An opening press conference was held at CityCube Berlin two days before IFA 2016 opens to the public. The world’s leading trade show for consumer electronics is taking place in Berlin until 7 September, 2016.
Hans-Joachim Kamp, Chairman of the Supervisory Board at Consumer & Home Electronics GmbH (gfu), spoke about the latest trends in the consumer electronics sector. He explained the five percent decline compared to the previous year as being partly due to a shift in consumer behavior, moving away from hardware and towards technology-based services. Thus, streaming services are enjoying greater popularity than ever before. One area profiting from this trend is music streaming devices, which, according to a gfu survey, 25 percent of consumers wish to purchase before the end of 2017.
Just as before, washing machines continue to be the main generators of revenue in home appliances, although cooling units are becoming increasingly significant. These play a role in the trend towards healthier, fresher food, says Dr. Reinhard Zinkann, Chairman of the electronic domestic appliances association, ZVEI. The energy efficiency trend is prevailing across all electrical home appliances.
According to Dr. Christian Göke, CEO of Messe Berlin, exhibitor numbers have increased by 13 percent to 1,823 and the exhibition area has increased by 5 percent to 158,000 square meters. For the first time ever, innovations will be presented not just on the main exhibition grounds, but at STATION Berlin, too. Numerous discussion formats such as TecWatch and the IFA+ Summit facilitate dialogue between companies and consumers.
