In March, there took place the traditional biggest EuroShop Trade Fair in Düsseldorf focused on retailing in the sphere of equipment, solutions and communication. During the five days, visitors had the opportunity to learn about trends and topics that play first fiddle in the sphere of goods presentation. There was a great interest, people were waiting in long queues before opening and the atmosphere was full of networking in which also many visitors from USA or Asia were interested. And in totally 18 exhibition halls, there was really something to look at.
More than 2,300 exhibitors from 61 countries participated at the event. We also sent our representatives to Düsseldorf. They were from various departments and teams and each of them offered an assessment of the Trade Fair from the perspective of his/her own specialization.

Creative and technological explosion
Designers really liked expositions of particular companies. These were made perfect in all aspects: design, materials and ideas. “The stands were generous and it is obvious that the companies did not hesitate to invest a lot into their presentations,” said Milan Marek, the Designer of DAGO. A great deal of inspiration was based on the comparison of combinations of materials, shapes and production and technological capabilities with what DAGO is doing. Also technological innovations attracted attention as for example lighting, 3D printing or displays such as flexible LCDs by LG and so on. Often, however, these were in the form of details being beat by the emphasis on visibility of a stand where these were placed.

Purchases that draw in
People from the sphere of production were observing an approach to stone stores. The dominant topics were digitalization and interactivity in retail, Omni channel customized solutions and experience from shopping in a store. Anna Bůžková from the company DAGO confirmed the necessity to put emphasis on experience. “Nowadays, there are more investments into stone stores mainly for the reason of competition from on-line suppliers. So retailers are therefore forced to attract customers using more and more attractive means,” she explained. Regarding presentations in retail, there took attention “smart robots” capable to communicate with customers and to respond to stimuli by humans. As to POS materials, the most premium expositions were the ones made of high-gloss laminate. Also the display of the Jack Daniel´s brand made of the combination of wood and metal was very attractive. Its base consisted of a wooden barrel with a metal frame coming out of it with hooks for fastening bottles of this well-known whiskey. The most common material for P.O.S. solutions was cardboard. For such exposures, exhibitors adhered mainly to the rule – “beauty in simplicity”. But there were also some very over-combined exposures where it was not possible to determine their meaning. Another attractive thing was the use of rotary motors, which rotated with a part of a display or a product itself. A big part of the Trade Fair represented LED technologies as there is put more and more emphasis on the visual merchandising as well as on two main aspects of these exposures – energy saving and sustainability.

Digitalization as well as natural materials
The third group visiting the Trade Fair for DAGO were traders. They appreciated great design of stands, which had to be built up in only 2 days, and they saw the obvious main line directing to digitalization and interactivity. There was a full range of holograms, 3D projections, large screens, semi-transparent screens, projectors responsive to movement, touch LCD screens and much more. An extreme example is the already mentioned walking robot with spatial perception and touch LCD screen encouraging interaction. There was also a virtual reality allowing for example to ride on a bicycle outdoors before buying it. All this should attract customers and hold them as long as possible. As an essential element of communication with customers, there was introduced light. It is an important element that could create a central element of interest from a common product. “Although light in shelves is being commonly used, with semi-transparent plastics in different colours it facilitates orientation of a customer and takes up the realization to a completely different level,” explained Tomáš Žáček, the Trader from DAGO. Also the use of natural materials is in. Such materials give a feeling of freshness and greenness. That is why for example the presentation of fruit looks better in wooden box then in plastic one. In many presentations, there was used wood also in the rough form of prisms and blocks.

The whole EuroShop was large and full of inspirations. If a visitor would like to see and assess all expositions instead of selecting preferred sections, 4 exhibition days would certainly not be enough. Everyone who is serious about producing and designing P.O.S. and P.O.P. materials should participate. The journey to Düsseldorf takes only a few hours on German highways and inspirations from the Trade Fair worth it. So maybe see you at the next Euroshop in 2020.

Your DAGO team

Read another reportage focused on concrete technologies and approaches written by Daniel Jesensky