The international platform of reference for volume footwear, but also incubator of ideas and observatory onto market trends, Expo Riva Schuh, ended its 88th edition with a final turnout of 11,224 visitors, in what is a slight increase from the June 2016 edition.
Many new changes were in store at this edition, starting with a selection that is increasingly representative of the main global production clusters of reference: among the 1,464 exhibiting companies coming from 40 different nations, were also the emerging markets pinpointed by the Riva event’s organization.
This is the case of South Africa, which presented a collective of South African exhibitors under the sponsorship of SAFLEC- South African Leather Export Council. To commemorate their debut, the South African Consul-General Ms. Titi Nxumalo visited the fair, stressing the importance of the footwear manufacturing industry for her country, while outlining the growing need of South African producers to participate in events like the one in Riva del Garda in order to help boost exports.
Among the debuts at the fair, were also those of the Bulgarian collective and the Russian one, with a selection of seven businesses from Saint Petersburg. These new entries joined the ranks of the fair’s historic collectives, represented by China and India with their two dedicated areas at the fair, along with Brazil, Portugal, Spain, Indonesia, Pakistan, Hong Kong, Tunisia, and Turkey.
There were also new kinds of buyers in attendance at the fair: besides the renewal of the excellent 1 to 10 ratio, which remains the main quality guarantee for business at the fair, new kinds of professionals attended, often in correlation to the development of e-commerce. Moreover, next to large chain stores and private labels, were also various high-end producers on the lookout for new partnerships in order to develop their samples and collections… a heterogeneous public that confirms the extent to which Expo Riva Schuh has become a fair representing the entire footwear supply chain.
Among the contents of the event, quite a stir was created by the inaugural debate dedicated to “New strategies for footwear distribution: heading for omni-channel retailing”, which saw the participation of Daniel Agis Branchi, international expert and consultant on distribution. His speech demonstrated how the transition to an omni-channel retail strategy is revolutionizing traditional distribution hierarchies, while forcing a rethinking of the season-based system and creating a different perception of the brand concept. The challenge represented by omni-channel retail also regards the trade fair sector, and Expo Riva Schuh is on the right road to winning it, in its integration between physical sales channels at the fair and the virtual channel of profiling companies and buyers in attendance at the event, as the basis for research onto market trends in production and distribution and the subsequent scouting activities undertaken by the fair.
In the wake of the digital revolution, Expo Riva Schuh announces its next edition from 13 to 16 January 2018.
