Last week was highlighted by the launching of one of the most famous exhibitions worldwide, BASELWORLD 2011 in Switzerland, which used to open its doors to the participants of the most beautiful industry – the luxury industry – for as long as 27 years. Usually, the whole territory of the exhibition spread across 160,000 square meters is filled up with manufacturers, and this made the organizers to invest 430 million Swiss francs to upgrade the facilities and build a new pavilion.
The exhibition features 736 jewelry companies, 627 manufacturers and 529 allied industrialists from 44 countries. Of the total participants 63.7% are European manufacturers, 27.6% are manufacturers from Asia, 4.5% from South America and 4.2% from other countries. All of them view BASELWORLD as a unique platform bringing together all business segments and providing an opportunity to carry out their activities.
Every year visitors, whose number reaches 100,000, flood all the space between the stands. The current exhibition is attended by 3,000 journalists from 100 countries.
Speaking at the inaugural press conference René Kamm, CEO of MCH Group, said: “BASELWORLD in particular is extremely significant as a trend-setting platform for the watch and jewellery industry. Moreover, as a world show, this event also offers an identity for the entire sector… The attrition caused by attending large numbers of events is very disagreeable for specialist buyers. If we take the fashion industry as an example, buyers are forced to attend umpteen regional exhibitions, since theirs is a sector that has lost any global highlights it may once have had.”
According to René Kamm, “is absolutely correct to claim that the economic upturn was successfully rung in last year and that the slump in the luxury-goods industry is now a thing of the past.” That being so, there are very high expectations as far as the current year is concerned, he noted.
Chairman of the Exhibitors’ Committee Jacques J. Duchene added: “We have experienced the months gone by as an alternation of major, unforeseeable upheavals and shocks. Several countries of Africa and the Middle East are even now going through radical changes, associated with difficulties and many uncertainties – a situation which is bound to have effects on the entire world. Although the movement appears to be heading in the right direction, our uncertain geo-political situation still makes it imperative for us to be cautious in our analyses.”
It is noteworthy that the Swiss watch industry is already poised to surpass the record-breaking year of 2008, with a growth rate of 22.1% in 2010, while its exports made almost 16.2 billion Swiss francs. An increase of just 6% in 2011 would be enough to erase the drop recorded in 2009.
There are 150 jewellery and watch exhibitors bearing the “Made in Germany” mark. On the basis of data released by Germany’s Federal Office of Statistics, BV Schmuck+Uhren has calculated that full-year sales in 2010 posted by about 360 companies engaged in the German jewellery industry will amount to almost €680 million versus ?650 million in 2009. In 2010, their export value of jewellery stood at some ?890 million, whereas in 2009 it reached about ?713 million. In the watch sector the figure rose to some ?1.18 billion in 2010.
French booths at BASELWORLD hosted 12 jewellery manufactures including those involved in high jewellery production. “After the fashion for oversized flashy models that has enjoyed success over the past few years, watches are today adopting a more sober appearance in volume and décor, without excluding a wide range of styles, shapes and sizes,” Committee Franceclat, overseeing the development of the watch industry in France, pointed out.
This year, the exhibition organizers have released a perfect pocket guide and surprised all the participants by the opportunity to download its mobile version, which has all the pertinent information about the exhibitors, and even an interactive 3D-map, as well as merchandise indices and annual news.
Veronica Novoselova, Rough&Polished, from Basel
