Even before the last day of the fair on 20th January, one thing is already certain: Cologne has established itself as an international venue for the kitchen industry. An excellent mood amongst the participating companies and visitors plus new launches and trends as far as the eye could see – LivingKitchen 2013 has impressively proved its worth as an exhibition format and reaped top marks in many areas.
“The second edition of LivingKitchen has been truly successful. We have seven outstanding days behind us, during which the kitchen – the focal point of people’s lives – has found its home in Cologne once and for all,” says CEO of Koelnmesse Gerald Böse. “In the three halls dedicated to the show, the sector has once again demonstrated just how much innovativeness, sophisticated design and quality it has to offer. I’m confident that, in the months to come, this will have a very positive impact on our exhibitors’ order books. LivingKitchen isn’t just a powerhouse for trends, innovation and design, it’s also the most important business platform in the global kitchen market”. Frank Hüther, managing director of AMK, couldn’t agree more: “LivingKitchen 2013 is every bit the highly deserved joint success that the kitchen industry and Koelnmesse had been hoping for: an international kitchen event in a class of its own.”
Besides carrying on seamlessly from the success of the premiere event in 2011, LivingKitchen has even considerably improved on its key figures in many areas. Innovative presentations from manufacturers, world premieres for new kitchen furnishings, household appliances and accessories as well as star-studded cooking shows – the outstanding mix on offer covered everything to do with kitchens and cooking and ensured a steady volume of visitors on all days of the fair – not to mention beaming faces amongst the exhibitors.
On course for growth: internationality of visitor structure increases
A total of 142,000 visitors came to the metropolis on the banks of the Rhine. With foreign visitors accounting for a share of 42 percent (based on the trade visitor days), the imm cologne and LivingKitchen were once again very international trade shows. On the one hand there were considerably more buyers from Europe, especially from the Russian Federation and traditionally strong countries like the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Italy and Switzerland, on the other hand there was also a marked rise in the number of visitors from Asia – and especially from China. “The main goal was to increase the new kitchen event’s international significance and, more than anything else, make the theme of kitchens in Cologne an attractive proposition to even more trade visitors from all over the world. We achieved that goal,” sums up Katharina C. Hamma, Chief Operating Officer of Koelnmesse. “LivingKitchen has thus definitely got what it takes to become the most important, most comprehensive and most interesting trade fair platform for this sector,” adds the COO.
The Public Days were also very well attended. Around 43,000 consumers came in search of inspiration from the kitchen and furnishing worlds on show.
Exhibitors full of praise in every respect
Jam-packed exhibition halls and intense business activity ensured exhibitors were in excellent mood. “As far as Alno is concerned, LivingKitchen 2013 was a very successful trade fair. Both the volume and quality of the visitors far exceeded our expectations. We’re delighted that our new products met with such a positive response from our trading partners and consumers alike,” said COO Elmar Duffner of Alno AG.
AMK’s managing director Frank Hüther is also full of praise: “LivingKitchen 2013 has been the highly deserved joint success that the kitchen industry and Koelnmesse were hoping for: an international kitchen event in a class of its own – thanks to magnificent booths and products, thanks to intense visitor marketing on the part of both the exhibitors and the trade fair corporation, and thanks to sound PR as well. The strong presence of the trade sector and the substantial number of international trade visitors – especially from Russia, China and Asia in general – were definitely grounds for enthusiasm. International exhibitors were also able to convince themselves of the professionalism, visitor volumes and quality that LivingKitchen can offer them. Just like the international media, they will be spreading the word as to where modern kitchens are at home and where the world’s leading kitchen fair belongs: in Cologne!”
“We and our subsidiaries were able to make excellent use of the LivingKitchen stage to communicate our brand values, hold valuable talks and make new contacts. Accordingly, we’re really thrilled with LivingKitchen 2013,” comments Stefan Kohl, Head of Corporate Communications at Blanco.
“The way the kitchen furniture industry and electrical appliance manufacturers have been portrayed here in the LivingKitchen halls is a huge and very impressive success. We at nobilia are very pleased with our location and – as always – feel very much at home at LivingKitchen. As compared to 2011, there’s been a definite improvement in the internationality of the visitor structure: in particular, we noticed an increase in visitors from Russia,” says executive director Dr. Oliver Streit.
Roland Hagenbucher, CEO of Siemens-Electrogeräte GmbH, couldn’t agree more: “After the successful premiere two years ago, LivingKitchen 2013 has once again exceeded our expectations. If LivingKitchen is any indication of what kind of business year 2013 is going to be, we’ve got some successful months ahead of us.”
Andreas Kress, CEO of Zeyko: “I’m really delighted. I’m very happy that I decided against Milan and in favour of Cologne. We had a great volume of international visitors at the booth, much better than in 2011. And I’ll be doing my utmost to ensure it carries on that way in 2015.”
Dr. Reinhard Zinkann, chairman of the Household Appliances Division of ZVEI (German Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers’ Association) and the spokesman of the association’s board, summed up the last few days as follows: “The domestic appliance industry’s expectations of LivingKitchen 2013 have been fully satisfied – not only in terms of the number and quality of visitors, but in terms of the atmosphere in the halls as well. In that respect we are very pleased with the way this year’s trade fair went.”
LivingKitchen – trends
* Continuing trend towards open-plan living-kitchen rooms
* Courageous use of new, natural materials – glass, ceramic, wood
* More convenience for the user
* The resource efficiency of appliances is a crucial keyword
* Modern household appliances are becoming increasingly intelligent
* Plain or colourful – anything goes
