You are in:
LOOK EAST
The remarkable story of the sports goods industry in Eastern Europe and Central Asia was told again this winter at ispo Russia
Held from February 19th to the 22nd around 250 national and international brands from 21 countries presented a ‘multi-faceted’ selection of products from the winter sports, outdoor, team sports, sports style, board sports and running markets at this year’s ispo Russia in Moscow.
The extensive seminar and event programme included presentations on: “Main Trends in Sports Retail in Russia” and “Sports Facilities”.Meanwhile, the ispo Russia Climbing Cup, Russian Freestyle Battle and the Indoor Jib contest provided an action packed atmosphere within the exposition hall. The crowning conclusion of the second trade show day said organisers, was the “ice show”for exhibitors, invited guests and VIPs, including many European and World Champions, as well as the current Olympic Champion Tatjana Totmiana and Maxim Marinin.
Manfred Wutzlhofer, chairman of Messe Munchen said: “The second issue of ispo Russia winter informed a large number of retailers from the Eastern European and Central Asian regions on the latest trends, and provided them with contacts to international brands. The positive order business and the visit of many new retailers counteracted the lower visitor numbers and kept exhibitors very happy.Unfortunate weather conditions, the proximity to the Army Day holiday, more Russian sports retailers at ispo winter 07 in Munich, as well as the location of the Crocus Expo Centre were the reasons for the decrease in visitors.We will continue to improve the trade show concept for the future, in particular in regards to location and date.”
Sergey Titarenko of Petersport, the official distributor of Jack Wolfskin said at the show: “Last year we were a visitor to the show, this year we are here as an exhibitor.All retailers we invited came to our booth. In addition,we were able to make a number of new contacts, yet at this time it is still too difficult to determine their value.We won’t know until a few weeks from now.”
The significance of sport and the important function of ispo Russia in this context was emphasised on the first day of the trade show by representatives of the Russian Sporting Goods Industry in association RASIE, which met, lead by its president Viatcheslav Starshinov,with the chairman of the Duma committee for sports, Vladislav Tretiak, and the chairman of the equally named board within the Federal Council, the second chamber of the Russian Parliament, Mt Vladimir Mutko, for a round table discussion.
First feedback from trade show visitors has been positive. “Ispo Russia is an important platform for my company, where we can find out all about new trends. This is also where we meet with our most important trade partners, and discuss our jointly planned sales strategies”, said Alexei Pshenichy, Top league, Krasnodar. The company operates 35 speciality sports stores, measuring between 150 to 300 square metres, in ten cities, most of them in southern Russia.
The two-day economy congress at ispo Russia also received a lot of attention from trade show visitors and the industry-related Russian community. The third congress focused in particular on financing for football ventures.Another topic was “Global Sponsoring”, presented in a sold-out meeting, featuring as its most prominent Round Table guest the German recordbreaking national team player and trainer of Red Bull Salzburg, Lothar Matthaus.
For the first time, the German sporting goods industry attended ispo Russia with a national group booth, sponsored by the German Department of Trade and industry and lead managed by the BSI, uniting eleven German companies. In addition, there was once again a Scandinavian and French group booth as well as a Russian Outdoor Village. Five exhibitors from the People’s Republic of China were also present at ispo Russia with their own group booth.
