Organisers of the Interzoo trade show have done their research, and it looks as though both visitors and exhibitors were satisfied with this year’s show, held in Nuremberg, Germany. Here are their results:

* Gaining new customers was the aim of around 86 per cent of the exhibitors, 72 per cent wanted to cultivate contacts with their customers, 72 per cent wanted to source information about products in general and 65 per cent about new products. Over half the exhibitors presented a new product at Interzoo 2008 and one third an improved product. 

* 94 per cent of the exhibitors reached their most important target groups and 94 per cent of the exhibitors also made new business connections. So it is not surprising that nine of ten exhibitors assess their overall success at Interzoo 2008 favourably and 86 per cent of the companies expect follow-up business from the contacts made at the exhibition. 
 
* 90 per cent of the exhibitors were satisfied to very satisfied with the exhibition organisation and service. For 87 per cent of the companies, the significance of Interzoo for their marketing and sales activities is important to outstanding.

* An important criterion for exhibitor satisfaction is the high quality of the visitors. The largest groups of visitors at Interzoo 2008 included self-employed businessmen and proprietors (49 per cent), general managers (15 per cent) and department managers (15 per cent). Almost all visitors (95 per cent) are involved in procurement decisions in their company. More than three quarters of the visitors were experts from the pet supplies trade, with another five per cent from pet grooming salons. 
 
* 60 per cent of the visitors came to Interzoo with the aim of sourcing information about new products, 47 per cent planned to cultivate business contacts, 45 per cent wanted to prepare the ground for new business contacts and 42 per cent wanted to obtain a general survey of the market. Virtually all exhibition visitors (95 per cent) were satisfied or very satisfied with the products on display at Interzoo 2008. The information and contact opportunities at the exhibition also met the expectations of 97 per cent of the visitors. 73 per cent of the visitors have already indicated they will also attend Interzoo 2010, and 22 per cent have not yet decided. 
 

“The anniversary Interzoo created a remarkable impetus for the industry,” said Klaus Oechsner, President of the German Pet Trade & Industry Association (ZZF), the honorary sponsor of Interzoo. “Particularly the German exhibitors and visitors experienced a real sense of a new era dawning. This is very important for animal lovers, as the continued existence of the advice-intensive pet shop is essential for species-appropriate pet keeping. The pet shop is concerned with the health of a living creature and not simply with selling some kind of hobby article. Animal lovers rightly expect professional advice and quality competence from a pet shop to help them keep their animals in a natural way, and here Interzoo has constantly set new standards in the past – as in this anniversary year.” 

The next Interzoo takes place in the Exhibition Centre Nuremberg from 13-16 May 2010. More info can be found at www.interzoo.com.