Final Report IPM ESSEN 2011: Essen as a Worldwide Marketplace for Four Days

Leading Trading Hub and Network Platform in the Green Sector
Attracted Around 60,000 Visitors from All Over the World

"The world came to us to place orders, to obtain information and to make contacts," Heinz Herker, President of Zentralverband Gartenbau (ZVG - "Central Horticultural Association"), made the assessment about the 29th IPM ESSEN which ended as a great success. "This year, a special mood was discernible. Everywhere, satisfied faces and even euphoria." Around 60,000 visitors from all continents were guests at the premier global fair in the green sector. 1,508 exhibitors from 47 countries presented their innovations and services. An even higher number of globally significant associations than in the previous years used IPM ESSEN as a network platform in order to hold their conferences and board meetings.

In addition to numerous associations and institutions which have been using IPM ESSEN for their central get-togethers for years, a few new ones have also convened in Essen for the first time. For example, Union Fleurs, the global association of flower and plant wholesalers, held the constitutive session of its new board of directors in Essen. Under its umbrella, the association unites 18 national member associations which, in turn, stand for around 80 percent of the worldwide turnover resulting from the import and export of cut flowers, green plants and potted plants.

The Plants for Europe plant breeders' agency, a member of the Ciopora association (the international community of breeders of asexually reproducible ornamental and fruit plants), staged its members' meeting at IPM, as did the European DIY Retail Association (EDRA) which represents the national sectoral trade associations as well as individual companies.

Information about innovations and trends, market orientation and establishing and maintaining contacts were the primary objectives with which specialists from all over the world visited IPM ESSEN. And, almost without exception, they once again made a positive assessment of the range available at IPM.

The positive assessment of the range on offer at IPM and the good mood were reflected in the ordering behaviour. 35 percent of the visitors had already ordered something at IPM or were planning to place orders before the end of their visit. Another 46 percent wanted to order something after the fair. The visitors also showed that they were extremely satisfied with the internationality of the fair. IPM ESSEN is a top-ranking business platform: 74 percent of the visitors are decision-takers. Correspondingly, the satisfaction of the exhibitors with the number and quality of the visitors as well as with their internationality has risen once more.

59 innovations from 29 exhibitors were candidates for marks of distinction in the IPM Innovation Showcase 2011. The jury was convinced by the high breeding value of the exhibited plants. From the "Bedding and Balcony Plants" category, the Primula acaulis F1 Zebra Blue from Rudy Raes Bloemzaden, Belgium, was honoured as an "IPM Innovation 2011". The most attractive "Blossoming House Plant" (the most innovations were submitted here, i.e. 24) is the Kalanchoe interspecific hybrid Queen® Wildflowers®'Charming Purple Bouquet', exhibited by Knud Jepsen, Denmark. Mandevilla x Diamantina®'Citrine' 403 with its bright yellow blossom, exhibited by New Plants Motril from Spain, came out on top amongst the "Tub Plants". The Campanula portenschlagiana Get Mee ® DARK, submitted by Gartneriet PKM A/S from Denmark, was convincing in the "Perennial Plants" category. The Magnolia x soulangeana 'Genie' S from Plantipp B.V. from the Netherlands was impressive amongst the "Woody Plants"; its black-and-purple blossoms are a novelty in the colour spectrum of the magnolias. Tweedia caerulea 'Pure Blue' Tweedia Bluestar, exhibited by the Flower Export Association from Japan, won in the "Cut Flowers" category. This year, the jury bestowed a special prize on the Cymbidie Koshu Moon 'Yokihi' from Mukoyama Orchids, Japan.

Within the framework of the opening ceremony for IPM, Johannes Remmel, Minister of Agriculture, awarded the North Rhine-Westphalia Horticultural Prize 2011 to the horticultural business Otto Schmitz-Hübsch GbR from Bornheim near Bonn for its "innovative solutions for direct marketing in horticulture". The company shows in an impressive way how a native producer can direct the consumers' interest towards regional horticultural products and can make use of this interest. Professor Dr. Matthias Diezemann, Chairman of Interessenvertretung der deutschen Industrie für den Gartenbau (INDEGA - "Association Representing the Interests of the German Horticultural Industry"), conferred the INDEGA Technical Prize 2011 on two prize-winners.

In the evening of the first day of the fair, the Floradania Award 2011 was handed over by Hans Christian Schmidt, Denmark's Minister of Transport. The prize for which the exhibitors in the Denmark hall could put themselves forward as candidates was presented in four categories.

Six young florists qualified in the first round of the new faces Blooms promotion programme for the up-and-coming generation. In the course of IPM ESSEN 2011, they performed several floristic tasks in front of the trade public. The final of the competition will take place at IPM ESSEN 2012.

This year, the Eastern European Forum focused on Bulgaria. Experts gave an overview of the economic situation in the country and portrayed business possibilities. The specialists spoke about markets and tendencies in ornamental plant cultivation, highlighted the developments and perspectives of the tree nurseries in Bulgaria and passed on their experience in relation to doing business in Bulgaria.

On Wednesday, January 26, the "Training Day" took place at IPM in Essen for the tenth time. Here, around 600 pupils and their teachers experienced green occupations live and, all in all, enriched with a lot of theoretical information about requirements and future potential in the sector. Dr. Wilhelm Schäffer, Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of Employment, Integration and Social Affairs of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), opened the event on behalf of Hannelore Kraft, Minister-President of NRW and patron of the "Training Day". He called upon the young people to make the most of the chance to obtain comprehensive information and advice at the event and to become familiar with the multifaceted nature of the occupational possibilities in the fields of horticulture and floristry.

Top-class floristry, flowery trends as well as new colours and techniques - the FDF FloristEvent Center in the Green City aroused the enthusiasm of the visitors with innovative ideas and strong-selling stimuli for the daily floristic business. The show stage attracted a very good number of visitors on all the days; the lavishly designed presentation areas also offered a lot of creative impetus with thematically presented bouquets and flower arrangements.

With his team, the master florist Manfred Hoffmann presented the FDF Trend Edition for 2011 - implemented in bouquets and flower arrangements close to practical needs: Sweet Harmony for the romantics, the colourful summery Holiday Home variant, the traditional Noble House subject and the exclusive Nostalgia Chic interpretation.

The Nicole Florists College in Moscow, a partner college of Fachverband deutscher Floristen (FDF - "Trade Association of German Florists"), was a guest at IPM for the first time. With his students, the College Director Alexei Bulatov offered impressive insights into first-rate Russian floristry.

The winners of the German Florists Championships made the visitors crave for spring. Thomas Gröhbühl, Elisabeth Schoenemann and Birgit Farwick showed new ideas, processed in colourful works. Springlike flower diversity was also the overall subject of the IPM competitions. The aim was to produce workpieces such as a wreath, a receptacle-filling arrangement and a bouquet under this motto.

Helmuth Prinz, President of Fachverband Deutscher Floristen e.V. - Bundesverband - ("Trade Association of German Florists - Federal Association -"), praised the successful appearance at the fair: "An abundance of inspirations and a meeting place for the international world of florists! Including a lot of colleagues from the Eastern European region. The overwhelming interest in the new floristry trends in 2011, in flowery inspirations from international designers or in the expressive presentations from Germany's best florists is confirming to us a successful and high-quality floristry programme. It inspires the sector and provides enduring impetus for the successful marketing of flowers. Parallel to this, our exhibitors with floristic requisites were happy about the good demand. Interest, motivation and creative enthusiasm were noticeable in a particularly distinct form at IPM ESSEN 2011. That makes us look forward to the coming season with optimism."

The exhibitors and the visitors also expressed their great satisfaction with their replies with regard to the intention to visit the fair once again. Even now, 93 percent of the visitors and 92 percent of the exhibitors were already saying that they want to be involved once again at the 30th IPM ESSEN which will take place on January 24 - 27, 2012.

We have presented ourselves at IPM for the third time. Our booth was well-visited and very busy. We were able to establish particularly numerous and good contacts with visitors from Canada, the USA, Ukraine, Poland, Hungary, Italy, Spain and Japan. For us, IPM is important not only for the European market but also for the worldwide sales. We see the economic situation optimistically. We are expecting growth for this year.

We are very satisfied with the appearance at the fair. On our booth in Hall 5, we had exactly the right public: International purchasers with a great interest in the Danish products. There was a strong demand for our innovations and for our miniature plants - a Danish speciality.

Northern Europe is an important market for us. The exports of our plants have risen by 16 percent. We want to consolidate and expand our position even further. For this purpose, we had a very good public at our booths at IPM. There was great interest in the Mediterranean and subtropical plants from our region such as palms, oleanders and olives. We would like to enlarge our booth for IPM 2012.

IPM has met our expectations. In comparison with the past years, the frequency of the discussions with customers has hardly altered. However, the discussions went more productively in 2011. The visitors had more time, not least due to the new assignment of the days. The internationality of the fair was very positive for us. We have canvassed a large number of new customers from overseas, also from the USA and New Zealand.

IPM is an absolute must for us. Here, we meet a lot of customers whom we do not see at any other time of the year. For us, the fair is a communication platform in order to elaborate new business ideas. The internationality of IPM has increased. That is very valuable for us as a company with activities throughout the world.

We use IPM in a quite targeted way in order to raise the customer loyalty to our company. IPM is the most important trade fair for our business. For the field of substrates, soils and fertilisers, the "bio" subject was very big this year. In this sector, we have a large number of new products which we are glad to present at IPM.

The Wednesday and the Thursday were very good. Then, we held discussions from the morning to the evening. We are very satisfied with how things have gone. The quantity and quality of the visitors are okay. IPM is growing and growing. It is a success story. For us, the fair is important for maintaining contacts and for making new contacts. Moreover, it is also a contact exchange to the media. On our booth, we had a lot of trade journalists and TV stations which obtained information about our innovations.

Eight companies were exhibitors on the Polish cooperative booth. Even now, we have already received inquiries from other companies which want to be involved in IPM 2012 next year. The demand for the displayed products was very good and the goods are competitive as far as the quality and the price are concerned. An additional advantage: The plants from our producers are very hardy and resistant to cold. That was a very important argument, principally for the Russian and Eastern European visitors.

With IPM, this year has begun successfully once again. The good organisation by the fair team in advance is paying off now. We had a lot of and, above all, good contacts. We were very satisfied especially on the first day of the fair. The optimistic mood in the sector is clearly perceptible with everybody! Even today, we are already looking forward to IPM once more next year!

We are satisfied with the course of the IPM 2011 fair. We were sceptical at first because we had a booth in the upper-storey halls for the first time. For this reason, we decorated our booth in a particularly conspicuous way - with lots of bird houses and also with artificial snow. That went down very well with our visitors. We have met not only many of our existing customers but also a lot of potential new customers and have written orders as well. There were a very high number of trade visitors on our booth. We have reached our target group. We will come once again next year.

It is primarily the rescheduling which has proven its worth this year. Last year, I still had a sceptical attitude to this. As a result of this, the visitors have become more professional and that is good for the fair as a whole. The positive impetus in the market is discernible, particularly amongst the German purchasers and those from Eastern Europe and Turkey.

The scope of the international visitors was very impressive. I am amazed at the different countries that are represented here that we normally do not see. Our purpose here was to test the waters and we are extremely pleased at the reception we have received and we hope to build on these relationships in the future.

IPM Is a fantastic show, best in the world and has been for years. We've made lots of good contacts, the show gets more international every year. This is the first time we've exhibited at the show and already we've had lots of interest. Our products have been very well received and we are extremely satisfied!