imm cologne (and its associated LivingKitchen show) closed on Sunday 20th January, and recorded a total of 150,000 visitors (including estimates on the final day of the events), with 52% of the trade visitors coming from abroad, meaning the co-located events achieved a greater global reach than ever.
Visitors attended from 145 countries, and growth in overseas trade visitors was especially strong. But the trade fair duo also attracted greater numbers of visitors from other European nations.
“These results underscore once again that Cologne is the place to be for the global world of interior design. The past seven days have shown clearly that it is here in Cologne that the industry sets the direction for the coming year,” says Gerald Böse, president and CEO of Koelnmesse.
Echoing his comments, Jan Kurth, chief executive of the Verband der Deutschen Möbelindustrie (Association of the German Furniture Industry, VDM), says: “After a challenging 2018, this edition of imm cologne was an outstanding event and a successful trade fair that we as the industry are very pleased with.”
The events achieved significant rises in trade visitor numbers from China (+23%), North America (+15%) and South America (+29%).
Within Europe, considerably more industry professionals attended from Greece (+31%), Ireland (+30%) and Portugal (+31%) travelled to imm cologne and LivingKitchen.
Specialist retailers and high-profile international visitors from the furnishings trade and interior design business were recorded as visitors, with many of them coming from the global top 30 chains. Growth here was especially strong from the UK, with visitors from DFS, Heal’s, John Lewis, Hatfields and Kingfisher.
