By Brian Hutchins
Pet Product News International
Interzoo, the biannual international pet industry trade show held in Nuremburg, Germany, continues to grow. The total number of exhibitors grew 16 percent, from 1,101 in 2004 to 1,275 different companies from 56 countries for the May 2006 show. Total exhibit space has increased to 79,000 square meters from 68,000 square meeters since 2004. Attendance grew 10 percent to more than 34,000 visitors from more than 100 countries, according to show organizers.
The number of German exhibitors grew by more than 7 percent to 326 from 297 in 2004, reflecting growth in the German pet market of 2.3 percent in 2005. Seventy-five percent of exhibitors came from other countries, up from 73 percent in 2004 and 60 percent in 1996.
The greatest increase in exhibitors came from Asian companies, up 32 percent from 2004 to 323 companies, according to Hans-Jochen Buengener, chairman of the Interzoo Exhibition Committee.
The number of exhibitors from China, including Hong Kong, grew from 134 to 177; Indian exhibitors grew from 17 to 31; and Sri Lankan ones from 18 to 26.
China Great Wall International Exhibition Co. Ltd., which organizes the China International Pet Show in association with Nurnberg Global Fairs GmbH (owner and operator of the Nuremberg convention center) and the Guangdong Aquarium Assn., organized the China Pavilion, which showcased about 100 Chinese companies in three halls.
Rival Pet Fair Asia organized a delegation of an additional 10 Chinese companies, led by trade show organizer VNU Exhibitions Asia.
North and South American exhibitors increased 31 percent to 173, and South African exhibitors increased 50 percent to three. Within the Americas, U.S. exhibitors grew from 111 to 129 companies, Canadian exhibitors nearly tripled from 10 to 29, Columbian exhibitors went from one to seven and Peru was represented for the first time.
Overall, European and Australian exhibitors increased 8 percent, to 444 and 14 respectively. Within Europe, Interzoo saw growth in the number of exhibitors from Poland (18 to 30), Great Britain (57 to 66), Portugal (1 to 5) and the Czech Republic (15 to 17). The show saw declines in the number of exhibitors from Italy (105 to 100), Spain (38 to 30) and France (48 to 42), which organizers attributed to stagnant economies in those countries.
The numbers, however, tell only one side of the story. What makes Interzoo Interzoo is not just strong numbers, but its atmosphere that celebrates the diversity and interdependence of the global pet industry.
Part of this celebration is possible because of its European location, which makes it convenient for visitors from several other countries in Europe to visit. Most participants exhibit pride in the heritage and culture, which makes for an interesting, multicultural environment and a hospitality competition.
Other companies merged various cultures. Newly formed Zeleste of Kjellerup, Denmark, for example,showed off its line of licensed Disney Pets and Warner Brothers gift items, most notably licensed Advent calendars for dogs, with dog treats for each day. Managing director Hans Norland said the company had acquired a European license for the Disney Pets brand, and that he had been in Burbank, Calif., where Disney executives expressed interest in bringing the advent calendar and some other items to the United States.
Gardenex (The Federation of Garden and Leisure Manufacturers Ltd.), a trade association that promotes U.K. garden products, used the occasion to launch a sister organization, PetQuip (International Trade Assn. of Pet Equipment Suppliers). PetQuip (www.petquip.com) will facilitate contact between manufacturers, suppliers and buyers from around the world, not just the United Kingdom. The group's plans include business matchmaking meetings, with the first tentatively scheduled for December 2006 and again in May or June 2007.
Exciting Environment
The layout of the NuernbergMesse, the convention center, also plays into the overall environment of excitement. Instead of a single exhibit hall, the show spread across a record eight halls (the 2004 event has seven halls). Moreover, these halls were generally octagonal and laid out seemingly to minimize long aisles typical of U.S. shows. As a result, buyers and other visitors took a more meandering route through the show, with potential surprises around any corner for both buyers and exhibitors.
For example, within about five minutes of the show's opening, a Latvian distributor with about 300 stores was visiting with San Rafael, Calif.-based WorldWise, said a pleasantly surprised Aaron Lamstein, WorldWise's president and chief executive officer.
The maze-like layout also serves to slow down the visitor's pace, in line with a more leisurely European sense of time compared to the more frenzied pace typical of a U.S. event.
Another important factor is that Interzoo is held only every other year, and many of the European exhibitors build their marketing programs around it. The result of one show every two years rather than four every year is more elaborate booths than one sees in the United States for similarly sized companies.
The longer interval between shows may also temper new product introductions, as product launches are not so tied to the event as they are in the United States with Global Pet Expo.
More than anything, most attendees seem to relish their time at the event, often lingering in booths long after official show hours.
Spectrum unit Tetra featured a virtual reality pond on the floor rather than the massive aquariums and real ponds it has created in the past. The "water" of the virtual pond would splash when the floor screen was stepped on, and the virtual koi would swim away. As entertaining as the technology was, it seemed an interesting choice for a sector (fishkeeping) that many see as threatened by computer games and other electronic amusements.
Human-Animal Bonding
The pet industry depends on the growing bond between man and pets, and an underlying theme of this year's Interzoo was a species-specific approach to the human animal bond.
Reinhold Bergler, professor of psychology at the University of Bonn, delivered the keynote speech, centered on using pets as medicine. His speech highlighted several species, including cats used to relieve critical stress by people with long-term disease, dogs to help people with circulatory problems and unemployment-related depression, parakeets used to stave off dementia and other age-related health conditions in senior citizens, and fish as a general wellness enabler.
"Many studies also show, however, that the positive effects can only work if the animal-human relationship is intact," said KlausOechsner, president of German retail trade association Zentralverband Zoologischer Fachbetriebe in an address to the international trade press. "ZZF therefore recommends keeping and handling pet partners in a species-appropriate and responsible way. A lonely budgerigar in a small cage, the aquarium covered with algae or the lovingly overfed dachshund that canÕt keep up when it goes for a walk are cases of cruelty to animals and create rather than relieve stress."
Germany has some of the strictest animal welfare laws in the world, which impacts the retail trade. For example, housing requirements for dogs make it virtually impossible for a German pet shop to sell dogs.
"Animal-man relationships are usually set up in pet shops," he said. "The pet supplies trade therefore has a special responsibility in arranging such partnerships. This particularly includes providing detailed advice for the pet owners, especially about animals such as fish and reptiles, which cannot communicate their needs at all or only in a manner that is difficult for humans to understand."
The International Pet Advisory Council, an association of various trade associations and industry watchdog groups, also met in Nuremberg, but drew a disappointing number of industry participants, said Marshall Meyers of the Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council.
For example, one of the critical issues discussed at the meeting was proposed Swedish regulations that would prevent pet food medicinal claims, including weight control, on packaging. Although these regulations, if adopted, could potentially spread through Europe and the world, no representatives from pet food manufacturers attended the meeting, Meyers said.
Most other topics at the IPAC meeting focused on live-animal issues, including endangered species, invasive species, animal transport, animal welfare and various animal diseases.
Interzoo organizers also reported positive participation in the Pet Food Technology Symposium, which drew more than 130 participants for the program's 10 speakers. For 2008, organizers plan to more closely link the symposium with related exhibitors.