Organisers say visitor decline was ‘expected’ at new-format GDS
Organisers of Dusseldorf-based trade show GDS have said visitors and exhibitors praised the new format show – even those who had previously been critical.
They faced some resistance when they announced this year’s editions would be moved from March to February while the second edition took place at the end of July rather than the traditional September.
Around 900 brands exhibited and while organisers have not published visitor numbers they say a decline was expected.
Werner Matthias Dornscheidt, CEO of Messe Düsseldorf, said: “Many exhibitors have given us very good feedback on our concept and the quality of visitors, in fact including some who had taken quite a critical stance until lately.
“We were aware that the early dates would go hand in hand with special challenges, which is why we expected visitor attendance to drop slightly. But we are confident that from February the response will be even better because in our visitor survey satisfaction levels were as high as 91%.”
Around 70% of visitors said they had visited the trade show specifically as an information platform to gain an overview of the market. Just under half of those polled travelled to Dusseldorf with the intention of placing orders at the show.
Kirstin Deutelmoser, director of GDS and tag it! by gds, said: “GDS is set to become the trigger for the new season and will, first and foremost, whet people's appetite for new products. Now it is key for exhibitors to present themselves perfectly because one thing has become clear after this event: due to the early dates of GDS many retailers will already decide at the trade show which suppliers they want to take into consideration for future orders and which they don’t.”
She praised Tag it! by GDS, the second new concept premiered by the trade show – formerly Global Shoes – which attracted 370 exhibitors and which started the day before GDS. However, she admitted tweaks are necessary: “The basic idea is also on the right tracks here but we will analyse and re-adjust the format together with the industry after the event. The first measure already decided upon is that tag it! by gds next time will also run for three days from Wednesday to Friday.”
Italy-based show Micam has also moved its dates to earlier in the footwear buying calendar.
