First physical meeting of the sports and outdoor industry since the COVID-19 pandemic
Record attendance of 17,776 visitors sets an important symbol for restart
Digital expansion of the trade show concept contributes to the positive result
From 3 to 5 July, 17,776 visitors came to ISPO Shanghai 2020 to learn about future development and to experience new products in the segments of Outdoor, Snowsports, Sport Trends, Running, Health & Fitness, Water Sports, and Manufacturing & Suppliers. ISPO Shanghai has thus seen an increase of 14% in the number of visitors and kept the momentum for the third year in a row. With myriads of people flooding to the exhibition and omni-channel marketing, ISPO Shanghai proved itself as a starting point for the sporting goods industry to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Creating valuable opportunities for the industry under high pressure
ISPO Shanghai 2020 gained a total of 350 brands to exhibit, hosted more than 50 industry forums and events, and attracted 17,776 visitors. Klaus Dittrich, Chairman & CEO of Messe München commented: “We are very pleased to see ISPO Shanghai coming back stronger with an increase in the visitor number and even better experience. It also marks the restart of the outdoor and sporting goods industry in China and breaths the confidence to the whole industry globally that the sports lifestyle is returning and will be valued even more after the COVID-19 pandemic."
Due to COVID-19, many outdoor and winter sports brands either cancelled or delayed their plans at the beginning of the year and came all the way to ISPO Shanghai to complete their long-awaited launching plans. This also helped ISPO Shanghai to expand its segments of the exhibition this year. In addition, ISPO Shanghai 2020 partnered with IWF Shanghai 2020 and co-located with each other to showcase synergies in the cross-field sports industry.
Live streaming and influencer marketing helped ISPO Shanghai achieving initial goals
Crossover key opinion leader (KOLs) and sports influencers called on ISPO Shanghai 2020. They were invited to tour exhibitor booths, participate in interactive areas and recorded their journey in forms of live streaming, VLOG, etc. More than 100 KOLs were invited on-site and influenced a total of over 20 million followers. ISPO Shanghai built a live streaming platform for exhibitors to present their products and technology during the exhibition. In total 22 live streams were broadcasted and 28,918 page views recorded. Many distributors and retailers who could not participate in the exhibition were able to see what’s new at ISPO Shanghai and communicated with exhibitors by a single tap on their smart phones.
Genuine love towards sports made the gathering unmissable
ISPO Shanghai always crafted dedicated areas that allowed different sportswear and outfits to be presented in a rather intuitive way to the visitors. The Outdoor Lifestyle Village, ISPO Sports Fashion Zone, and Tracker’s Show gave both professionals and enthusiasts chances to take a closer look at products in different scenarios.
The ISPO Outdoor Lifestyle Village showed a variety of fashion outfits which can be used in different occasions, giving sports lovers more choices for outdoor activities. Brands gathered in the ISPO Sports Fashion Zone showcased their most dazzling products featuring both athleisure and sporting performance. The Tracker’s Show presented marathon outfits as well as trail running wear. In addition, it launched an online running challenge with 100,161 runners that finished the program.
The ISPO Lifestyle Stage carried people’s pursuits for sports life. With experts, KOLs, and enthusiasts on the stage, more than 30 discussions were held including brands‘ product launches, mountaineering dialogues, KOL talks, and the award ceremony.
Communication between professionals develops new ideas
“To seek development and to find a way out.” This is the challenge that the entire industry is faced with. ISPO Shanghai shouldered the responsibility by introducing relevant topics to the ISPO Retail Forum and ISPO Trends Forum. ISPO Shanghai once again provided a communication platform for professionals to develop new ideas.
The ISPO Retail Forum shared hands-on topics such as digital retail, private domain traffic, community operations, short video marketing, and live streaming operations; ISPO Trends Forum interpreted color trends for spring/summer 2022 and focused on the sustainable development path of the sports market.
The ISPO Award area displayed selected award-winning products in 2020, including launches that haven’t released to the market yet. In addition, ISPO Textrends showcased the latest compositions and innovative concepts of fabrics, as well as other highlights.
In addition to forecast new trends, the business matchmaking event was dedicated to build channels for brands, distributors and sports designers to communicate with each other. During the exhibition, there were more than 160 on-site matches. E-commerce platforms, marketing platforms, online and offline retailers, distributors, product managers, and designers were invited to exchange their needs for sporting products.
Olympics are just around the corner; sports industry will rebound stronger
As the Olympics in Tokyo have been postponed to the next year, 2021 undoubtedly will become a great chance for the sports industry to recover. At the same time, the pandemic also made people pay more attention to the active lifestyle brought by sports, fitness, and outdoor activities. Mrs. Hua Chuan, Chief Financial Officer of Messe München Shanghai, commented: “In 2020, the industry has suffered a lot of losses, but we have also seen the government continue to increase subsidies to companies. Sports enthusiasts have long been waiting for outdoor activities and they might consume more goods when the pandemic situation gradually stabilizes, and the industry starts to rebound. ISPO Beijing 2021 will grab this opportunity to continue serving as a professional platform, leading industry companies to prosperity in the upcoming Olympic year.”
By showcasing various brands and crossover resources, ISPO Shanghai aims to help both buyers find the right suppliers to explore potential business opportunities and to restart the industry. The next stop of “restart”, ISPO Beijing 2021, will be held at the China International Exhibition Center (new venue) from 14 to 16 January, 2021.
About ISPO
ISPO is the world’s leading sports network for business professionals and consumer experts. The platform was launched in 1970 and brings together an integrated range of industry-related analog and digital services under the ISPO family brand name. This includes the world’s largest multisegment trade fairs ISPO Munich, ISPO Beijing and ISPO Shanghai as well as OutDoor by ISPO, the online news portal ISPO.com, and the business solutions ISPO Digitize, ISPO Brandnew, ISPO Open Innovation, ISPO Award, ISPO Academy, ISPO Textrends, ISPO Job Market and ISPO Shop. With its far-reaching mix of innovation promotion, industry networking, know-how and editorial insights, ISPO works 365 days a year to support companies and sports enthusiasts, and to foster passion for sport worldwide.
Messe München
Messe München is one of the world’s leading networking platforms. In a reflection of the slogan “Connecting Global Competence,” Messe München serves as a global networking platform and brings together decision makers from all parts of the world. Messe München’s portfolio comprises more than 50 trade fairs for capital and consumer goods as well as new technologies that focus on the latest social issues. These trade fairs include the world-leading trade fairs bauma, BAU, IFAT and ISPO Munich. The roughly 200 events organized by Messe München each year attract about 50,000 exhibitors and 3 million visitors.
Messe München has one of the most modern exhibition grounds in the world and with its four locations in Riem, the ICM – Internationales Congress Center München, the MOC Veranstaltungscenter München, and the Conference Center Nord, is able to fulfill all its customers’ requirements individually. Messe München is very successful in its domestic market in Munich as well as in other countries. It is active in all important growth markets: China, India, South Africa, Brazil, Russia and Turkey. Overall, Messe München, with its network of associated companies and foreign agencies, is present in more than 100 countries.
Statements
Mr. Zhang Xiaoyu, General Manager of Fire Maple, Zhejiang Lufeng Outdoor Products Co., Ltd.
Thanks to the tranquility brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, we have carefully analyzed and sorted out the needs of our consumers. It is necessary to listen and communicate with them, which is why we chose ISPO Shanghai again. Our results at ISPO Shanghai this year have been far better than I imagined. Both the number of participants and the quality of visitors have improved, which also meets our expectations for the market. Thanks to ISPO Shanghai for such a great event under the pressure at this critical period, and we will continue to attend.
Mr. Le Tian, Marketing Manager, Zhe Jiang Mobi Garden Outdoor Co., Ltd.
This year, there are a lot of new faces at ISPO Shanghai. The COVID-19 pandemic has not affected the number of participants and the atmosphere. We can feel that the outdoor community is expanding. More and more people are adopting the outdoor lifestyle, and they would like to choose professional brands to expand their equipment. Therefore, we hope to promote this lifestyle to more people with ISPO Shanghai.
Mr. Li Jun, General Manager, Shanghai Setino Sportswear Inc.
Our results at ISPO Shanghai this year exceeded our expectations. Many visitors came from distant places like Xinjiang province and Northeast China districts. They had great talks with us, and we have met many friends, old and new, and have learned a lot about the outdoor industry. Thanks to ISPO Shanghai for such a great platform during such difficult times, we are also very optimistic about the results of our exhibition, and have heard a lot of positive and inspirational stories that demand us to persist and work harder.
Ms. Annie Yan, General Manager, Weber China
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, everyone has a lot of expectations about ISPO Shanghai this year. I think ISPO Shanghai 2020 has been very well organized, and the hall layout is well designed for communication. The atmosphere of the trade show is very good. There are a lot of visitors, and they are younger and more fashion-conscious than before. We can see people's love for outdoor and their knowledge of it is increasing. I believe that such a positive change will promote ISPO Shanghai to become more mature and international.
Ms. Deng Jie, Assistant General Manager, Hangzhou Fashion Power Industrial & Trading Co., Ltd.
The effect of ISPO Shanghai 2020 is far beyond our expectation, and the exhibition has not been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. We are very satisfied with the number of new contacts and potential order gained from this exhibition.
Mr. Xu Huijun, Maxsun (Dalian) Co., Ltd.
The visitors of ISPO Shanghai 2020 are very professional. They are also mostly our potential customers. We think the results have been very good. We will continue to participate in the exhibition and bring more advanced products.
Mr. Jin Hai, Operation Director, Suzhou Yingde Garment Co., Ltd.
This is our second participation in ISPO Shanghai. Affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, the entire industry has undergone tremendous changes. We can see that business strategies are adjusted. Our participation in ISPO Shanghai 2020 has been very fruitful, and it's worth it, as we have achieved our goal. We hope that with this exhibition, the customers will have confidence in us and confidence in the industry.
Mr. Jiang Qijun, CEO, Shanghai Jiushan Outdoor Goods Co., Ltd.
I think the results we made and the atmosphere of ISPO Shanghai 2020 are better than I expected. I was worried about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, but actually the number of visitors is very good. The layout of the exhibition areas is also very clear and helpful for the communication between us and the customers and target groups.
Mr. He Chengyu, General Manager, EX2 (Guangzhou) Outdoor Goods Co., Ltd.
I think the atmosphere of ISPO Shanghai 2020 has met our expectations, especially in terms of visitor traffic. From the composition of the visitor groups, we can also see that the organizers have made sufficient preparations in visitor invitations. We have met many visitors of the fitness business.
Mr. Cheng Bin, Senior Sales Manager, Donghui Leisure Sports Goods (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.
The results of ISPO Shanghai 2020 are good. We were also worried because of the pandemic, the exhibition may not be held this year, and we would not have a chance to show our products. But ISPO Shanghai has withstood the pressure and created an exhibition for us. The visitor numbers on site were good, and the organization maintained its quality as always. It was particularly pleasant to see that many KOLs were present in the exhibition halls this year, and there were many live shows. I hope this strategy can be maintained in the future.
Mr. Bai Jinghui, Partner, Shanghai UTO Industry Co., Ltd.
At ISPO Shanghai 2020 we can see many new trends and developments. The ISPO Outdoor Lifestyle Village is one of the biggest highlights. In a lifestyle-oriented way, trendy products attracted many young people to have a taste of the outdoor life.
Mr. Sun Xiaolong, General Manager, Beijing Volcom Libtech Flux Trade Co., Ltd.
ISPO Shanghai 2020 has met our expectations in terms of visitor flow and customer composition. ISPO has always been our important partner. We also trust ISPO in its ability of organizing high-quality exhibitions and we are willing to continue our participation.
Mr. Liu Zhenhua, General Manager (North District), FALKE
The atmosphere and results of ISPO Shanghai 2020 are unexpectedly good. The exhibiting brands are more concentrated and refined. The design and display of the different areas are very thoughtful and more refined than last year. The overall atmosphere is very good and no trace of COVID-19 pandemic is found.
Mr. Fan Rong, Founder, Shanghai Maidong Power Sports Co., Ltd.
This is the first time we participated in ISPO Shanghai. The atmosphere in the halls completely eliminated our concerns about the impact of the pandemic. There are a lot of people but the visitor flow is very organized. The overall result is great and exceeds our expectations.
Mr. Yu Sijia, National Marketing Channel Manager, Beijing Jinruihenglun Trading Co., Ltd.
At ISPO Shanghai 2020 we can see signs of recovery. Through this first exhibition after the COVID-19 pandemic, we have the opportunity to present ourselves to the industry, and ISPO Shanghai is a very good platform for this.
Ms. Helen Weng, Manager-China, DuPont Sorona®, DuPont Biomaterials
We think our participation in ISPO Shanghai 2020 is a good opportunity for DuPont SORONA®. At ISPO Shanghai, we can learn how sports and fashion are integrated, which is in line with our ideas. Therefore, we are very happy to take ISPO Shanghai as the venue for the debut of DuPont SORONA® in China.
Ms. Shen Enqi, Creative Director, Shanghai Seven Crash Trading Co., Ltd.
At ISPO Shanghai 2020 we can see many new and interesting products and display designs. Some are very real lifelike and scene-oriented. We can also capture the trends and developments in the outdoor industry, such as the combination of outdoor and fashion, and the design for and inspiration from young people. We have gained a lot.
Tie Dou, Action Sports Blogger, Tiktok influencer
I am an old friend of ISPO, but this year I am participating in ISPO Shanghai as an ambassador, so the feeling is different. My most important reward this year is the opportunity to meet and communicate with many brands face to face. Such activities can connect the influence of bloggers and the demands for brand promotion.
Mr. Zhu Weiqiang, Outdoor Sports blogger, Tiktok influencer
ISPO Shanghai 2020 is eye-catching in many ways. In the ISPO Outdoor Lifestyle Village, I can see a lot of novel gears and equipment. I meet also a lot of friends who have made achievements in their respective areas of expertise and would like to promote the outdoor lifestyle.
Ms. Wang Quanhong, General Manager, Changchun Golden Tent Outdoor Co., Ltd.
Because of the pandemic, we expected the number of participants and the scale of the exhibition decreasing, but ISPO Shanghai 2020 proved the opposite. There are a lot of exhibitors and visitors. Our team has found a lot of valuable products and brands, and it exceeded our expectations. We are especially interested in the ISPO Outdoor Lifestyle Village, which represents the lifestyle of the future. I hope ISPO Shanghai can continue to be the leader of future lifestyles.
