The Frankfurt consumer goods fairs Christmasworld, Paperworld, and Creativeworld launched the new business season with relevant industry topics. 3,051 exhibitors from 74 countries presented their new products for decoration, festive décor, paper, office supplies, and stationery, as well as hobby, crafts and artists' requisites to the national and international trade.
The three leading international trade fairs attracted around 84,000 visitors from 163 countries to the Frankfurt exhibition grounds with numerous innovations, unusual product presentations, and a future-oriented complementary programme. "In addition to the industry-specific future topics, it is the high degree of internationality and the outstanding visitor quality that make the trade fair trio an indispensable platform for industry and trade. Our trade fairs bring the global players in the industry together in one place - this personal contact is the key to success for the entire consumer goods industry in the digital age," says Detlef Braun, Managing Director of Messe Frankfurt.
Paperworld makes its mark with future-oriented industry topics
The international trade fair for paper, office supplies and stationery picked up on market trends and, over the four days of the fair, focused on innovations relating to the New Work megatrend. A total of 1,591 exhibitors from 69 countries presented their products and services in Frankfurt am Main.
“In the current challenging market environment, this result makes us optimistic, in part because the level of internationality has once again increased. The conditions for guiding Paperworld into the future as the most important national and international industry platform could not be better. I am personally delighted with the open, constructive, and very cordial exchanges with our customers and partners. This motivates me and my team to create a genuine meeting place together with the sector", says Julia Uherek, Vice President Consumer Goods at Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH.
According to the exhibitor survey, around two thirds of the exhibitors were very satisfied with the assessment of the visitor quality. Almost 80% of exhibitors indicated that they had achieved their trade fair objectives.
"As expected, Paperworld was successful for the stationery, office supplies and writing materials industry. The extensive changes made to the fair made a major contribution to the overall positive impression; both nationally and internationally, the visitors response matched our expectations. We are entering the new year with cautious optimism", says Volker Jungeblut, Managing Director of the office and stationery brand manufacturers association (PBS Markenindustrieverband).
With 30,723 trade visitors , Frankfurt is and will remain an indispensable business platform for personal interaction, even though there was a slight drop in the number of visitors - particularly from China, due to the concurrence of the Chinese New Year. At the same time, Paperworld has further reinforced its position as the most international trade fair for the stationery, office supplies and writing materials sector, and consolidated its pioneering role as a marketplace for innovations and a representation of industry trends. According to the visitor survey, 92% of trade visitors were very satisfied with the range of products.
"Frankfurt's consumer goods fairs are the most important platforms for our sectors. We as an association, together with Messe Frankfurt, are strategic partners for the retail trade to highlight new opportunities in these times of change", says Thomas Grothkopp, CEO of the German retail association for home and office furniture (Handelsverband Wohnen und Büro).
In addition to Germany, most of the trade visitors came from Italy, the Netherlands, Great Britain, France and Spain, as well as China and the USA. There was particularly strong growth from Portugal, Greece, Saudi Arabia and Brazil. Numerous exhibitors emphasised the increased internationality of the visitors, including Ralf Heilig, Commercial Director of Hallmark Germany: "We are delighted with the quality of the event in numerous respects. But particularly with the international visitor mix with a special focus on Eastern Europe. We also made contact with visitors from countries we hadn't anticipated, such as Madagascar".
The entire world of office and stationery can only be found in Frankfurt
Paperworld consolidates its position as a pioneer in the sector, and presents a unique range of products for both commercial office supplies and lifestyle products for paper and stationery for the non-business segment - making it the only fair for stationery, office supplies, and writing materials that covers both areas equally. This is why visitors' interest in the products on offer is equally distributed across both product groups. Office papers and shipping supplies (34%) are particularly in demand, followed by writing and drawing instruments, office and desk equipment, organisational aids, calendars and notebooks as well as printer and IT accessories.
The product diversity to be found in the two areas "the visionary office" and "the stationery trends" opens up new perspectives that are decisive for fresh ideas and exciting additional product ranges. At the same time, the accompanying programme provides new impulses for the trade - for example, with supplementary ranges, ideas and experiences at the PoS, as well as the latest product trends for shop and window display design. "Paperworld is a fair that enables me to see the bigger picture. It’s where I can find out about all the latest trends and products. And also why a visit every year is a must. Then I place all my orders straight away", says Norbert Schrader of SRIBI stationery in Braunschweig.
Christian Haeser, Managing Director of the German retail association for home and office furniture (Handelsverband Wohnen und Büro), also emphasises Paperworld's role as an indispensable trend barometer: "It was particularly important for the specialist retail sector to see which trends and innovations inspire customers at Paperworld again this year".
Sustainability remains a hot topic at Paperworld
There is a strong trend across all product groups towards resource-saving processing and recycled products. As an international platform for the office and stationery market and a mirror of the industry, Paperworld has focused on sustainability and environmental protection for years. Examples include the Sustainable Office Day, where specialist presentations focus on sustainable purchasing, and the partnership with the German Agency for Renewable Resources (FNR), which presents its "Renewable Office" at the fair.
"At Paperworld 2020, we saw that numerous exhibitors are now also highlighting their sustainable products. Environmental protection and sustainability are not just short-lived trend themes. On the contrary, an awareness of these issues has become firmly rooted in the paper, office supplies and stationery sector. If you want to stay fit for the future, you cannot afford to ignore this topic", says Michael Reichhold, Director of Paperworld.
Ecology in the workplace is a future issue because it not only serves to protect and preserve the environment, but also goes hand in hand with economic considerations. A viewpoint also emphasised by Peter Eberl, Managing Director of Standardgraph Zeichentechnik GmbH: "We see the topic of sustainability gaining ground. However, to assert themselves, the products must be clearly recognisable as such and also be priced in relation to the other products.”
New "Paperworld Office Village" and "Future Office" make a big impression on exhibitors and visitors
The new "Paperworld Office Village" offered exhibitors from the office world a high-quality environment in which to present their products. The open design of the area and the central lounge where trade visitors were able to exchange thoughts and ideas were particularly praised. "By implementing the Office Village, Paperworld has successfully added an interesting special zone to the existing exhibition concept. The presentation spaces for brand-name companies were well integrated into the overall concept and enabled the focused presentation of new products. The central communication area provided for exhibitors quickly established itself as a meeting point, and facilitated fruitful discussions with international business partners in a relaxed atmosphere", says Torsten Jahn, Managing Director of Pelikan Vertriebsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG.
Important future topics, such as New Work, were addressed in the further education and complementary programme "Future Office", which provided insights into "Smart Solutions" for the workplace of tomorrow with presentations and exhibitions. Topics included ways to encourage communication between decentralised teams, methods for processing large quantities of data, and how to make a conference room suitable for a combination of face-to-face and virtual meetings. Specialist presentations and exhibitors in the area focused on the "smart" design of office spaces. "We are participating as exhibitors in the 'Future Office' for the third time because it has shown itself to be an interesting concept for us. On the one hand, the exhibitors are well integrated into the overall theme of the area and, on the other, the lectures increase the frequency of visitors. This provides us with additional high-quality contacts, including architects, for example, at our stand", reports Burkhard Remmers, Director of International Communications and Public Relations at Wilkhahn.
Wide range of events attracts visitors to the stationery halls
The impulse area "Future Learning" highlights the important social trend of lifelong learning. Visitors were introduced to analogue and digital learning concepts.
What the future holds for schools and educational institutions was discussed by the Hessian State Minister for Science and Art, Angela Dorn (The Greens) with the first ever robot lecturer Yuki, Professor Jürgen Handke, and interested conference participants on the Monday of the fair.
In Hall 3.1, everything revolved around the lifestyle trends in paperware, writing, gift giving and school - which also applies to the Paperworld Trends. The presentation gave retailers ideas for compiling their range of products and arranging their shops. "This year, we observed that major impulses are coming from home and product design. At the same time, the trend towards sustainability is growing", says Claudia Herke from the style agency bora.herke.palmisano that created the trend area on behalf of Messe Frankfurt. The core topics at the Paperworld 2020 trend worlds were recycling, upcycling, and the circular economy.
Another highlight in Hall 3.1 was Mr Books & Mrs Paper, which impressively demonstrated how booksellers and other retailers can skilfully combine different product segments to generate additional sales. The focus this time was on how paper products can be used to create unique shopping experiences. New this year was the option to order one of the theme worlds with products from various exhibitors as a complete product package from a single source via wholesale partner Hofmann + Zeiher GmbH - including an attractive decoration suggestion. "A large number of visitors from diverse sectors responded enthusiastically to this year's staging ideas," says Angelika Niestrath, curator of Mr Books & Mrs Paper.
Entering the coming season with refined colours and smart technology
Retailers can fall back on a variety of trends this year: from elegant dark shades in blue and green combined with gold patterns or pastel nuances in turquoise and pink - both trends give the office a sophisticated yet fresh touch. Summer with its light colours is being drawn into the office, while geometric motifs, this time strongly inspired by Art Deco elements, are still in vogue. These colours are combined with sustainable products and natural materials.
Parallel to the colour trends in the product world, a resource-saving approach to work is also playing a major role. Thanks to modern technology, remote work and home offices are becoming energy-saving and smart solutions. Numerous exhibitors in the office segment correspondingly presented their digital whiteboards, laptop connect tools or even smart writing instruments.
"We offer our customers technologies that help them to extend the best of the analogue world digitally. We demonstrated this, among other things, with our Samsung Flip digital flipchart at Paperworld", says Markus Korn, Director of Display Solutions at Samsung Electronics GmbH.
The consumer goods fairs will again take place next year around the last Saturday in January:
Christmasworld: 29 January - 2 February 2021
Paperworld and Creativeworld: 30 January - 2 February 2021
www.paperworld.messefrankfurt.com
