Global consumer goods industry convenes at Messe Frankfurt’s record-breaking trade fair
Messe Frankfurt welcomed some of the best and brightest in the consumer goods industry, as it organised its biggest trade fair yet. The mega event, comprising Ambiente, Christmasworld, and Creativeworld, was held over five days from 26 to 30 January, and was themed “Celebrating Business Together” – reflecting a need more than ever to strengthen ties and collaboration in these unprecedented times.
The festival broke records, with close to 5,000 exhibitors presenting the latest consumer goods trends and innovations to 140,000 visitors.
As an international networking and ordering platform, the event also provided a one-stop shop for industry players, with over 170 participating countries and regions providing inspiration and solutions to current challenges in the market.
Top marks for internationality, quality, and quantity
This year’s trade fairs were marked by an increase in internationality, with three out of four trade visitors coming to Frankfurt from abroad. Germany spearheaded the list of visitor nations this year, followed by Italy, China, the Netherlands, and the USA.
The entire spectrum of the specialised retail trade was
well represented in Frankfurt. Additionally, the fairs attracted both local and international buyers, including Amazon, Crate & Barrel, Galleries Lafayette, Harrods, the Museum of Modern Art, and Zara Home.
A hotbed of innovation and creativity
Design, digitalisation in retail and production, lifestyle and sustainability, new work, future retail: these were just some of the global industry themes that were in focus at the fair.
Lectures, special presentations, workshops and guided tours ran consistently throughout the five- day event. Highlights included the new Designer Day, a networking event for designers, and the Ambiente Designer title, which is set to be a regular fixture of Ambiente in the future. Milanese artist and product designer Elena Salmistraro kicked things off as the Ambiente Designer 2024. Through a special show dubbed The Lounge – A Serious Game, the talented designer presented her vision of a lounge at the thematic interface between design, HoReCa, and contract business.
The future of new work and digital transformation
Lifestyle and workstyle are increasingly merging, and the Future of Work area provided answers with a specially curated show that presented solutions for modern work environments.
This area not only gave new impetus to office furnishers,
but also to other groups such as architects, planners and commercial end users such as hotels, the hospitality industry and providers of co-working spaces..
In the area of digital transformation, online retail players such as EK Retail, Kaufland and nmedia provided comprehensive information on digital services for bricks-and-mortar retail and online business. Visitors were also able to try out, on-site, how the shopping experience can be enriched and personalised through technology.
The next Ambiente and Christmasworld is slated for 7 to 11 February 2025, while Creativeworld is set to run from 7 to 10 February, 2025.
