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146,000 visitors from 138 countries – a significant increase in visitors from abroad.

After seven days, imm cologne and LivingKitchen closed their doors with a very positive outcome on Sunday, 25 January 2015. 146,000 visitors from 138 countries came to the Cologne exhibition grounds, among them 102,000 industry visitors (99,000 industry visitors in 2013) from the national and international trade, meaning that the fair duo exceeded even its extraordinary performance of 2013.

“These figures prove that the international appeal of the two events in Cologne has grown even more and that the fair duo is, without a doubt, the most important platform for the domestic as well as the international market”, concludes Gerald Böse, President and Chief Executive Officer of Koelnmesse GmbH. “This is a great indication for Cologne as a trade fair location and confirms the effectiveness of imm cologne and LivingKitchen as a marketing tool”, he adds. Dirk-Uwe Klaas, Managing Director of the Federal Association of the German Furniture Industry, drew a similarly positive conclusion. “We already had very high expectations of the fair and even they were exceeded. We are happy about the increase in national and international industry visitors and are starting the 2015 furniture year very optimistically.” Hans Strothoff, President of the Federal Association of German Furniture, Kitchens and Furnishing Retailers summarised the outcome for the trade sector: “The fair was marvellous and exceeded retailers’ expectations.
imm cologne/LivingKitchen is the most important fair in the world for the trade”.

This year, imm cologne and LivingKitchen presented themselves as very international events. Of the 102,000 industry visitors, around 56,000 came from Germany and approximately 46,000 from abroad (an increase of 13 per cent). In total, the percentage of visitors from abroad was 45 (based on industry visitor days).
Within Europe, increases in visitor figures were recorded in particular from Spain (up 27 per cent), the UK (up 20 per cent), Italy (up 11 per cent) and the Netherlands (up 13 per cent). Visitor figures from France, Scandinavia and Poland also showed good growth and off set the politically induced fall off in visitors from Russia. Significant increases could also be seen in industry visitor figures from China (up 32 per cent) and from the US (up 47 per cent).
“The excellent levels of visitor attendance from abroad meant we were able to strengthen our exhibitors’ export businesses. Italian companies, for instance, did some very good business here in Cologne with German retailers as well as with those from abroad”, says Katharina C. Hamma, Chief Operating Officer of Koelnmesse GmbH. 44,000 consumers took advantage of the open days to find out about the trends for the coming season.

LivingKitchen closes with good results
In parallel with the world’s most important furnishing fair imm cologne, international kitchen event LivingKitchen took place this year. After 2011 and 2013, LivingKitchen once again proved to be a powerful attraction.
Its strong appeal could be felt not just in Germany, the home of the kitchen, but also far beyond the country’s borders. For seven days, 215 exhibitors from 22 countries showcased their innovative drive, high design standards and quality. With the proportion of visitors from abroad at 45 per cent, the event once more proved to be very international. “We are extremely satisfied with LivingKitchen 2015, in particular with the increase in the number of industry visitors from Germany and abroad as well as the media coverage on the topic of kitchens surrounding the fair. We are hopeful that this will generate positive momentum for the entire kitchen industry”, says Kirk Mangels, Managing Director of the Working Group AMK (Arbeitsgemeinschaft Die Moderne Küche e.V./Modern Kitchen), in summary. This year, LivingKitchen not only followed on seamlessly from its success in 2013, but significantly improved on the key figures in many areas. Innovative presentations by manufacturers, world premieres of new kitchen furniture, household appliances, accessories and cooking shows with a celebrity factor – the outstanding mix of everything connected to kitchens and cooking ensured steady levels of visitors on all days of the fair as well as satisfied exhibitors.