Over one in two visitors came to Dusseldorf from abroad and this time more buyers from the Benelux, Scandinavia, Great Britain and the Baltic states attended. Exhibitors also reported a larger proportion of non-European buyers as well as a slight shift in buyers towards large-scale retail (+ 5% in the group of firms generating over Euro 5 million turnover per year). There was also a noticeable sense of the very high quality of visitors at the fair (80% from top management). Nine out of ten visitors once again gave the fair a very high score in their overall rating.
‘Retailers were in the best of moods over the past few days. Their stockrooms are empty so they now need to catch up,’ said Dr Gerhard Bachmeier, Managing Director of Högl Shoe Fashion, summing up. ‘All major names were here. We took considerably more orders and are looking forward to a strong rise in order volume. The very good quality of dealers was conspicuous. We also saw a perfectly organised GDS. It could not have been better.’
Kirstin Deutelmoser, Director of GDS and Global Shoes, also viewed the three days in a similar way: ‘The economic mood is considerably better than even just one year ago. You could hear and feel this in the halls of the fair. Increased visitor quality, the ordering mood and the rise again in the number of buyers coming to Dusseldorf from the Baltic, Scandinavia and the Benelux underline the role of GDS as a leading specialist shoe fair for the central and northern European market.’
For Marvin Bernstein, Vice President International Sales of the US label Skechers, the GDS remains an ‘excellent platform. As Skechers has successfully grown over the past few years so too have we developed our business at GDS. We took many orders especially for our Shape-ups. The fair was very successful for us. We are already looking forward to the next GDS in March.’
At GDS from September 10-12, 780 exhibitors (1800 collections) presented all the key trends and looks for the spring/summer 2011 season. The range spanned progressive and classical premium brands, quality fashion brands through to colourful street and sportswear plus the 3 latest kids’ fashion. Another 410 exhibitors participated at Global Shoes (total: 1,190 exhibitors).
The next GDS and Global Shoes fairs will be held from 16 to 18 March 16-18 and September 7-9, 2011 respectively.
