News

Business is blooming here!
ZOW 2007: Regional Base - International Impact

East-Westphalia is Germany's largest and best known furniture center and is also the home of the ZOW - the Zuliefermesse Ost-Westfalen (East Westphalia Supplier Show). The magnetic allure of this trade show for the core region of Germany's furniture industry has for a number of years extended far beyond national borders. From February 26 through March 1, 2007 in the Bad Salzuflen Exhibition Center, the industry will again attempt to get close to its target market with product innovations and services.

As a specialist b2b trade show, the ZOW has carved out a strong position for itself between the two poles of the face-to-face sales activities and the large-scale events of leading international trade shows. This is because the ZOW is different: All trends and new features are presented at the ZOW at the right time in a comprehensive and clear manner, right in the home of the furniture industry. National and international exhibitors have been using this proximity to the target market to demonstrate their prowess each year since 1995. 710 companies had a stand at the Bad Salzuflen Exhibition Center in 2006 (previous year: 566) (see statistics).

Trade visitors welcome the diversity of this range of companies. This is borne out by the growing attractiveness of the ZOW each year far beyond the region's boundaries. There were already 14,000 visitors to the ZOW in 2005; this increased to around 16,000 in 2006. Just under 40% of trade visitors come from the nearby catchment area, but a third of all trade visitors now travel in from abroad. 39 nations were represented among the visitors to the ZOW in 2006. Most of the foreign visitors came from the Benelux countries, Great Britain and Poland. The ZOW is therefore the main driving force behind business and innovations among furniture suppliers and component manufacturers - an effective communication and trading forum for the entire industry.

Further information about the ZOW can be found at www.zow.de