BioFach: innovations prove their worth

This year’s BioFach presented a number of new services and facilities, and the majority of them proved to be very good. Examples are the meeting place for the German specialist wholefood trade, the mini cosmetics stands at Breeze, the “Best New Product” award and the shop tours. Organized visits to wholefood stores, eco-textile shops and organic processors in the Nuremberg region will be on the agenda next year too. Fashion shows were held in the textiles hall for the third time, and the response of the audience was again outstanding. (Picture: Attractive models showing bright spring fashions)

For years a prize for the best product of the year has been awarded by BioFach. Whereas previously a jury examined and tasted the submissions of manufacturers, a few years ago the selection process was transferred to the wholefood retailers. The best seller of the year was established by the management consultants Biovista on the basis of checkout scanner results in several hundred wholefood shops. This meant they could pinpoint the new products bought most frequently by consumers in the previous year. But since this system favoured those manufacturers with a heavy presence in the German retail trade, with international exhibitors possibly feeling they were at a disadvantage, and also with BioFach wanting to build in an interactive element with visitors, the “Best New Product” prize was conceived for BioFach 2011. (Picture: a new lounge for organic retailers was established in this year)

More than 500 individual products were set out on long tables, so that visitors could have a close look at every single item. They then handed in a voting card that they received with their admission ticket or which they could pick up in the exhibition. This card was immediately scanned. In contrast to the earlier new products exhibition, where you were not allowed to touch anything, the visitors this year could take hold of bottles or boxes and really scutinise them. However, they were not able to taste the products. Around 1,000 visitors took part in this selection process. The list of eight winning products is available on the internet. (Picture: Non-food articles like these green wellies made from natural rubber were on display at the new products show)

About a dozen events and wine tastings, accompanied by the opinion of experts, took place on the wine stage in Hall 4A (see picture). At the second International Organic Wine Award MUNDUS VINI BioFach in December 2010 in Neustadt, on Germany’s famous “Weinstraße, a total of 555 wines from organic cultivation had been submitted by producers and importers for tasting and judging by wine experts from all over the world.  The awards were presented to the beaming winners at 11.00 on the first day of BioFach (16 February). 193 medals were presented: 3 Special Gold, 71 Gold and 119 Silver.

Arranged for the first time at this year’s BioFach was a programme of five different organic tours led by a guide to specialist shops, an organic supermarket in Nuremberg and farms and processors in the vicinity. This collaborative event by BioFach and Organic Market.Info was aimed principally at international visitors, and it will be on offer again next year. Participants came from, for example, Japan, China, Belgium, Luxembourg, Poland, France and Spain. (Picture: A shop tour group in front of the wholefood shop Lotos in Nuremberg)

With 100 – 150 visitors per show, attendance at the fashion shows in the textile area (Hall 8) was very high. There were 13 shows in all, with three or four each day. The audiences were absolutely thrilled by the combination of well known music and the slick choreography of the demonstration, with models appearing on the catwalk in different fashionable clothes practically every minute. 18 eco-textile firms sponsored the innovative show, including Living Crafts, Lotties, HempAge, Earth and Braintree. Lavera supplied the attractive make-up worn by the models.

A few exhibitors were not completely satisfied with the special exhibition area for textiles. Kerstin Tollmien from the children’s clothes manufacturer Pickapooh hopes that in future more can be done to appeal to natural textile retailers from home and abroad. “BioFach is more professionally organized than comparable natural textile fairs, and also the international media focus on it more,” she says. This is why she wants to exhibit her products at BioFach in the future in order to get the idea of natural textiles across to a wider public, and we should indeed be expanding the pioneering role of Germany in this segment. It would certainly be helpful if BioFach could do more to attract larger numbers of exhibitors and visitors from this specialist segment. Frank Schell from Living Crafts was happy with the intensive discussions with customers, although a bigger number of new customers would have made him even happier.

Breeze was the name of the show that brought a breath of fresh air to the cosmetics area. Ten young cosmetics firms were given the opportunity – at a cost of only about 1,200 euros each - to present themselves on a 2 m² mini-stand. A good example is Christian Portig (foto) from the firm Lasavia. Founded quite recently, the firm brought out its first products ready for BioFach. His massage candles, available in three fragrances, were obviously well received by the visitors. He was really pleased with the opportunity provided by Vivaness to present his products - next to the new products in natural cosmetics - in the area linking CCN Ost and the Vivaness Hall 7A.

The chocolate theme was the centre point of the Africa Pavillion in Hall 4 (picture). On each day there were two – somewhat improvised – tastings of plain and dark chocolate from six different African manufacturers. They also demonstrated how chocolate is melted, goji berries are added and the mixture is poured into moulds. At the African Pavillion this year – its fourth year – there were about 60 exhibitors from a dozen countries. The organizers are the Louis-Bolk-Institute in the Netherlands, Grolink in Sweden and IFOAM.

You have to conclude that the trade fair duo BioFach/Vivaness is becoming increasingly international and varied. The services provided and the special exhibition areas make these world trade fairs really attractive and contemporary and create an atmosphere that you don’t find anywhere else for exhibitors and visitors alike. The fairs are not just a question of stands and exhibitors but also of a very informative parallel congress and lots of side-events that provide all the players with a platform that offers a myriad of opportunities and enables people to advance their knowledge of organics in general and to make those so important personal contacts. BioFach and Vivaness hold up a mirror to a discerning and sophisticated society, and once a year they are the number one locus of communication for everything to do with organic marketing at home and abroad. (Picture: The much quoted sex appeal of organic products as advertisement for a Bionade drink)


For more information:
www.biofach.com