From February 10 - 12, 2023, ISPO Beijing 2023, with 368 leading brands and 223 exhibitors, welcomed a total of 37,623 professional visitors and sports enthusiasts, an increase of 50% over the past year. The exhibition is held in the National Convention Center, Beijing.
The successful opening of ISPO Beijing 2023 is undoubtedly sending a strong message to the industry. Its busy and crowded exhibition halls clearly showed the new dynamics of the sports lifestyle industry in the post-covid period. ISPO Beijing, together with the sports lifestyle brands, industry professionals and sports enthusiasts, has witnessed the "restart and rebirth" of the hopeful market.
Ms. Xu Jia, CEO of Messe Muenchen Shanghai Co., Ltd., expressed her happiness: "Three years ago, ISPO Beijing 2020 was the first exhibition that was postponed due to covid-19, and three years later, it is the first exhibition that returns to a normal schedule. It is most fulfilling for us to see everyone here exchange their ideas, make business deals, and find new inspiration. The sports lifestyle industry has never stopped its pace towards new achievements. And ISPO is always willing to provide outstanding platforms for the industry, sports brands, products professionals and enthusiasts. “
As the first large-scale event in the new year for the sports lifestyle industry in the Asia-Pacific region, ISPO Beijing 2023 presented the market trends, innovative products and technologies, supply chain solutions and functional textiles and trimmings in a wide range of fields in the sports lifestyle industry, e.g. Snowsports, Outdoor sports, Camping lifestyle, Rock climbing, Running, Cycling, Land surfing, and Yoga, providing new ideas and inspiration for the future development of the industry.
The covid-19 prevention and control in China is progressing smoothly, and the implementation of new administrative measures treating Covid-19 as a Category B disease has made initial results in market stabilization. Under such situations, the Chinese sports lifestyle industry is expecting an exponential growth. ISPO aims to "seize the opportunity and act as a pioneer" and by upgrading in multiple dimensions to drive industrial development.
After the successful holding of ISPO Shanghai 2022 – Nanjing edition, Messe Muenchen Shanghai Co., Ltd. successfully landed a strategic cooperation framework agreement with the Nanjing International Exhibition Center under the witness of the Nanjing Convention and Exhibition Commission. Through this partnership, ISPO will consistently offer sports events full of joy and freshness to the sports practitioners and enthusiasts in Nanjing and surrounding areas.
In addition Messe München Shanghai Co., Ltd. has struck a strategic cooperation framework agreement with Xiamen International Trade and Exhibition Group under the witness of the Convention and Exhibition Office of the Xiamen Bureau of Commerce. The main goals are to support the development of the sports and leisure industry in South China, to promote a healthy sports lifestyle that integrates into people’s lives in the region and to expand the influence of ISPO in South China. Under the agreement, ISPO will be held in the Xiamen.
Creating a universe of sports lifestyle across boundaries
From multi-category to full-category, from building market chains to breaking boundaries, ISPO has assumed many roles in its exploration of the sports lifestyle industry across these years. It has brought many niche categories to the front stage and provided suitable space for their growth with a more clarified development concept of marketing and expansion. Through such roles, ISPO injects fresh blood into the established markets and stimulates its upgrade to achieve long-term prosperity.
Mr. Tobias Gröber, Head of ISPO Group said: "With ISPO Beijing 2023, we want to show the diversity, inclusiveness and sustainability of the sports lifestyle industry, which is also the concept that ISPO wants to convey to the world. The sports lifestyle is diverse and its target group is expanding rapidly. Enterprises and brands need to meet the diverse consumer needs while maintaining a flexible strategy. Thus, they need to develop products that are more inclusive in design, material selection and performance to enable a positive interaction between humans and nature in the long term through sustainable technologies and operations. "
Information technology and algorithms have presented a colorful world of different types of people and cultures. If the sports lifestyle industry wants to develop all its categories, steps shall be taken to educate the customers from different angles and platforms. For the first time, ISPO Beijing 2023 was synchronized in Tmall, Little Red Book and Tiktok. Through these tools, it implemented a complementary strategy that includes both, the sports professionals and mass consumers with products that cover all the links in the industry. By doing so, it offers more exposure opportunities for brands and products and promotes the sports lifestyle in new parts of the population.
"Ye Lu Zi", a KOL specializing in outdoor equipment evaluation, participated in ISPO Beijing for the first time. He had his own understanding of barrier breaking and cross-border communication: “2022 was my first close contact with ISPO. In fact, in terms of outdoor brands and products, I am not a beginner. However, through ISPO I was suddenly reminded of how broad the sports lifestyle market is. It is a valuable asset waiting for me to explore. Therefore, I attended ISPO Beijing. I am very happy because through ISPO more brands and fans from outside our field came to know us."
Valuable industry information and new perspectives
ISPO as a professional exchange platform has always been an important trend scout of industry trends. It is widely recognized by industry stakeholders and decision makers as a place to learn about important industry policies, market trends in China and abroad, professional institution forecasts and valuable experience and case analysis from industry pioneers.
ISPO Beijing 2023 focused on four major questions: the sustainability of the mountain outdoor sports industry, the outdoor sports retail industry under the trend of large market structures, sports fashion trends and sports rehabilitation. Through the interpretation of industrial development plans, the prediction of market structure changes, the comparison of brands and products in China and overseas and the portraying of sports goods consumers, ISPO Beijing 2023 provided new perspectives for the industry and helped practitioners to cope with the changes and challenges in the post-covid market recovery.
ISPO Beijing 2023 also organized more than 20 small-scale discussions on topics such as brand marketing models, long-term development of minority sports and leisure projects and the public participation in sustainability. The atmosphere at the show was at a climax in the close interaction between KOLs and fans and the wonderful sharing case of senior athletes and practitioners.
The ISPO Urban Sports Area and ISPO Rock Climbing Area attracted a lot of new enthusiasts and sports experts with promotional activities as well as the basic courses in yoga, land surfing, paddling and rock climbing. These activities demonstrated the public's high acceptance of new sports lifestyles.
Gratitude to exhibitors, partners and visitors for their support
Since 2020 ISPO Beijing has been postponed for several times. The successful opening this year was only possible with the strong support and trust of our exhibitors, partners and visitors. The ISPO Team in China but also in Germany wants to pay high tribute to all who have always supported ISPO and for their company along the way. ISPO is looking forward to work with you to accelerate the global evolution of sports and make sports and physical activity an essential part of everybody’s healthy and lifestyle.
The next ISPO Beijing will be held at the National Convention Center in Beijing in January 2024. Meanwhile, ISPO Shanghai 2023 will be held at the Shanghai New International Expo Center from June 30 - July 2, 2023. Let’s shape the future of sports lifestyle together.
