The Automechanika show in Frankfurt, Germany attracts thousands of exhibitors and visitors in the tens of thousands. Conceived in the early 1970s, the exhibition has grown into the aftermarket's largest and most successful trade fair. Industry players in North America swear by Automechanika, and despite daunting travel, lodging and setup costs, attend the fair without fail. Here's why.
Messe Frankfurt Automechanika is an aftermarket trade fair not to be missed for good reason – a couple of reasons, actually. First, the show enjoys a burgeoning international following. Back in still-recessionary 2010, nearly 4,500 product and service providers set up on the Frankfurt show floor, more than 3,600 of them, non-German. Visitor tally that year exceeded 150,000, more than half of the attendees arriving from foreign lands as near to Frankfurt as France and as distant from it as the People's Republic of China.
“The Automechanika show has grown exponentially since it went online back in 1971,” observes Messe Frankfurt USA international sales vice president, Dennis J. Smith. “Back then, we drew 500 exhibitors and 75,000 visitors. Two years ago, 4,471 exhibitors set up at Automechanika and 153,837 visitors came to check them out. In just over 40 years, the fair has grown into an international forum in which aftermarket manufacturers, service providers, resellers and buyers meet, talk strategy and do business.”
Automechanika is also unique among exhibitions of its kind for product range and depth of coverage. Segments run the gamut from parts and systems to IT and management, and along the way include repair and maintenance, accessories and tuning and service station and car wash. The show is, in fact, the industry's big event, and allows aftermarket players from Idaho to Istanbul to strut their stuff.
“Messe Frankfurt is the world's largest gathering of auto parts people in one place,” adds Scott Howat, global communications director, Affinia Group Inc., an international manufacturer of on- and off-highway replacement parts in Ann Arbor, Mich. “Being there matters much in today's globalized economy. Most aftermarket trade shows attract internationals, but Automechanika draws all of Europe, the pan-Asia region and all other parts of the globe in between. It gives a company like ours the chance to further expand our global footprint and shake hands with people from everywhere with whom we'd like to do business. It also offers insight from the perspective of the trade show floor into what other globally-oriented companies are doing in this industry and how they may be doing it.”
Leverages
Automechanika pays, and costs. Travel with setup accessories to Frankfurt runs high from most points within the U.S., both monetarily and in terms of time exhausted getting through exasperating, post-9/11 boarding protocols. Once landed in Germany, one confronts the issue of lodging and fuel expenditures, which ranks with the highest in Europe. Finally there's the show itself. Square footage is pricey, justified in part by Automechanika's global draw. Despite the drawbacks, there are obvious leverages to be had in personally checking out the competition and connecting face-to-face with future global partners.
Like any successful, mid-sized company, Ross-Tech keeps one eye keenly focused on expenses. Where Automechanika is concerned, that means tracking dollars siphoned away in lodging, transportation, meals and floor space paid for by the square foot. Together, these can add up to around $90,000 per show, Ruhf says, but with research and planning, the costs associated with Automechanika can be kept from boiling over the rim of the pot.
“We lodge at a train station hotel close to the Frankfurt airport,” he explains. “This allows us to train-in, verses paying for much more expensive lodging nearer the show. We host our biannual meeting and dinner there as well. The U.S. Commerce Department has also underwritten a program with Messe Frankfurt to financially assist American companies that want to get more involved in international business. Automechanika is expensive even with the program factored in, but every bit you save helps.”
A pocket full of leads
According to Ruhf, the most important payoff of Automechanika is not necessarily the big sale, but the leads that help facilitate sales down the road. Each show fills pockets with leads from interested auto shop owners and repair technicians, which companies like Ross-Tech pass along to distributors in countries where they do not enjoy a strong presence. Networking is therefore a primary goal of show attendance for companies that want to lay a footprint in regions of the world they have not previously tread.
“Automechanika makes it possible to meet halfway with people in places you might not visit in your entire lifetime,” says Mitch Malcolm, international managing director, Kwik-Way Products Inc., a manufacturer of auto service equipment in Marion, IA. “We meet distributors from as far away as the Middle East, and Africa, many of whom we end up partnering with. Our new friends recommend us to non-competing wholesalers back home, adding links to our growing supply chain. That probably wouldn't happen without Automechanika. The show expands horizons, and opens new windows of opportunity.”
