Messe Frankfurt Restructures Tendence Fair

Trade show organizer Messe Frankfurt has made major revisions to its annual Tendence consumer goods fair, which will take place August 24–28 this year. Two new buildings, Hall 3 and the Forum, will add roughly 10 percent more exhibit space to an already gargantuan fair (5,000 exhibitors and 100,000 visitors). More importantly, the fair will be reorganized to reflect what Messe Frankfurt sees as two growing trends. The first is a polarization of demand in the market toward high-quality, expensive products on the one hand and cheaper goods on the other, so that there is little demand left for medium-priced goods. The second trend is that more exhibitors want to exhibit their products along lifestyle lines, rather than strictly by product category. Under the revision, many exhibitors will move to new locations, and a number of sections will be renamed. The changes in Tendence will also apply to Ambiente, the next installment of which will be held in February 2002.