Cutting-edge expo center aims for long-term growth

Shanghai New International Exhibition Centre has vowed to further enhance its services to maintain long-term growth.

Top management of the center says the trend in the exhibition industry is a higher demand for so-called B2B2C shows and events.

"This means that traditional trade shows will add more consumer related elements to their existing portfolio," said Michael Kruppe, the center's general manager.

"For SNIEC, that means that the requests from customers about services will be even higher," he said.

"So the only way for SNIEC to deliver quality service is to stay in close contact with these customers and listen carefully to their ideas."

SNIEC launched a series of service upgrade plans in recent years, aimed at appealing to all the expo visitors. For instance, all the pavilions have Wi-Fi access services and the center expanded its exhibition areas to serve the varying demands of expo organizers.

"We are operating in a service industry, which means that a customer has to stand out against his competitors," Kruppe said.

He said that, as a result, if a venue where a customer was organizing his show did not offer the same levels of quality as the products or services he was showing to his existing and potential customers, that would present a problem.

"SNIEC makes sure there will be no gap," Kruppe added.

Kruppe said SNIEC has had deep discussions with its customers over the past few years, and "it is very obvious that the top requirement from them is service."

Located in Shanghai's Pudong New Area, SNIEC was the first Sino-foreign joint-venture exhibition center in China. It was established in 2001 by the German Exposition Corporation International GmbH and the Shanghai Lujiazui Exhibition Development Co Ltd. SNIEC offers 17 column-free, ground-level exhibition halls, covering 200,000 square meters of indoor space and 100,000 sq m of outdoor space.

Kruppe said SNIEC continues to expect a stable growth rate in 2018 despite some uncertainties in the global economy and the trade show sector.

"SNIEC's growth is very healthy. If things stay the same until the end of the year, we forecast a growth of 7 to 8 percent in sold exhibition space, to six to seven million sq m," he said.

To date, several large expos in terms of sales have been held this year, in SNIEC. including the CNC Machine Tool Fair, Bakery China and China Beauty Expo. A forthcoming furniture expo and the biennial Bauma China will also be highlights of SNIEC's 2018 performance.

Kruppe said that uncertainties about the development of the world economy would not be a significant problem for SNIEC.

"In the past almost 20 years, we have gone through a lot of economically unstable times but always succeeded — so that if things get tougher this time, our experience and high flexibility will certainly help our customers and us handle it successfully," he said.

Looking ahead, SNIEC is still looking for new business partners and is keen to introduce more of the world-leading expos to China.

"Shanghai, especially Pudong with its free trade zone, is a designated area for many new and exciting industries," Kruppe said.

He added that many companies chose to locate in Pudong, especially in the high-tech, services and communications sectors, as well as in selected manufacturing industries, such as the medical sector.

"SNIEC is the perfect solution and we are also already in contact with some overseas customers who are active in related indus-tries," Kruppe said.

In 2019, Kruppe believes SNIEC will maintain its sales growth, with 3 to 5 percent revenue growth.

"Of course, that's depending on a stable global and local economy and trusting and hoping that trade wars will not linger on," he added.