Renowned as the organizer of EuroShop (The World’s Leading Retail Trade Fair) in Düsseldorf, Germany, Messe Düsseldorf is expanding its activities into China with the new trade fair C-star. This satellite event of EuroShop geared towards the Chinese market is scheduled for May 13 – 15, 2015 at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre. The EHI Retail Institute will be Messe Düsseldorf’s partner for this trade fair.
Following the EuroShop structure, C-star 2015 will be divided into four independent but connected exhibit segments: shop fittings, lighting, refrigeration and store design; retail technology; visual merchandising and marketing; exhibition stand construction. The targeted visitor groups consist of the three most important retail sectors in China: retailers, industry and services.
Messe Düsseldorf considers its involvement in the Chinese market a necessity. “In all of China there is currently no high-quality national event similar to EuroShop. Yet China is a country where the retail sector – whether high-street retailers or e-commerce – has been growing fast and steadily for many years,” commented Hans Werner Reinhard, Deputy Managing Director of Messe Düsseldorf and Chairman of Messe Düsseldorf China Ltd.
Between 2009 and 2012 overall sales in China rose from about Euro 1.6 billion to over Euro 2.5 billion. By 2015 China will be the second-largest consumer market in the world, after the U.S. China’s total retail space alone will have grown substantially by 2015, with an expected 50 to 100 million square meters of new retail space. Half of the world’s shopping centers currently under construction are being built in China.
EuroShop exhibitors are specifically welcoming C-star. According to a survey conducted by Messe Düsseldorf in June 2013 among 1,440 EuroShop exhibitors, the significance of the Chinese and Hong Kong sales market had been steadily increasing and trade fairs in China were considered major marketing tools. More than 50% of the respondents stated that they were either operating in China and Hong Kong already or had specific plans for a market entry in these countries.
“With C-star we can contribute our vast expertise in the organization of retail trade fairs. Moreover, as organizers, we know how to export established trade fair formats to China, having been successful with Chinaplas, All in Print China, wire/Tube China and ProWine China. I am confident that C-star will provide internationally operating companies with an attractive trade fair platform that will facilitate their development on the Chinese growth market,” said Hans Werner Reinhard.
C-star 2015 will be held in the dynamic and modern economic center of China – the booming city of Shanghai, which is the hub of one of China’s economically most powerful and forward-looking regions. One third of all retail space is concentrated within 20 top-tier cities in the country’s south-east.
For further information on visiting or exhibiting at C-star 2015, contact Messe Düsseldorf North America, 150 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 2920, Chicago, IL 60601. Telephone: (312) 781-5180; Fax: (312) 781-5188; E-mail: info@mdna.com; Visit our web site http://www.mdna.com; Subscribe to our blog at http://blog.mdna.com; Follow us on twitter at http://twitter.com/Retail_MDNA