Continuing increase in international participation

11 May 2018 // WZF

Continuing increase in international participation

Numerous international trade visitors and extremely professional presentations - event organizer WZF (Wirtschaftsgemeinschaft Zoologischer Fachbetriebe GmbH) provides a very upbeat assessment of the Interzoo 2018: At the world-leading trade fair for the international pet industry, roughly 39,000 trade visitors from more than 125 countries learned all about the latest pet food and pet care products, accessories and services for dogs, cats, fish and many other pets. The number of exhibitors rose by 9 percent. A total of 1,989 vendors from 66 countries presented their innovations and trends in an overall exhibition area of more than 120,000 square meters this year.

“With 83 percent of exhibitors coming from outside of Germany, the level of international participation reached a new record. The highly sophisticated presentations by these vendors from all over the world were especially remarkable”, said Hans-Jochen Büngener, Chairman of the Interzoo Exhibition Committee. Seventy four percent of visitors (2016: 70 percent) came from foreign countries, especially Italy, Spain, France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Czech Republic, China and Poland. “And so this year’s Interzoo again proved to be an excellent platform for cultivating professional business relationships in Germany and abroad and for introducing new products”, Büngener said.

Herbert Bollhöfer, Managing Director of Interzoo organizer WZF GmbH, spoke of the positive mood among the exhibitors: “The companies were thrilled by the enormous international trade possibilities and expect good follow-on business. And Interzoo’s expanded supporting programme, including (for example) the Retail Tour, the Country Sessions, various live acts and short topic-related conferences, met with an extremely positive response among exhibitors and visitors alike”, Bollhöfer reported.

Like the previous editions, this year’s Interzoo was a media event: Roughly 400 journalists from almost 30 countries were accredited to report on the trade fair and the product innovations and trends in the pet supplies industry on TV, in newspapers, online media and trade magazines.

Interzoo’s growth is a reflection of the positive development of the international pet supplies market, which grew to more than EUR 98 billion last year, according to statements made by Norbert Holthenrich, President of the German Pet Trade & Industry Association (ZZF) at the Interzoo press conference. The pet supplies industry expects this trend to continue: “Industrially manufactured premium goods are now in demand in eastern and south-eastern Europe. There is still development potential in South America and Asia, and also in Africa,” Holthenrich continued. Above all, interest in pet ownership is growing worldwide, including in Germany: Today, almost half of all households in Germany have a pet, as compared to only one third just ten years ago.

The pet supplies industry continues to utilise the latest scientific findings to invent and refine premium pet products. “Many exhibitors improved their recipes for premium pet food, developed snacks with active additional benefits, and presented technical solutions for aquariums and terrariums,” said ZZF President Norbert Holthenrich. After all, animal lovers are looking for products to provide optimal care to their pets.

Growing need for information about sustainability

Sustainably produced pet supplies represented a new and consistent trend at Interzoo 2018. For example, some manufacturers presented environmentally friendly packaging, while others presented food made from alternative ingredients such as insects. The event organizer WZF is supporting this trend with its Interzoo Sustainability Initiative introduced at Interzoo 2018 for the first time. “In our survey of exhibitors, 80 percent stated that sustainability aspects will be very important or extremely important for the pet industry in general and for their own companies in the next three years,” said Dr Rowena Arzt, Director Exhibitions at WZF GmbH, at the press conference. “Sixty four percent of the companies stated that they have already made meaningful progress on this front.” With this initiative, Interzoo organiser WZF, together with the Sustainable Transformation Lab of Antwerp School of Management (AMS), wants to provide an industry-wide overview on existing activities and point out ways how the pet supplies industry can implement sustainability topics more effectively and successfully,.

The next Interzoo will be held in Nuremberg again from Tuesday, 19 May, to Friday, 22 May 2020.

The organizer of Interzoo is WZF GmbH (Wirtschaftsgemeinschaft Zoologischer Fachbetriebe GmbH), which has appointed NürnbergMesse GmbH to operate the exhibition.

ZZF (German Pet Trade & Industry Association) is the sponsor of Interzoo.

Press photos: www.interzoo.com