniture industry gathered information, followed at some distance and with well over 300 guests each by representatives from the electrical appliance industry and the skilled trades. The clientele of the architects and interior designers represented together with approximately 350 prospective customers a just as important visitor group as representatives of federations and co-operation with approximately 310 persons. It is interesting to note that in the supposed "male domain of furniture", around one third of area30 visitors are now female.

The most important public highlight of this year's trade show was the innovation area with smart product ideas and digital solutions. And these in turn provided a perfect backdrop for the Stage, which featured top-class speakers and discussion panels from the first to the last day of the trade fair. Kitchen retailer and blogger Yvonne Zahn (Yvis Küchenglück - Kitchen Marketing), for example, enjoyed full audience attention on the Sunday of the trade fair during her presentation of the "Kitchen Trends and Innovations 2024". The fact that she brought table tennis world champion Jörg Roßkopf and Ligre owner Dr. Lina Gebhardt-Gronbach on stage made this appearance even more unforgettable.

Later, Murat Özcan inspired the audience with the entrepreneurial success story of his wife Sally (Sallyswelt). His presentation title alone, "Guaranteed to make you a millionaire in 30 minutes," was a crowd puller. With the "millions", as revealed itself fast, were meant ostensibly however not euro or dollar. Above all, he wanted to show the simple means that can be used to increase the frequency of visits to kitchen studios - with tips and encouragement to try out new approaches.

It is only a short step from the keyword "Ligre" - a newly conceived espresso machine designed by the Relvaokellermann office and winner of the golden German Design Award - to Portuguese designer Ana Relvao. And again with her to Miele chief designer Andreas Enslin and to the Inside Idea Talk as well. The editors and moderators Eva Ernst and Simon Feldmer - like all listeners - often pricked up their ears during the discourse of the two designers on questions such as: Are German companies more reticent than Asians, for example, when it comes to innovation? Or: Is the household appliance industry more likely to demand innovations than, say, kitchen furniture manufacturers?

It was hardly surprising that the topic of artificial intelligence was discussed at the Stage. After all, AI brings many opportunities to the kitchen industry, but it also harbors certain risks. Moderated by Patrick Mittmann (Future+You), Prof. Dr. Marco Barenkamp (FH Osnabrück and founder of the start-up LMIS) and marketer Maike Bendel (Republic of Yes) spoke about AI - impact on design and sales in the area30 Future Talk. In addition to exciting grand designs for the future, the numerous listeners were particularly interested in those tools that are currently already available. With so many ideas and visions in the bag, the next area30 with its next stage from September 21 to 26, 2024, can be eagerly awaited.

Facts & figures 2023: area30 at a glance

Trade visitors
12,316 trade visitors from around 60 countries

Logos
Trade fair and company logos can be downloaded here:

Download Logos and images