This Aquatech Shanghai International Water Exhibition Was Extremely Dull, It Might Be the Only Highlight │ Water Purifiers

The three-day "Second Aquatech Shanghai International Water Exhibition" (officially named "Asia Water Technology Exhibition") has concluded. Regarding this exhibition, the author of this article specifically visited the exhibition site for on-the-spot observation and stayed for three days, providing a brief summary to speak freely!

1. A Two-and-a-Half-Day Exhibition?
Although called a three-day water exhibition, in fact, by just after 12 noon on the third day, most exhibitors had already started packing up and dismantling their booths. This far exceeded the general expectation of dismantling around 2 or 3 PM.

Faced with vast, empty spaces where you could throw a pole and not hit anyone, most exhibitors probably understood it was better to pack up early rather than let competitors wander around studying each other's products!

2. Significantly Fewer Visitors and Buyers Than the last exhibition  
In fact, when the first exhibition, "Aquatech China 2024," was held, its "popularity" exceeded general expectations. There were particularly many international visitors, especially high-quality buyers from Europe, America, Southeast Asia, Japan, and South Korea. Consequently, many exhibitors exclaimed about "unexpected gains."

However, by this year's second exhibition, it indeed felt somewhat like a "dud." Just based on visual observation of foot traffic, the first day was acceptable, the second day saw a noticeable decline, and the third day could be described as desolate.

Overall, visitor especially the number of international buyers, decreased. A drop of over 80% in visitor numbers would not be an exaggeration.

When the author entered from Gate 3 around 10:30 AM on the third day, it was already sparse with hardly anyone coming in, which is direct evidence.

3. The exhibition had few highlights
The issue can be viewed from three dimensions, briefly summarized as follows:

First, from the exhibitor perspective

Last year's exhibitors BWT and Canature were "absent" from this time. Aibote, which topped the hall last year with 320 square meters as the "number one" in booth area, although halving its booth size this year, still remained the exhibition's booth area leader. "BRISK," usually highly conspicuous at various exhibitions, only "received guests" with a booth of just over 70 square meters.

Second, from the booth construction perspective

Except for Aibote, which still invested heavily in exhibition effects to highlight new products and focus on experience, most exhibiting manufacturers this year followed the principle of "saving" by cutting budgets for booth construction. A large backdrop, several floor platforms and central island counters, plus a few chairs became the standard setup for most companies.

Third, from the exhibit display perspective

At the International Water Exhibition held in June , Olansi, Kemflo , and Monapure were highly prominent, mainly featuring countertop ice-making water purifiers, with new water purifier models everywhere.

Perhaps the "novelty" hype has passed. At this second exhibition of Aquatech organized by RAI Amsterdam, it was bland as water ordinary, with no more eye-catching new products to attract attention. Moreover, Kemflo's booth was much smaller compared to the June water exhibition.

4. It Might Be the Exhibition's Only Highlight
If looking for a highlight in this dull exhibition, Aibote indeed launched many new products this year. Particularly, the two sets of "systematized" new products displayed, modularly combined like Lego—allowing free combination of functions such as countertop water purifier, cold water dispenser, ice maker, sparkling water maker, coffee machine, and capsule coffee machine—indeed attracted the attention of many buyers and industry peers. Somebody have praised them as the "treasure of the hall."

Aibote exhibited a series of new countertop water purifiers, under-sink water purifiers, built-in water purifiers, and smart faucets at this exhibition. However, these were somewhat "overlooked" due to the overwhelming spotlight of these two "systematic new product" sets~

(Disclaimer: This article represents personal views only. Images are sourced from the organizer's official website and the internet.)

Aibote Statement: This article is reprinted from the WeChat public account "Discussing Water, Debating the Way" and does not represent the views of the re-publisher. The content has been slightly edited during reprinting without altering the original intent.