Baselworld Slashes Exhibitor Numbers in Half

RAPAPORT… About half as many exhibitors will attend the shorter 2018 Baselworld
watch-and-jewelry fair compared to this year, after organizers scaled back the annual
show in response to difficult market conditions.



The upcoming March edition will feature only 600 to 700
exhibiting companies, versus about 1,300 this year, MCH Swiss Exhibition
announced last week. The event will also last six days, rather than the usual
eight days.

“The watch and jewelry market is undergoing a period of
profound change, first and foremost through the increasing consolidation of the
market in terms of production and marketing, but also through the challenges
and opportunities of digital technology,” MCH explained. The 2018 event will be
“denser and more concentrated,” it added.


From 2018, the show will feature “new forms of real-time
digital communication,” as organizers try to turn the event into an expanded
platform for marketing and communication, MCH continued.


Switzerland’s watch trade has faltered in the past two
years, largely due to a slowdown in Asian markets. Swiss watch exports
increased 1.5% to $14.61 billion (CHF 14.41 billion) in the first nine months
of the year as demand from China and Hong Kong recovered. However, shipments
were still 9% lower than the same period in 2015.