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Larry Thomas

Copenhagen fair faces a familiar challenge

While chatting with exhibitors at last month’s Copenhagen International Furniture Fair, it was refreshing to hear them focus on the design and style of their products rather than the price or the minimum order requirements for container delivery. 

The Danes always have taken pride in their design and craftsmanship, and it was evident throughout the Bella Center, Copenhagen’s largest convention and trade show venue. But, alas, Copenhagen exhibitors did have one refrain similar to one I’ve heard countless times at dozens of U.S. furniture shows: There are too many markets. 

Several exhibitors said they were being stretched thin since Copenhagen’s show occurred about two weeks after the show in Milan, Italy, and two weeks before the International Contemporary Furniture Fair in New York. 

A number of Copenhagen’s exhibitors — most of whom are based in Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands — also exhibit at one or both of those major shows, and several acknowledged it’s becoming harder to financially sustain a booth at more than one. 

When I heard that complaint, I thought, for a moment, that I was standing in High Point or Las Vegas or Tupelo. 

And unfortunately for the accommodating folks who run the Danish fair, the Copenhagen show appears to be suffering a lot more than Milan or ICFF. 

Attendance at Copenhagen, which is run by the Bella Center with an assist from the Assn. of Danish Furniture Inds., was pegged at 12,619. That’s a 13.4% drop from the 14,578 who attended the 2006 fair, and the third straight year of declining attendance. 

Although I don’t have exact figures, organizers admitted the exhibit area was smaller than 2006. And major Scandinavian producers such as Jesper and Tvilum-Scanbirk were nowhere to be found. (Both had large showrooms when I attended the Copenhagen show in ‘02.) 

In addition to being scheduled so close to Milan and ICFF, exhibitors said the Copenhagen event is being hurt by the rapidly growing Stockholm Furniture Fair, which takes place in February. 

At the most recent Stockholm show, attendance was 32,114, more than 2½ times the Copenhagen number. According to the fair’s Web site, attendees came from 53 countries. 

Copenhagen, on the other hand, welcomed attendees from 14 countries, including 86 people from the United States. (The number of U.S. attendees in Stockholm wasn’t available, but a couple of exhibitors who show in both Stockholm and Copenhagen said they see very few Americans at the Swedish event.) 

So it seems clear that European furniture shows are facing challenges similar to their U.S. counterparts. They’re having to compete with a bevy of other industry shows to attract buyers and exhibitors whose time and money are increasingly limited.