Overwhelming response at 71st edition of pitti immagine uomo
22 Jan '07
4 min read
In this light we have to emphasize the significant increases in attendance on the part of Russia (+ 30%) and Eastern Europe (Poland, + 15%; Czech Republic, + 29.2%; Hungary, + 11%; and the Baltic states), China, (+ 11%); Hong Kong, (+ 17.6%) and even India (+ 58.3%) with its strong contingent of buyers. Poletto continues, “We mustn't forget Japan (+ 4.7%); among the more consolidated foreign markets it is not only the most demanding and prepared, but for us it has become the prime market with over one thousand buyers.” Once again we witnessed physiological oscillations among the more consolidated markets such as Germany, United States, Great Britain, France, Spain, Holland and Turkey.
Here are rankings of the first sixteen top countries with respect to their January 2006 figures: Japan (1.109 vs. 1.059), Germany (1058 vs. 1.120), Spain (810 vs. 850), Great Britain (742 vs. 732), Holland (651 vs. 618), Greece (517 vs. 536), Turkey (495 vs. 440), Korea (450 vs. 456), France (403 vs. 432), China (346 vs. 312), Switzerland (322 vs. 350), Belgium (291 vs. 320), United States (286 vs. 299), Russia (269 vs. 207), Austria (229 vs. 241) and Portugal (185 vs. 218).
On the domestic side, all of the most important Italian buyers came to the fair, even if the total of 16,626, 7% less with respect to January 2006 reflects the hard (and inevitable) phase of restructuring that is going on in independent retailing: the number of stores in Italy dropped by roughly 10% between 2005 and 2006.
“I would add two comments about this factor,” continues Raffaello Napoleone, “the exhibition's offer is continuing to target the high end and this creates a natural selection and we must also consider the increasingly important role that sales are playing in the retail cycles. This winter with the exceptionally mild weather has been having a negative impact on sales, and we know that many of the smaller stores have had to concentrate on end-of-season and post-Christmas discounts”.
marketing@alchempro.com
