Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
The organiser of Spring Fair International says this year’s show bucked the high street gloom, with figures released today showing that visitor numbers were up 6% over last year.
The Birmingham event, which took place earlier this month, drew over 68,116 visitors, amongst whom were more than 5,000 international buyers. Major UK stores including Selfridges, House of Fraser, John Lewis, Hamleys, Harrods, Liberty, Tesco and Marks & Spencer were all represented, along with independent retailers.
In addition, around 300,000 new launches were showcased by 3,000 exhibitors operating across 13 different market sectors.
Organiser i2i Events says signs of economic recovery were indicated by the Spring Fair Retail Barometer, the show’s own industry survey, which revealed that 82% of retailers are forecasting growth in 2013 and an improvement in consumer confidence.
The show offered buyers a full seminar programme, ecommerce theatre and demo areas, and celebrities in attendance included Delia Smith, Sophie Conran, Lawrence Llewelyn-Bowen and Kirstie Allsopp along with trend experts from WGSN, Pantone and Trend Bible.
Next year’s Spring Fair will take place from February 2 to 6.
