Europe's number one sourcing platform convinces with a first-class offer and high-quality visitors

Cologne, 02.03.2023

International, high-quality, diversified: Over the three days of the fair, Asia-Pacific Sourcing (APS) impressively confirmed its position as the largest sourcing platform outside of Asia from 28.02.-02.03.2023. 500 exhibiting companies from 13 countries presented new products, innovations and trends of Asian tools and products from the house, garden and leisure sector on exhibition space spanning 17,100 m². Hence, APS offered buyers from Europe and America – especially considering the current geopolitical situation – a unique opportunity to access the Asiatic offer and establish valuable business contacts to the Far East. For the first time, the product portfolio of the trade fair was enhanced with items from the automotive and sanitary segments. Including estimates for the last day of the trade fair, around 4,500 trade visitors travelled to Cologne from over 80 countries. As such, APS achieved a successful re-start after a more than three year break due to the pandemic.

"The comprehensive offer, the product quality and the good frequency of visitors at the trade fair stands were the success factors of Asia-Pacific Sourcing 2023. Over the three days of the trade fair, the focus lay above all on intensive dialogues and the personal encounter between trade visitors from Europe and America and exhibitors from Asia," summed up Oliver Frese, Chief Operating Officer of Koelnmesse GmbH. "We are delighted that the global sourcing industry considers APS to be a reliable and essential product show also in challenging times. The positive feedback of the trade fair participants underpins the relevance of APS as Europe's number one sourcing platform."

In addition to achieving a successful result in terms of quantity after a three-year break, APS particularly satisfied the trade visitors with the quality of the exhibited hardware. The exclusive presentation platform 'Best of China' took place for the third time already. 20 selected Chinese companies presented their premium tools from the house and garden sector. The special area stands for high-quality items, which are presented in a first-class manner. The products from the automotive and sanitary segment, which enhanced the offer of exhibits at APS for the first time, received a positive response from the trade audience.

The relief of the trade visitors at finally being able to experience new products, tools and tool accessories from Asia on a big scale, establish relations to suppliers and groom existing contacts was clearly noticeable. The exhibiting companies were equally delighted about the quality of the international trade audience. Numerous top buyers from the European and American sourcing business showed interest in the range of offers presented.

"Taking part in Asia-Pacific Sourcing was definitely worth our while. We are very pleased with the quality of the discussions that we were able to hold with our business partners and potential customers. APS is an absolute must for the sourcing industry," stated Kai Ouyang, Chief Operating Officer of Dasqua SRL.

"For us Asia-Pacific Sourcing is the most important platform for presenting our products to the European and American market," emphasised Rishi Raj Sharma, Chief Operating Officer, Proxima Steel Forge Pvt. Ltd. "Our offer went down very well and we are pleased that we are able to offer many companies solutions for the current production and delivery bottlenecks," added Shivam Sharma, Director Marketing H.R. International.

The International Trade Fair for Retail Promotions and Imports (IAW) was co-staged in the direct vicinity. As was already the case in previous years, the co-staging of the two trade fair produced positive synergy effects. Trade visitors of APS benefited from the enhanced offer comprising of promotional, trend and seasonal items. The exhibiting companies on the other hand were overjoyed at the additional frequency of visitors.

500 exhibiting companies from 13 countries took part in Asia-Pacific Sourcing in 2023: The top three exhibiting nations were China with 420 exhibitors, followed by Taiwan with 37 exhibitors and India with 14 exhibiting companies. Including estimates for the last day of the trade fair, around 4,500 trade visitors from over 80 countries were registered at Asia-Pacific Sourcing.

APS is staged every two years and will be opening its doors at the Cologne fair grounds again from 11.03.-13.03.2025. (.ics)