A total of 362 exhibitors were represented on the exhibition grounds, again including 18 new exhibitors and 20 start-ups. They were able to network with over 300 retailers and discuss the current promotional offers. Around 1,600 visitors from the industry attended the 126th Markant trade forum. This time, exhibitors from the stationery sector were also present for the first time, rounding off the range of back-to-school products perfectly.
INSIGHTS trade forum
The interesting specialist presentations at the beginning of the first day of the trade fair once again offered a whole range of topics relating to business, politics, technology and sustainability.
Peter Altmaier, former Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy, started proceedings and provided an outlook in his presentation: «Quo vadis Germany? An economic, political and social assessment». Co-founder of retail.ai GmbH, a Markant company, and a pioneer and top expert in the field of digital transformation, artificial intelligence (AI) and big data, Prof Dr Peter Gentsch followed on from this and gave an insight into the benefits of generative AI for the retail industry with his presentation «AI as an innovation and production driver for retail». Lastly, Karsten Schwanke, qualified meteorologist, TV presenter and Grimme Award winner, gave a talk on «Climate change – THE challenge for food supply in Germany & Europe» and gave the participants food for thought.
Iberiana INSIGHTS
In addition, Iberiana gave exclusive specialist presentations for partners from the fruit and vegetable sector: After a welcome address, the managing director of Iberiana Frucht S.A. / Iberiana Frucht S.r.l., Enrique Clavel, gave a brief introduction and talked about the 30th anniversary of Iberiana and the new location in Italy, among other things. Niklas Bergmann, a consultant at Consumer Panel Services GfK, then spoke on the topic «Will the price remain right? – Current consumer behaviour & trends in the FMCG market as a whole and in fruit & vegetables» and gave an initial outlook on the figures and trends for the first half of 2024. Joaquín Hermoso, chief strategy officer at AGR Food Marketing, followed on from this and presented various approaches in his presentation «Ways to differentiate and increase fruit consumption».
Spanish fiesta
The first day of the trade fair was brought to a fitting close with the evening event Trade Forum NIGHT under the motto «Viva España». The garden hall of the Karlsruhe Congress Centre was transformed into a Spanish village and offered plenty of Spanish delicacies such as tapas, paella and sangria to mark the Iberiana anniversary.
Start-up arena
One arena, 10 start-ups, 30 pitches: There were once again all sorts of exciting pitches in the voilà! start-up arena to marvel at on both trade fair days! A total of 10 innovative founding teams presented their innovative products to Markant retail partners and many other interested parties. On the second day, the most prominent start-up was chosen at the award ceremony along with other winners: The winner of an article in ONE Markant magazine and a free trade fair booth at the 127th Markant trade forum was the company K-Group GmbH, which also won over the three retailers K+K, Kaes and Tegut with its instant curry sauces. In addition, the four start-ups Vegan Fisherman, Chipzz, BeFlexx and Bebisko also won retailer talks with Markant retail partners.
We are now pleased to announce the next event:
The 127th Markant trade forum will take place on 2/3 April 2025!
