Now that the SHOT Show has passed, all eyes in the airgun industry are now trained on IWA OutdoorClassics 2018 – often known as “The IWA Show” for short…
The 2018 SHOT Show marked the 40th anniversary of the US shooting industry trade show. It’s owned and operated by the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF). More than 60,000 industry professionals packed the SHOT Show over four days eager to view new, innovative products used for target shooting, hunting, outdoor recreation and law enforcement purposes.
At IWA OutdoorClassics 2017, the number of exhibitors was up around 4% on the previous year to 1,515 (1,455 in 2016) from 57 countries. Trade visitors increased by around 8% to more than 49,000 (45,530 in 2016) from 120 countries.
In summary, In 2017, 49,253 trade visitors came to IWA OutdoorClassics to meet 1,504 exhibitors from all over the world. In 2018, the organizers plan to meet, or exceed, that number.
Big though the SHOT Show is, airguns form a relatively minor part of the show. This is decidedly NOT the case at IWA OutdoorClassics, where there’s a proportionally much greater airgun presence. This includes exhibitors from many companies which do not exhibit at the SHOT Show.
This makes IWA OutdoorClassics 2018 the place to find many new airgun products, particularly those from Far-Eastern OEM manufacturers. (OEMs are manufacturers whose products are sold under other brand names.)
This means that new OEM products first shown at IWA OutdoorClassics will often appear for sales in the USA in the following year.
IWA OutdoorClassics 2018 takes place at the Exhibition Centre Nuremberg, Germany, from 9-12 March 2018. This is the 45th anniversary of the show’s founding and marks a change of senior management. Rebecca Schönfelder, 30, takes charge just in time for the this year’s event.
The trained exhibition manager has been with NürnbergMesse – the company that runs IWA OutdoorClassics – since 2005, and has been a member of the IWA OutdoorClassics event team there for over eleven years. She is thus familiar with the development of the specialist exhibition and the areas in which the relevant industries operate, and is already well known to many of the long-standing exhibitors.
Ms Schönfelder has been taking on increasing responsibility over the past few years and has worked with great dedication to actively shape many recent developments.
“I shall continue along the path my predecessor has taken,” Ms Schönfelder said, talking about her new position. “That means, above all, making sure that IWA OutdoorClassics remains the most important leading international trade fair for the industry long after this year’s 45th anniversary.”
Her first objective is to deepen existing customer relationships, make new contacts and further expand IWA as a marketplace where industries across the world can meet: “For me, the core segment of the trade fair is the top priority. However, we also need to explore new, suitable product segments that could be of interest for the trade.”
HAM Publisher Stephen Archer will be covering IWA OutdoorClassics 2018 for you – as usual. This means that you will have up-to-the-moment coverage, as in previous years. Keep checking HAM every day for all the airgun news and announcements!
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