Clearly structured by trading forms, lifestyles and target groups, Tendence 2019 focused even more closely on the needs of customers. For three days, 603 exhibitors presented their fashionable lifestyle and trend products. The trade fair’s new, modified concept, numerous events and live presentations contributed to the positive mood among exhibitors and visitors. Despite the summer heatwave, the wide range of products on show were enthusiastically received by the 15,000 trade visitors1 – putting them in a buying mood and encouraging them to place orders and make contacts.

Tendence 2019 was notable not only for its wealth of inspiring ideas but also its brand new 3-day concept and focus on the challenges that face the consumer goods market. Last September, due to the transformational changes taking place in the consumer goods industry, Messe Frankfurt decided to develop a new concept for Tendence and shorten its duration to three days. “These modifications and the decision to adapt Tendence’s focus to retailers’ specific structures and needs have gained widespread acceptance among retailers during the event. This was the first important step towards gaining acceptance for the new concept, which allows us to offer a variety of stimulating ideas and useful aids for retailers – helping them to remain competitive. The launch of two new online platforms – Nextrade and Conzoom Solutions – also underlines how Messe Frankfurt plans to support retailers in the future as digitisation continues to play an ever-greater role in the industry”, says Stephan Kurzawski, Board of Management of Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH. Special presentations such as the Tendence Academy, Paper & Friends, the Village, the EVL area and The Store offered visitors added value and exciting examples of best practice to implement in their own businesses.

Thomas Grothkopp, Managing Director of Handelsverband Wohnen und Büro, also sees added value for the retail trade. “Tendence has truly become a ‘value-added fair’ – with fascinating lectures, excellent design, innovative ideas and extraordinary concepts from exhibitors in a compact 3-day event. Every trade visitor has found something special. All this, of course, is in addition to the exhibitors attractively presenting their collections for 2020 and additional products for this year's Christmas shopping season. Moreover, it was exciting to witness the unveiling of Nextrade which creates new opportunities for ordering in the digital market place. The knowledge platform Conzoom Solutions also went online during Tendence and offers genuine added value for retailers.”

Temperatures outside the halls were tropical as 15,000 buyers from 80 countries once again used Tendence to network, experience and order. Visitor satisfaction scores remained be high. The proportion of international buyers was stable compared to last year.

After Germany, the top nations visiting the fair were Switzerland, Italy, Austria, France, the People's Republic of China, the Netherlands, Japan, Poland, Belgium, Vietnam and the United Kingdom. Visitor growth from Ireland and south-eastern Europe was particularly strong.

The online platforms Nextrade and Conzoom Solutions go live At Tendence 2019, Messe Frankfurt launched not one but two new online platforms. One of these is the international B2B marketplace Nextrade.

This is a new unified digital ordering and data management system for suppliers and retailers in the consumer goods industry. Nextrade extends the trade fair and allows orders to be placed at any time of day or night, 365 days a year. Messe Frankfurt also used Tendence 2019 as the perfect opportunity to present its new content platform Conzoom Solutions for the first time.

It offers a broad spectrum of products for the consumer goods sector as well as a complete overview of Messe Frankfurt's portfolio for the industry – bundling a wide range of information for retailers.

 

For exhibitors too, the new format is the right way forward. They were satisfied with Tendence 2019 and Messe Frankfurt’s commitment to the event.

“Tendence is still one of our most important touchpoints with the German market. An annual opportunity to hear first-hand how Scandinavian trends are perceived in Germany is immensely valuable to us. Once again, we will be taking home a lot of ideas and insights to share with our designers in Denmark this year.”

“Visitors are discovering a completely new Tendence: with a fresh face and innovative structure. The relaunch has been a success and our customers are praising the new concept.”

“We came to the fair with a clear vision of our target group – wholesalers who were looking to plan their business early and place pre-orders for next year. So we are delighted that Hall 11 has brought us together with precisely this target group. The hall concept has been very successful for us: we have received a large number of major orders and also reached our international clientele from southern Italy, Spain and Lebanon.”

“I think the mix at this year’s Tendence has been super and very bold. We had fewer customers on the first day but since then business has been very brisk. The mix in Hall 12.0 has just been perfect.

I wasn’t expecting so many international customers here. We have had visitors from Japan, Peru, Russia and Spain at our stand. Tendence still has a strong international reputation.”

“We were very pleased that Tendence's new hall concept offered the quality our visitors expect. Because one thing is clear – simply presenting your goods no longer works. This conceptual realignment towards life goals is exactly the right way forward for us, although some traditional exhibitors, perhaps, do not feel the new approach directly addresses their expectations. I think the special presentations and fashion shows created a stronger and more emotional shopping experience – we certainly noticed that at our stand.”

 

Gentle green steps off the catwalk and into the living room – combined with pink, it creates warm summer tones. Sun yellow is the colour of the season. In combination with black and white, it is very popular in the interior design sector. Plenty of rattan and raffia wickerwork are a key element for the perfect look. Accessories that look home-made, but are not, are also in high demand. The trend towards natural styles continues. Yet – in apparent contrast to these natural colours – the preference for precious metals such as gold and copper in furnishing trends continues, although copper is gradually giving way to brass. Silver colours are also very fashionable and in high demand. In the area of accessories, fresh plants are growing in popularity – emphasising the popularity of more natural environments. Fresh fruit motifs are also an extremely popular feature of interior designs. Whether on fabrics, pillows or walls – the freshness lasts there even longer. Large leaf prints are also impossible to miss.

The next Tendence will take place from 4 to 6 July 2020.