spoga horse spring 2019: Everything for the trade visitor

Altered schedule and a comprehensive event programme increase the added value for trade visitors

It is going to be PASSION & PROFESSION for the international equestrian sport industry again in Cologne from 2 to 4 February 2019. That is when the industry meets up at spoga horse spring, from Saturday to Monday for the first time. The industry is changing and so is the business behaviour of the national and international trade visitors. Hence, the industry expressed the wish for this change in order to allow the bricks and mortar trade, which can excel by providing extensive sales consulting, to visit the trade fair over the weekend. At the same time, the trade fair is expanding its event programme and offering the trade visitors more in-depth content through the thematic focuses of the lectures.

Two surveys on the buying behaviour of the equestrian athletes will be presented to the trade visitors. HorseFuturePanel carried out a survey on the peculiarities of the buying behaviour of riders in relation to dogs’ items on behalf of spoga horse. Parallel to this the Hamburg-based market research company, benchex, conducted a consumer survey entitled “Megatrend digitalisation – how do the equestrian athletes shop? on behalf of the equestrian sport specialised group of the German Association of the Sports Goods Industry e.V. (BSI). The results of both surveys will be presented and discussed in detail at spoga horse spring.

However, not only the BSI survey places the focus on the theme digitalisation. As a result of the repeated cooperation with ehorses – Europe’s leading online horse market – the trade visitors will be offered a comprehensive seminar and workshop programme in the scope of the spoga horse academy, which deals with the demands, opportunities and risks of online marketing and the online trade. Furthermore, a special on the theme safety is planned. As a result of the new DIN norms and the growing demands for own safety among the equestrian athletes, expert consulting is the be all and end all here. A further opportunity for the bricks and mortar trade to reinforce this USP by further training its skilled staff.

In addition to the further educational character, the priority at spoga horse spring primarily lies on the fashion highlights and new products of the 2019/2020 autumn/winter collections. In the coming spring, in the scope of the spoga horse fashion walk and Premiere’s Club further platforms will be placed at the disposal of the exhibitors, which enable them to present their products exclusively to the trade visitors. There will once again be a special zone on the theme Horse and Dog.

Ordering, new products and further training are the one focus, but networking is attributed just as much importance at spoga horse. The Happy Hour remains unchanged by the new schedule. As usual, on the Sunday of the trade fair the industry will get together in the Congress Centre North to celebrate together, make new contacts and strengthen old ones.