59th Spielwarenmesse International Toy Fair
Nürnberg

International Toy Fair 2008: Industry flagship remains on successful course
Buyers and traders from all over the world came to Nürnberg again for the biggest fair for toys, hobbies and leisure from 07-12.02.2008.
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The last staging of drupa in 2004 was an overwhelming success with around 394,000 visitors from 122 countries attending the show, proving once again that it is the industry's leading event worldwide.
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The International Toy Fair is the world’s leading fair for toys, hobby and leisure-time articles. The fair, which is open exclusively to the specialist trade, is the perfect communication and order platform for both national and international manufacturers as well as specialist traders and buyers from around the globe. The presentation of new products and comprehensive overview of the industry which it provides are an indispensable source of information for annual market orientation.

approx. 2,750 exhibitors from 60 countries

more than 80,000 trade visitors from 120 countries

160,000 m² of display space with approx. 1 million in 10 product groups

all the industry’s market leaders

the unique combination of brand manufacturers and mass articles

THE trend barometer with approx. 70,000 new products

free special shows and expert presentations for ideas on boosting sales in the trade

Final report of the International Toy Fair 2008
International Toy Fair 2008: Industry flagship remains on successful course

Leading function of innovation fair confirmed by growing share of international visitors

Fair quality reflected in the increasing number of decision-makers and sophisticated information programme

Buyers and traders from all over the world came to Nürnberg again for the biggest fair for toys, hobbies and leisure from 07-12.02.2008. The toy industry’s leading fair maintained last year’s record result at a high level with some 80,000 visitors (2007: 80,300), and the Way to School and Learning by Playing specials and the fair’s innovation programme provided particularly valuable guidance on setting the course of the national and international toy traders.
The internationalization concept adopted in the past years is consistently pursued by the International Toy Fair and has increased the share of international visitors from 118 nations to 53 per cent. The decline in the number of German visitors caused by market factors was compensated for by the growing number of international visitors. The rising number of visitors from the East European countries with growth rates of 10 to over 20 per cent is particularly noticeable, but more buyers also swarmed to Nürnberg from South America, with 38 per cent more than the previous year from Brazil alone. The quality of the fair visitors also improved. The share of decision-makers rose to 76.5 per cent (2007: 71.3 per cent). With regard to visiting the fair again in 2009, 90.3 per cent (2007: 86.4 per cent) of the visitors have already said they will come again next year.
For the 2,676 exhibitors, who were thoroughly satisfied with the fair, the International Toy Fair remains the hub of all their marketing and sales activities, as confirmed by 90.5 per cent (2007: 90 per cent) of the companies. This outstanding importance and the positive overall impression of the fair, which was stated as very good or good by 79.9 per cent (2007: 77.4 per cent) of the exhibitors, produced a record figure for their intention to exhibit again. 91 per cent of the exhibitors (2007: 88.3 per cent) said they will be there in 2009 when the International Toy Fair celebrates its 60th anniversary. Preparing the ground for new business connections remains the most important function of exhibiting at the fair. The outstanding importance meanwhile achieved by the leading fair is emphasized by Peter Broegger, General Manager of Mattel GmbH: “The International Toy Fair is the most important international fair for us and the focus of a major part of our group’s international sales. The number of overseas sales experts in Nürnberg this year has therefore distinctly increased again.”

Tremendous impetus for Way to School
The Way to School special, which prepared a supplementary assortment of starting school articles for the toy trade, was a fantastic success from the word go. This special theme also attracted more stationery traders to Nürnberg, who wanted to supplement their assortment with toy products for starting school. “It can be assumed that all well-known manufacturers of stationery and school articles will exhibit again in 2009 and are very interested in expanding their commitment at the International Toy Fair,” says Hans-Jörg Iden, General Manager of duo schreib & spiel, summing up the success of the premiere.

Learning by Playing on the wave of success
The basic theme of the International Toy Fair 2008 exactly matched the interests of the buyers and traders, who visited the special show in large numbers and gathered advice on targeted assortments and the attractive presentation of educational toys at the Point of Sale. Specialists with many years of experience in the toy trade were available for this purpose. The Branch Forum also developed into t h e information hub for the industry and was attended by 30 per cent more fair visitors than last year. The forum also provided detailed information about learning by playing. For example, the study commissioned by Spielwarenmesse eG and conducted by the market research institute GEFAS was presented. The study analysed new findings on parents’ attitudes and the traders’ expertise and wishes.

InnovationCenter as treasure chest for the trade
The hunt for new products is still top priority for fair visitors. The extended concept of the ToyAward, which the international jury presented in eight categories, attracted a correspondingly positive response. The winners were presented to an audience of approx. 1,000 in the ceremonious setting of the opening gala and profited from considerably increased attention during the subsequent fair. Andreas Stadlbauer, General Manager of Stadlbauer Marketing und Vertrieb GmbH: “The 1st prize won by our TV microscope Eye Clops [in the category Knowledge + Learning] led to a real rush of visitors from the press and toy trade.” The InnovationCenter, in which many other new products on the market were presented as well as the ToyInnovations, received a host of extra visitors in 2008. In addition, the search for new exhibitors took every second suitably informed trader and buyer to the NewExhibitorCenter on the Nürnberg fair site, which was fully booked again.

Full speed ahead for licenses
Especially the international manufacturers and trade structures know that licenses are attracting more attention. The LicenseCenter with its presentation of the world’s most promising license themes for 2008 therefore did justice to this growing response. The visitors rewarded this with an excellent rating for the licensed products on display.
All in all, the Spielwarenmesse International Toy Fair has once again expressly emphasized that it sends the right market signals and comprehensively reflects the demand for international innovation and consumer trends.

The 60th International Toy Fair 2009 with its special anniversary program takes place in Nürnberg from 05 – 10.02.2009.