After discussions with hundreds of exhibitors and retailers, Messe München decided to cancel next January’s edition of the ISPO Munich show and to set new dates for that fair and OutDoor by ISPO, making them coincide with the beginning of the ordering cycle for the two main seasons. It described the move as “permanent.”
Concentrating like before on collections for the autumn/winter season, ISPO Munich will take place from now on at the end of November, starting next year on Nov. 28-30 (Monday to Wednesday). The spring/summer show, OutDoor by ISPO, will take place every year in May, but because of lack of space, it will run next year on June 12-14 (Sunday to Tuesday). Both shows will only last three days, and booth sizes will be capped. Bookings for the January show will be shifted to the November show or, if requested, they will be refunded.
As indicated before, the current disastrous supply chain situation has led vendors to ask for earlier orders to secure the production for next year, leading ÖSFA and other regional shows to move their dates forward. On top of that, the resurgence of the Covid epidemic in Germany as well as in other countries, particularly Asia, has created the risk that new restrictions will be imposed on the trade show or on international travel two months from now.
Anyhow, these contingencies have simply accelerated a trend toward earlier dates that has taken place in the market over the last few years, starting with the imposition of futures orders by big brands with long lead times like Nike. Even in the more weather-dependent winter hardgoods sector, which has been one of the pillars of ISPO Munich, Amer Sports (Atomic, Salomon etc.) decided a couple of years ago to pull out of the ISPO show, preferring to invest more money on direct contacts with retailers and consumers.
Fischer, for example, had already decided not to show at ISPO in January because of the “uncertainty” in the market. The company is now planning to exhibit at more regional shows in Europe as well as the U.S. Juha Luhtanen, the new CEO of Luhta Sportswear, told us that his company was originally planning to show “very extensively” at ISPO, but then cancelled its participation because it was running out of time to set everything up. “If the show details had been confirmed earlier we still would have participated,” he said, adding that the Finnish group will now resort to its extensive sales organization and its improved digital tools to collect pre-orders.
As we see it, after discussing the matter with industry executives, the idea now is for the brands to present their new products to the retail sector earlier, getting feedback and discussing new ways to collaborate with them and with distributors and suppliers in-person, without necessarily collecting all the orders right away. The retailers would get an overview of what is available and then place their pre-orders and final orders when they are ready to do that, based on the sell-out during the season.
ISPO will be less of a marketing tool than before. To lower the cost of exhibiting, the size of the booths will be restricted to a maximum of 200 square meters at ISPO Munich and 150 square meters at OutDoor by ISPO, creating a more level playing field for all the brands, like at the recent new IIA Mobility show in Munich. As we see it, the brands will have less space to display all their new products and more for interaction with the visitors.
Praising Messe München’s decision, Robbert de Kokk, president of the World Federation of the Sporting Goods Industry (WFSGI), indicated to us that events like ISPO will in the future serve primarily as a “networking” forum, adding that this is not possible over the internet. For this reason, he said he was disappointed that the industry will not be able to meet for WFSGI’s annual General Meeting in Munich prior to the ISPO show, as it did at its World Cycling Forum in September. WFSGI is now considering postponing a board meeting planned on Nov. 23 to the day before the General Assembly on Jan. 21, holding both of them over the internet.
Klaus Dittrich, CEO of Messe München, said ISPO will continue to be the most significant event in the sector as “the worldwide kick-off event for the winter season,” where retailers “get an overview of the season’s new products and can then start the ordering season, where decisions of industry-wide significance are made, and where consumers are excited, inspired and activated at the same time.” A “consumer festival” is still planned as part of the new concept.
A few days ago, Messe München announced that it is planning to reshape its board of management. Two of its members, Reinhard Pfeiffer and Stefan Rummel, will both become joint managing directors of the company as of July 1, 2022, taking the place of Dittrich. Pfeiffer, 58, has been deputy CEO since 2014. Messe München said that Dittrich has done “an incredible job” in more than 20 years with the company, the last 11 as its CEO, turning it into one of the ten best trade fair companies in the world.
The management of the ISPO Group is also about to change, after the recent departure of Markus Hefter and other employees. Tobias Gröber, who started at Messe München as project manager of ISPO from 1999 to 2004, is going to be again more directly involved in its evolution. He has been executive director of Messe München’s Consumer Goods business unit since 2004.
