Over the five days of Spielwarenmesse, trade visitors experienced innovative products, pioneering trends and a host of networking opportunities.
Spielwarenmesse reports that, between the 30th January and 3rd February, the industry came together at the Nuremberg Exhibition Centre. 2,354 exhibitors from 68 countries, an increase of 10% over the previous year, took the opportunity to showcase their trends and new ideas. Alongside the product innovations, a multitude of different networking opportunities and stimulating ideas on the lead theme of Kidults awaited the 57,000 visitors from 125 nations who gathered there.
“As the leading trade fair, Spielwarenmesse is the place where everyone from all over the world meets. You won’t find these opportunities anywhere else,” declared Ram Ronen of PMI Trading & Enterprise. For the vice president, the fair is the ideal opportunity to meet up with existing customers and to generate new contacts.
“We were able to welcome customers, potential customers and press representatives from all over the world, from New Zealand, Asia, Europe and the USA to South America, to our stand,” added Paul Heinz Bruder, CEO of Bruder Spielwaren.
Andrea Herre, Spin Master International, rates visitor quality very highly. “We had all the relevant decision-makers and key accounts meeting us at our stand.”
Christian Ulrich, spokesperson of the Executive Board at Spielwarenmesse eG, notes that China, one of the most important consumer markets, was able to re-establish its very high pre-pandemic levels. In addition, central Asian countries, such as Kazakhstan, and Ukraine have acquired a dynamism that compensates to some extent for Russia’s absence. The USA, which was already showing high potential last year, is among the top 10 countries for visitors.
With its special area, Life’s a Playground – Toys for Kidsters, Kidults & Co, an international study and expert talks, Spielwarenmesse highlighted adults as a target group, offering promising new suggestions for the trade. “Renowned exhibitors such as Mattel took up the Kidults theme in a big way. And the market figures from market research company Circana also demonstrate that we’ve picked up on the spirit of the age,” added Christian Ulrich.
Licences are becoming ever more prominent at the event. The partnerships with the global association Licensing International and with Brandmate, the B2B event for partnerships, collaboration and licensing, have thus continued to expand. “The LicenseTalks were a perfect opportunity for us to generate new knowledge,” said Maria Gunderson from the Flops startup company. The LicenseLounge brought together a large range of groups. Licensors such as Paramount, NBCUniversal and Warner Bros. were represented.
“At Spielwarenmesse, all the stakeholders are there,” said Martina Vierkötter of Haba, for whom winning the ToyAward in the Baby & Infant category was the icing on the cake. “It’s a great place to have conversations. It put a noticeable wind into our sails and generated various spontaneous meetings.”
Exhibitors’ opinions of the supporting programme were every bit as positive as their views on the range of services. For the second RedNight on the Thursday evening, over 100 exhibitors invited interested trade fair visitors directly to their stands.
Across all five days of the fair, small and mid-sized retailers were as heavily represented as the leading retail groups, which included firms such as Auchan, Amazon, Costco, Müller, Target, Smyths Toys and Walmart.
84% of exhibitors (2023: 83%) plan to participate in the Spielwarenmesse again. The next edition of the fair takes place between Tuesday 28th January and Saturday 1st February 2025.
