That was imm cologne 2020
Imm Cologne ended on Sunday, January 19, 2020 and received positive overall results. More than 128,000 visitors (including estimates for the last day of the exhibition) visited the event to find inspiration in the industry.
UAM representatives have just returned from Cologne, where they went for inspiration, new acquaintances and opportunities for Ukrainian furniture makers, and now they are ready to share their impressions with you.
This year’s imm Cologne has attracted a high quality international audience of retailers and wholesalers. Specialized retailers and high-profile international visitors engaged in the interior and interior design trade were recorded as visitors, many of them coming from the world’s top 30 networks. Growth has been particularly strong here in the UK, including visitors to DFS, Heal’s and John Lewis. The event also attracted a strong audience from Scandinavia in the form of ID design, JYSK, Svenska Hem, Indoor Group from Finland, Bromölla Möbelaffär and Sängjätten, entire procurement teams attended several days of the exhibition. Major players in the e-commerce retail industry – including Amazon, Otto Group and Wayfair – were also present in Cologne.
Dmytro Patis, Head of UAFM Export Platform, held talks with German furniture manufacturers and designers on joint projects with Ukrainian furniture makers. Also managed to get acquainted with companies that:
- engaged in large purchases in the e-commerce segment;
- desks representing designers and architects;
- suppliers of innovative materials in the industry.
We have a lot to learn from the Germans, so Dmitry Patis and Andriy Kolesnyk, chairman of the UAFM Retail Platform, also got acquainted with the trends in furniture design and production in 2020:
- multifunctionality;
- environmental materials;
- universal design;
- durable quality;
- persistent colors.
The exhibition is almost always about the future, and in order to better understand today’s specifics of the German furniture market, UAFM representatives also went to one of Germany’s largest Hoffner furniture stores.
We invited everyone with whom UAFM representatives got acquainted with as visitors to the Furniture of Ukraine Business Expo and received confirmation of their interest in working with Ukrainian furniture makers.
The Managing Director of the German Furniture Industry Association, Jan Kurt, described this year’s exhibition: “For exhibitors imm Cologne 2020 was a commercially successful exhibition that allowed the industry to kick off in 2020. Cologne has once again demonstrated its value as a platform for contacts and inspiration, as well as a fair of orders . Together with all concerned, we will continue to increase the importance of this key event in an ever-changing environment. “
Trade mission of Ukrainian furniture manufacturers was realized with the support of USAID Program “Competitive Economy of Ukraine”.