From February 26 to
March 02, Messe Düsseldorf once again invited visitors to Euroshop, the world's leading trade show in the food retail sector. More than 1,800 exhibitors from 55 nations not only picked up on global developments, but also covered the entire spectrum of current trends and forward-looking solutions on more than 103,000 m² exhibition space in 16 exhibition halls. FreshPlaza.de wrote down some impressions.
The heart of the trade fair remains the areas of shopfitting and store design, but the most dynamic development is in the exhibition area for retail technology, which presents digital consulting assistants and smart store concepts, among other things. Above all, Machine Learning and AI are being given a central role, for example in image data analysis to determine visitor frequencies.
Paul Frey and Avik Mukhija of Freshflow Ltd / Image: Freshflow Ltd.
'AI is increasingly attracting attention'
On the first day of the fair, visitor numbers were still somewhat subdued, but on Monday the fair was much better attended, says Avik Mukhija of Freshflow Ltd. The Berlin-based company has developed an advanced AI-based management system for food retailers that is gaining increasing acceptance both at home and abroad. "Specifically from the fruit and vegetable sector, there is less interest, but Euroshop is exactly the right platform to talk to interested parties and decision-makers from the food retail sector. In addition, we also notice that the topics of sustainability, automation and IT, and of course our topic, artificial intelligence, are attracting increasing attention."
Mobile presentation island
The team from pack'nlog 
Ltd also looks back on a successful trade fair appearance: the innovative store concepts and feed systems of the Linz-based company are increasingly gaining acceptance in international food retailing. "Due to the strike in Germany, visitor numbers were mediocre, as many cancelled the date at the last minute after all. Nevertheless, we draw a positive balance and we note that many interested parties are enthusiastic about the mobility of our products. In particular, our innovation 'Smart Island', a mobile presentation island with integrated weighing technology, which we developed in cooperation with Bizerba, met with great interest from the trade show audience," says Marketing Manager Amra Avdic.
Above right: Amra Avdic from pack'nlog Ltd / Image: pack'nlog Ltd
Reusable displays are the trend
In many food retail stores, the fresh produce department is located directly in the entrance area, making it the flagship of many stores. Innovative store concepts, feed systems and displays were also well received during this year's EuroShop. "We took the opportunity to highlight our reusable displays with pool system true to the motto 'Evolution - Resolution - (R)Evolution'. We are finding that we are hitting the zeitgeist with our solutions, as high-performance systems that help reduce costs and increase sales are particularly sought after," explains Jurgen van Herp, pointing to the encouraging visitor numbers on all days of the show. "Fruit and vegetables did play a somewhat minor role, which once again contributed to the fact that we were an absolute eye-catcher with our concepts."
Fruit and vegetable displays at the EcoRetail Ltd booth.
Image: EcoRetail Ltd
For more information:
www.euroshop-tradefair.com
www.freshflow.ai
www.eco-retail.shop
www.packnlog.com