IFA 2022 Organizers Downplay Philips, Other Brands Shunning Show
The “big brands and big retail groups are back here in Berlin” for IFA 2022, Messe Berlin CEO Martin Ecknig said Wednesday during an opening IFA news conference. Top IFA executives said they were unfazed that the first full-size IFA in three years conspicuously will be missing stalwart exhibitors like Philips and Sony when it opens Friday to the trade and public for a five-day run.
Though some companies “are not here” exhibiting at the Messe Berlin fairgrounds, “IFA itself covers 90% of the market, so that’s the good news,” said IFA 2022 Senior Vice President David Ruetz, when asked about TP Vision’s decision to abandon its customary Philips stand in Hall 22 and instead hold a TP Vision Berlin Live event for journalists and retailers elsewhere in town. “This phenomenon that other exhibiting companies are outside of the fairgrounds makes us, in a way, happy because they see IFA as not to be missed, so they are here,” he said. “We have noticed that they also attend IFA as walking exhibitors with tickets, so they are present.”
IFA 2022 will have fewer exhibitors than in 2019, and “that’s not a surprise,” said IFA 2022 Director Kai Mangelberger. “A trade fair such as IFA takes more than one year of preparation,” and amid the COVID-19 pandemic challenges of 2021 and early 2022, many companies were forced to make decisions about IFA participation “on short notice,” he said. IFA 2022 organizers are planning for more than 1,100 exhibitors from 46 countries, he said. IFA 2019 drew just shy of 1,900 exhibitors.
More than 80% of the Messe Berlin fairgrounds “are filled with IFA,” said Mangelberger. “If you compare that to all the leading trade shows taking place or which took place this year, it’s typical for 2022,” he said. “Not everywhere it’s easy to get a visa,” said Ruetz. “We have a lot of Asian exhibitors, especially from China, who would love to come, but they couldn’t, because of the travel restrictions,” he said.
The “exceptionally positive development” of historically strong, pandemic-fueled consumer tech sales “has finally come to an end,” Sara Warneke, managing director of Gfu Consumer and Home Electronics, told the news conference. “The sales volume of 2021 will not be achieved in 2022,” she said. Gfu’s contract with Messe Berlin as IFA’s organizer expires with the 2023 show, and negotiations are underway on a new contract, said Warneke, who wouldn't speculate on the outcome of the talks.
Gfu estimates global sales of “technical consumer goods,” including consumer electronics and home appliances, declined 5.5% year over year in 2022's first half to $413 billion, said Warneke. “In other words, the pandemic-related boom is over, and the markets are back to normal,” she said. “Such declines are not surprising, and we expected them, due to the unusually positive development in 2021. But it is worth noticing that current sales are still above 2019 levels.”
Despite the decline in sales expected in 2022, “there still are opportunities for positive developments,” said Warneke. World Cup 2022 in Qatar will take place during cold weather in much of the world when it opens Nov. 20 for a monthlong run, she said. “There will hardly be any outdoor screening of the matches, and more people might stay at home instead of going to restaurants and bars, due to increased prices.” Amid the “unpredictable” nature of the ongoing pandemic, “the World Cup is likely to be increasingly watched at home, which makes an investment in a new TV set an obvious choice,” she said.