In Germany, exports start at domestic fairs

For the first time, a representative survey shows to which extent domestic trade fairs are relevant to the export business in Germany. 63% of German exhibitors report that participating in international trade fairs in Germany is important or very important for their export business. This is one of the results of the MesseTrend survey of exhibitors commissioned by the Association of the German Trade Fair Industry (AUMA) and conducted by Kantar TNS.

This figure rises to nearly 70% for exhibitors in the high-export investment goods industry. In the consumer goods sector it is still a good 68%. It is considerably lower for companies in the trade and services sector, which is more strongly oriented to the domestic market in general.

A major reason for this finding is the fact that 30% of visitors to Germany trade fairs come from other countries. Precisely for small and medium-sized companies, this represents a favourably priced opportunity to build international business relations.

But the survey also reveals that trade fairs are of special relevance to German companies above and beyond the question of exports: 24% of businesses regard them as their central instrument for B2B communications, and around half consider them to be equal in importance to other instruments.

The full study will appear in mid-February in the series of publications from the Institute of the German Trade Fair Industry.