Messe München has put an end to its Ispo Bike show for the trade and decided to shift its bicycle-related offer to f.re.e, a leisure and travel show that it has been organizing for consumers. Bicycles already had their own space at f.re.e , but it is going to be enlarged. Also, instead of taking place during the summer, as Ispo Bike did, f.re.e is scheduled to run next year on Feb. 19-23, before the cycling season starts up.
The Ispo Bike project has lasted for five years. It was supported from the start by ZEG, the big German cooperative of bicycle retailers, which had been committed to the Ifma show organized by the Cologne Fair. After Ifma failed, ZEG moved to the Munich show and helped the operator there to build up its own cycling show. Apparently, the rival Eurobike show in Friedrichshafen has proved to be too strong a competitor to let Ispo Bike develop in a promising way, despite its stronger focus on urban mobility.
Messe München says it remains open for new talks on a trade-oriented show with the industry, if the market players in this sector are interested in having it hosted at an international venue such as the one in Munich. Meanwhile, the bicycle industry will continue to have full access to all the services provided by Ispo Munich and Ispo Beijing throughout the year, including the Ispo Awards, the Ispo Brandnew rookie contest, the Ispo Academy, Ispo Jobs and a brand-new service called Ispo Community.
Ispo Community is meant to be a new communication tool offered by Ispo on ispo.com for direct communication between vendors, brands, retailers and consumers all year 'round. It can be used to engage consumers and to conduct photo and idea contests, theme-oriented opinion polls, market research and social media campaigns via Facebook and other social networks. The interaction can take place on a B2C or C2C basis, and it can generate votes and interesting discussions, helping to determine the latest trends in the market.
The first successfully completed campaign on the site - “My Bike, My Style” - drew 240 photo entries and 45,390 votes. This was 100 more entries and seven times as many votes as a similar campaign on Facebook last year.
The technical tools supporting the Ispo Community service have been developed by Voycer, a provider of social media technology. It is part of Ispo's efforts to promote networking, market knowledge and training in the sporting goods industry through a variety of channels. Ispo says the internet is increasingly used by the industry, and 80 percent of the relevant target group searches for information online at least once a week, with half of the people doing it on a daily basis.
Separately, Ispo has launched an Ispo Academy Retail Booklet, featuring articles on successful sporting goods retailers. It has been compiled by trade journalists and retail experts, and is now available for purchase online at the Ispo Shop.
