Spoga Horse Spring 2018 convinces across the board

Köln (GER), February 7, 2018 – Spoga Horse Spring, the leading international trade fair for equestrian sports, came to a close on Tuesday, 6 February 2018 after three successful trade fair days. 182 exhibitors from 20 countries presented their autumn/winter collections of the coming season to 3,700 trade visitors. At 50 percent, the level of internationality was, as accustomed, high. Spoga Horse Spring recorded particularly strong growth from France, Great Britain and Poland. As usual, the range of offers convinced due to the large variety of products. A host of new products from the segments equestrian sport accessories, saddles and leatherware, care, health and feed products, items for the stable, paddock and transport sectors, gift items, services and dog accessorie were exhibited. The event was rounded off by an event programme including the fashion walk, academy and the Dogs special event.

“The development of new target groups is essential for the sustainability of an industry. Initial approaches such as the Dogs special event met with a positive response“, commented Katharina C. Hamma, Chief Operating Officer of Koelnmesse. “This confirms that we have set the right course.” Furthermore, the product presentations in the Premiere Club on the adjacent area as well as the stands for clothes, equipment and stable supplies also impressed the visitors.

The wide variety of products also added to the satisfaction of the visitors, as the results of the independent visitor survey demonstrate: 77% of the respondents were satisfied or very satisfied with the range of exhibits overall and 82%  in terms of having achieved the goals of their visit. Good 90% would thus recommend a good business acquaintance to visit Spoga Horse Spring.

The success of the event was also noticeable from the order books of the exhibitors, the industry was extremely satisfied after having conducted intensive discussions with the trade visitors for three days. “From the point of view of the BSI members, Spoga Horse Spring 2018 went very well. Our exhibitors are very satisfied and received good orders. The quality of the trade visitors was excellent and above all there was high interest from the Benelux countries,” Monique van Dooren-Westerdaal, member of the board of the German Sports Equipment Industry Association e.V. (BSI) and Chairwoman of the Equestrian Sport Specialised Group, said drawing a positive balance.

The event programme: Passion & Profession

The fashion show is a fixed item on the agenda of Spoga Horse Spring, during the course of which once again this year the participating exhibitors presented their new collections twice a day in the scope of an exciting walk and dance choreography. Things were also exciting on Sunday for the nominees of the Reitsport Markt Dealer’s Award. Reitsport von Rönne from Elmshor secured itself the victory as the “Best Specialised Dealer”.

The spoga horse academy convinced with its high further education character. Here the focus lay on themes such as personnel management, merchandise knowledge and in particular online marketing. The latter is currently a major theme for the event itself. Accordingly, spoga horse created more offers for the target group of influencers on Instagram, YouTube, Facebook and blogs. Since the beginning of the spring event spoga horse itself has also been represented on Facebook – click here -.

Spoga Horse Spring 2018 in figures:

182 companies (spring 2017: 184) from 20 (24) countries, 67% (66%) of whom came from abroad, participated in Spoga Horse Spring. These included 63 (63) exhibitors from Germany and 119 (121) exhibitors from abroad. Including estimates for the last day of the fair, 3,700 visitors from 52 countries attended Spoga Horse Spring 2018. The share of foreign trade visitors was around 50 percent. **The visitor, exhibitor and exhibition space figures of this trade fair are determined and certified in accordance with the definitions of the FKM – Society for Voluntary Control of Trade Fair and Exhibition Statistics.

Spoga Horse Autumn 2018 is being staged from 2 to 4 September, parallel to Spoga+Gafa – click here – .

Press Release: Communications Manager Koelnmesse GmbH