Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
In view of the exponential worsening of the pandemic situation worldwide and the accompanying tightened travel and contact regulations, the consumer goods fairs Christmasworld, Paperworld, and Creativeworld have been cancelled for January 2022 and Ambiente for mid-February 2022.
The regionally-oriented trade fair Nordstil, taking place from 15 to 17 January 2022 in Hamburg, is still set to take place at the present time.
According to a communication from organiser Messe Frankfurt, the deterioration of the conditions and necessary prerequisites for holding the four trade fairs due to the spread of the Omicron virus in Europe and Germany has created an unforeseeable dynamic which makes continuing with the shows impossible.
This includes the classification of Germany as a high-risk area and the associated travel warnings and international and intercontinental travel restrictions in countries such as India, Japan and the United States, as well as the corresponding quarantine obligations. Equally important are the steadily rising infection figures and the accompanying urgent appeal, among others by the Robert Koch Institute and the expert council of the German Federal Government, to continue to reduce contacts to a minimum and to cancel all major events.
There are no plans to postpone the event. Detlef Braun, Member of the Executive Board of Messe Frankfurt, explains: “Since the trend-oriented order cycles of the international consumer goods industry require an annual event at the beginning of the year, a shift to the second half of the year would not meet the needs of the exhibiting companies and visitors.”
“This decision was anything but easy for us. However, in agreement with large parts of the industries represented at the fairs, it is now our responsibility to take this difficult step,” said Braun. “Our thanks therefore go to all our partners from the consumer-goods sector, be they exhibitors, visitors, associations or the media, who worked with us on the trade fairs until the very end and, like us, put their heart and soul, energy and passion into staging them.”
Messe Frankfurt’s digital platforms for business success
Messe Frankfurt has already been helping retailers since 2019 with Nextrade, the first order and data management platform for the home and living sector, and Conzoom Solutions, an information platform for the global consumer goods sector.
“A second year without appropriate ordering, inspiration and networking formats poses considerable and in some cases existentially threatening challenges for retailers worldwide,” Braun explains. “With our digital offers, we are specifically supporting our partners in industry and trade in this volatile situation. In addition, we will continue to put all our energy and optimism into safe and promising trade fairs. Because there is no substitute for meeting in real life.”
Information on the planning of the Frankfurt consumer goods fairs for 2023 will be announced at the beginning of February 2022.
