The first interiors show of the year presented the trends that will be shaping the furniture and interiors sector – and the products that are good for business.
After seven days, imm cologne closed its 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 exceeded even its extraordinary performance of 2013. “These figures prove that the international appeal of the event in Cologne has grown even more and that the fair 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 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.” 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. The next two editions of trade fairs imm cologne will be held from 18 – 24 January 2016 and 18 – 22 January 2017
