130th Markant trade forum

Stationery and toy manufacturers set new trends

The stationery sector has successfully established itself at the Markant trade forum in recent years and has now additionally been expanded to include toy manufacturers. In this way, there were 38 stands with a wide variety of writing and toy articles to discover. With fruit and vegetable suppliers from Italy, Spain and the Netherlands, Markant subsidiary Iberiana once again presented a diverse assortment and set another accent with its large trade fair stand.

Trade forum INSIGHTS: Current topics from the economy

Valuable impetus and diverse perspectives on current economic topics were provided by the three specialist presentations of the trade forum INSIGHTS right at the beginning of the first day of the fair. The audience followed the lectures of the renowned speakers with great interest.

Prof. Dr Clemens Fuest, president of the ifo Institute, focused in his presentation “The German economy in a stress test: In need of restructuring or on the verge of the next economic miracle?” on the tense situation of the German economy. He showed which factors are slowing down the growth of the German economy and which measures can counteract this.

Journalist and bestselling author Franca Lehfeldt had motivating impulses in her luggage. Under the title “Nothing comes from nothing. A plea for the principle of performance.” she explained why society should once again focus more strongly on performance, why Generation Z cannot be indiscriminately labelled as “lazy” and which prerequisites are necessary to make the principle of performance more attractive again for young people.

Prof. Dr Dietrich Grönemeyer took up longevity, a much-discussed trend topic. His presentation “The capital of health: Longevity in management between hype and economic reality” presented exciting perspectives on health topics. Ultimately, longevity is about ageing in a state of well-being – basically nothing new, according to Dietrich Grönemeyer. Good nutrition, sport and sleep are the central factors for this.

Trade forum NIGHT: A night in the jungle

The first day of the fair came to a fitting conclusion with the trade forum NIGHT in the Gartenhalle of the congress centre. In an atmospheric, tropical setting under the motto “Welcome to the jungle”, there were, in addition to culinary delights, once again rousing live music with the band everso.

Start-up arena: Founders in focus

voilà! – the start-up arena celebrated a premiere: for the first time, two competitions took place – a food and drugstore pitch and a non-food pitch. Accordingly, two winners were chosen. In the food and drugstore segment, Nice Rice secured the title of most striking start-up and several meetings with retailers. With its instant rice dish, the company made a strong impression on the jury. Tütenheld won the non-food pitch with an innovative solution: a small clip holds the bag firmly in the organic waste bin and prevents it from slipping.

But the pitch in the start-up arena also really paid off for FROOD, fourTaste, Skyr-Based, Bombay Delight, Weinton in the food segment, as well as Easy Exit Card, My Color Company, Born to be glittered and Boulderball: they received various vouchers for meetings with retailers.

Even more start-up power was to be discovered with a total of 24 exhibitors in the expanded start-up area.

Preview of the 131st Retail Forum

The 131st Markant trade forum will take place on 14 and 15 April 2027. Markant is once again inviting participants to the trade fair grounds in Karlsruhe.