Asia Outdoor 2017: New theme sets new trend

Jul 07, 2017

Asia Outdoor Trade Show, the most professional and biggest trade show in the China outdoor industry, concluded successfully its 12th edition in Nanjing China on July 2, setting new trends and new themes. On a fairground of 48,000 square meters in Nanjing International Expo Center, 617 (2016: 705) exhibiting brands presented their products and innovations. During the four-day show, 19373 (2016: 19502) trade visitors from all over the world came for the show.

The China outdoor industry has been going through the pressure of slowing down the growing speed in recent years, under the background of the global economy depression.

At the moment, Asia Outdoor Trade Show, is attached more importance to detecting and setting new trends for the industry. Richard Li, Project Manager of Asia Outdoor, said, "Asia Outdoor is not only a platform for products, but also a community for the whole industry and an opportunity for transferring information and knowledge. The Asia Outdoor 2017 has developed more themes and organized more forums and seminars to encourage visitors to be involved. In the future, Asia Outdoor will still focus on the outdoor sector and explore more potentials in the outdoor-related fields."

Mr. Sheng Faqiang, Chairman of the China Outdoor Association (COA) and President of the Toread Holdings Group, added, "Asia Outdoor has an impressive team and has achieved sound results in China. COA is and will fully support the show’s development as always. "

On the first day of Asia Outdoor, COA released the 2016 China Outdoor Industry Report with detailed figures and analysis. According to the statistics, the China outdoor industry will recover in 2 or 3 years, and two-digit growth is expected by 2018/2019. From this perspective, we are optimized towards the future of the outdoor market in China.

On June 28, one day prior to the show, the 3rd COA Outdoor China Summit with the theme of " Innovation and Cooperation" took place in Nanjing, with very good attendance.

COA members were also very supportive of the summit. Five core topics by outdoor industry experts from brands, retailers and digital consultants were very well received. "The good attendance of the COA Outdoor China Summit shows the necessity and marketing demands.

I’m happy to see that the Summit has gained great recognition from the outdoor industry and been informative for them." said Ms. Zeng Hua, founder of Scaler. Mr. Zhong Chengzhan, vice president of COA and founder of Kailas, agreed, "COA Outdoor China Summit is a key platform for outdoor communications. I think it is the most important summit in the outdoor section in China now."

During Asia Outdoor 2017, the conception on "outdoor lifestyle" is future reflected from both exhibitors’ presentation and the supporting programs of the show. We can see that the designs of the outdoor products continue tending to being light-weight and style is combined more elements of urban and fashion, based on the original demands on function and profession.

Outdoor travelling, covering both outdoor and camping fields, is another key word for guiding the outdoor lifestyle. The Outdoor Travelling Theme in Hall 6, could be the biggest highlight of Asia Outdoor 2017, which was presented in three ways: presentation of brands and products, forums on the connection of outdoor and camping, and business matchmaking especially for outdoor travelling theme. In this way, multiple resources were shared and combined together, including camping, travelling, outdoor clubs, RV and self-driving, providing an efficient platform for campsite owners, outdoor brands, activity organizers and educational institutions. In Hall 6, a demo campsite was built as a sample with all kinds of outdoor equipment and activities for experiencing, showing how a campsite could be operated and promoting this kind of lifestyle to people.

Mr. Wang Wanyu, founder of Lehero, was very supportive of the efforts that Asia Outdoor made on the outdoor travelling theme. He said, "I like Asia Outdoor very much and the innovations the show made on the outdoor travelling theme. New types of visitors are attracted to the show, such as investors from tourism, sports, outdoor and even agriculture. They, as well as the traditional outdoor insiders, can know more about the camping culture we presented and we can gain potential cooperation partners." Also, Wowocamp was very satisfied with the new theme at Asia Outdoor.

Mr. Wang Qi, founder and president of Wowocamp, said, "Attending Asia Outdoor has achieved our expectations. We conducted deep communication with the outdoor companies, and had deep discussion during the 5-hour camping forum, which inspired us a lot. We received suggestions on the coordination of camp, outdoor and education. "

Running Village has been always popular with both exhibitors and visitors in these years. The running-related forums and sharing sessions in the Running Village this year were particularly received this year. "Running Village is very suitable for branding and marketing of professional sports brands. The whole atmosphere is good and the supporting programs like the Ten Running Group Awarding, sharing on running events, and even training about products are very practical to both brands and visitors," said Mr. Shi Weijie, Product Director of 361°.

Products of "China Design" stood out again from the Asia Outdoor Industry Award. Altogether 27 products were honored by the Awards, among which 16 were from Chinese brands.

Experiential programs were popular as well, such as the COA Cup Kailas Bouldering Competition, Asia Outdoor Morning Running sponsored by Nathan, Slacklining orkayaking.

To further promote the outdoor culture and contents, Asia Outdoor introduced more online live broadcasting with exhibitors, outdoor big names, and online media partners. Reponses were very positive.

Ludwig Meier, Marketing Director of Messe Friedrichshafen, concluded after visiting the  12th Asia Outdoor in Nanjing, "it’s a great show, and especially this year we have new innovative products and we see that outdoor is changing; it’s more coming to the urban, to the cities, and you see also interesting part of camping. So there are new industry fields, and I hope they would be a successful way for the future and I can only say it’s a perfect show. Everybody has to participate next year."

According to the trade visitor’s survey, 95% of visitors were satisfied with Asia Outdoor, 94% of visitors confirmed that they would continue to attend Asia Outdoor next year.

The 13th Asia Outdoor will take place from June 28 to July 1, 2018 in Nanjing, China. More information is available at www.asian-outdoor.com.