Interzoo 2012 attracted over 37,000 trade visitors from 115 countries who came to discover more about the latest pet food products, grooming aids and accessories at this international trade fair for pet supplies.
The number of exhibitors rose by three per cent and altogether 1,539 companies from 53 countries presented their innovations and trends for four-legged pets, birds, fish, horses and reptiles on the four days of the exhibition on a gross display area of more than 100,000 m².
The exhibition promoter Wirtschaftsgemeinschaft Zoologischer Fachbetriebe GmbH (WZF) summed up the event positively on 20 May: “The exhibitors praise the high quality of the visitors and the good mood among the visitors in the exhibition halls,” said Herbert Bollhöfer, managing director of WZF.
The international flavour of Interzoo was clearly evident among both visitors and exhibitors. Whereas 62 per cent of the visitors came from abroad in 2010, this year’s figure was around 65 per cent, mainly from Italy, France, Great Britain, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Russia and Spain. The number of visitors from Germany dropped slightly: “Because of the structural change in the German pet supplies trade – although just as many trading companies visited this year’s Interzoo as in 2010 – they were represented by their chief buyers and consequently by less personnel than previously,” explained Norbert Holthenrich, president of the German Pet Trade & Industry Association (ZZF).
Seventy nine per cent of the exhibitors came from abroad. “Not only has the number of exhibitors risen, but the display area has also grown by more than seven per cent. The trend to larger and more prestigious stands has therefore continued,” reported Hans-Jochen Büngener, chairman of the Interzoo Exhibition Committee, at the Interzoo trade press conference. The number of European exhibitors at the 32nd Interzoo rose by seven per cent over 2010 – three per cent more exhibitors came from the USA and one per cent more from Asia.
This year’s Interzoo was also an occasion for the media with 382 journalists accredited for reporting on the exhibition and new products and trends in the pet industry on radio and TV and in newspapers, online media and magazines.
This also enabled the exhibition to generate positive impulses for pet-keeping: “The information and the new products and improvements will contribute to increasing the well-being of pets, enriching life together for pets and human beings,” said Norbert Holthenrich.
Products were shown in the pet food segment with new recipes tailored to the individual needs of the animals, such as small breeds or puppies. There were also many new developments and improvements in food supplements with products to combat certain food intolerances and musculoskeletal problems. The aquaria and terraria segments showed many modern, energy-saving high-tech systems, such as LED lights and energy-saving filter pumps. In fact, there was a definite trend among the products towards the use of recycled and materials.
The next Interzoo takes place in the Exhibition Centre Nuremberg from 29 May to 1 June 2014.
