International Dealer News 182 January / February 2025 IDN182 Jan/Feb 2025 | Page 23

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number cited by EICMA / ANCMA is said to have been some 40,000 up on that seen in 2023 . The organisers are claiming a record volume of vendor and brand space occupied ( 330,000 sq m of indoor and outdoor space ), and a record number of individual exhibitors buying into the show . More than 770 exhibitors were said to be representing 45 countries and presenting 2163 brands . In fact a true ( though meaningless ) brand count number would be a lot higher than thar . EICMA exhibitor figures show that of those 2,163 brands , 622 were from mainland China , 121 were Taiwanese and a further 18 headquartered in Hong Kong . The 761 from those three ' Chinese ' markets compares to 1,105 from the 27 markets of the EU , 963 of which were from the EU ' Big Four ' with 770 of them from the Italian home market , 71 from France , 66 from Germany and 56 from Spain . Other notable market exhibitor counts included 80 from Pakistan , 17 from India , 32 from South Korea , 27 from Turkey and 23 from the UK . Interestingly there were only 31 exhibitors from the United States - one of which was a returning Harley- Davidson after a four-year absence , but there was no Polaris / Indian Motorcycle booth this year . EICMA says that as many as 26 percent of the vendors present were exhibiting for the first time . That is a ' factoid ' that the organisers have deployed quite often in the post- Covid era , and one that they should be hiding because , if anywhere near true it points to two negative trends . Namely that the number of available exhibitors in the international ' Vendor
Park ' has seen considerable churn - suggesting that annual profits and capital investments have been softening , and that there is considerable ongoing ' churn ' among the EICMA exhibitor ' family '. This suggests that more leading vendors are finding other ways of spending their marketing budgets . We here at International Dealer News may well be beneficiaries of that - as a unique and uniquely international tool it looks like 2025 will represent an 11th straight year of growth for us , despite the changing print magazine landscape . In fact , based on at least 70 exhibitor dialogues at EICMA and
year-round market contact across four continents and some 50 countries , we are detecting that the wheel is turning again . Contrary to the present orthodoxy , there is a growing dissatisfaction with the disproportionately high costs and low effectiveness of online , social media and exhibition investments with the so-called ' experiential ' era of marketing being superseded by the higher priority of securing distribution channel effectiveness . From a national market dealer and distributor perspective , the growing trend among brand owners is to move away from in-person ' C2C ' selling
opportunities is a problem . The ' Peerto-Peer ' based reach of social media platforms are ceasing to be seen as a viable trade marketing and branding opportunity . This continues to reduce the PTW industry ' s marketing effectiveness . That means higher costs and lower returns on investment . Not good . Based on " renewed quality criteria " that were introduced in 2022 to measure and assess the status of the visitor count , EICMA claims that the number of " industry professionals " among its visitor footprint saw " more than 38,000 professionals coming from 126 different nations ". If true then that is a poor number when set against the claimed total attendance . It represents a reduced percentage of trade visitors . That was quite apparent from the profile of those who were walking the aisles on what are , notionally and theoretically the ' trade ' ( and Press / Media ) days , is quite apparent from the increasingly large number of international distributor personnel who no longer see the need to visit EICMA every year , and quite apparent from the growth seen in the trend towards vendors staging their own distributor ( and even dealer ) conference and appreciation events . " The presence of journalists , content creators , experts and communication professionals grew , with a solid + 13 % over 2023 and a provenance from as many as 74 countries , they almost reached the number of 8,000 ." If true , then that is also a surprisingly low number . Save-the-Date : the 82nd EICMA exhibition in its 111th year will be staged at Rho Fiera Milano from November 4 to 9 , 2025 . www . eicma . it
BS Battery : In 2024 the French specialist marked 15 years of remarkable growth , with EICMA showcasing the company ' s new Lithium MAX range , SLA MAX BGZ Series and 20-piece PA01 Eyelet Terminal Connector Jar . Heading into 2025 , BS Battery offers over 400 individual battery solutions , sells to distributors in 80 countries , has 15 racing partners , three subsidiaries , a further three market coordination offices and two production facilities ; www . bs-battery . com
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23 INTERNATIONAL DEALER NEWS - JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2025