Retailers need innovative assortments, appealing product presentations and sustainable customer loyalty programmes to attract more consumer attention against fierce competition in the trade. With new ideas, special presentations and collaborations, Tendence from 30 June to 3 July 2018 will generate impulses for the sector and offer visitors innovative solutions for a competitive future.

From Saturday, 9601 exhibitors from 50 countries will present their latest products to an audience of trade buyers at Tendence in Frankfurt am Main. After Germany, most exhibitors come from the Netherlands, China, Denmark, Vietnam, India, Sweden, Finland, Poland, Austria and Belgium. At 46 percent, internationality remains stable at last year’s level. Over the four days of the fair, making business contacts, the trend show, cultivating business relations and placing orders will take place on an unchanged 94,6002 square metres of exhibition space. To ensure a balance between the international high-volume business and German and European companies focusing on the small to medium-sized retail trade, the number of exhibitors in the sourcing segment has been reduced. Thus, Tendence will do justice to its function as an event for all forms and sizes of the trade for both seasons (autumn / winter and spring / summer) and take even better account of the growing significance of events and product presentation in the retail trade with a variety of new activities.

“Tendence is the summer event for the sector where we show the trade the way to a competitive future. In this connection, the high-grade special presentations at Tendence make the fair a unique platform with important value added, especially for small to medium-sized retailers. Our primary aim is to offer visitors innovative solutions for a competitive future”, says Stephan Kurzawski, Senior Vice President, Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH.

As a source of inspiration for the trade, the international order platform in the second half of the year offers valuable input and expertise via an extensive complementary programme of events and special shows such as Tendence.Impulse, Outdoor Living, Concept Store Inspirations and the Tendence Academy. Moreover, trade visitors of the concurrent Gardiente trade fair for garden furniture and parasols can profit from the vast range of products at Tendence and attend both events thanks to a special free shuttle service between the two sites. Naturally, this also applies, vice versa, to Tendence visitors who benefit from an even more varied spectrum of outdoor-living products. New formats, such as the Pioneers of Lifestyle conference, the Paper & Friends area and Roots of Scandinavia help the trade meet the daily, multi-faceted challenges facing it. Increasingly, retail outlets are becoming a creative area for sensory and personal experiences. Deceleration through activity will become the trend for tomorrow’s businesses. Thus, the trade must search more for hybrid concepts to attract customers. And buyers can find ideas for this at Tendence.

“For our members, Tendence is an important date on the trade-fair calendar! Accordingly, I am delighted that there has been so much news over recent months about the complementary programme of events, special shows and new target groups. I think that Tendence is rapidly developing in conceptual terms, which will certainly make it more attractive and result in new groups of visitors and exhibitors”, says Lars Adler, Chairman of the Board of the European Lifestyle Association (Europäischer Verband Lifestyle – EVL).

The completion and subsequent occupation of Hall 12 will offer a variety of new opportunities from next year. Tendence is taking advantage of this to adapt the structure of the fair even more towards the various retail forms and buyer target groups. The new layout, which will only retain classic product groups to a certain extent, reflects what is happening in the retail trade: the bricks-and-mortar trade must develop into a magnet for customers and appeal to them in a targeted way. Thanks to this new structure, retailers will be able to compile their assortments at Tendence and introduce them into their shops. Together with the Retail Academy, the changes to individual areas have been planned to focus strongly on one particular form of the retail trade: small to medium-sized retailers.

In future, Tendence will occupy Halls 8.0 (Lifestyle), 12.0 (Design), 9.0 (Seasonal Decoration – mixed collections for autumn / winter and spring/ summer), 11.0 (Seasonal Decoration – spring / summer), 9.1 (International Sourcing), as well as outdoor area F11 with Outdoor Living.

Tendence 2018 takes place from 30 June to 3 July 2018. For more information, click the link below: