International, diverse and innovative: from September 2 to 4, 2025, the 39th International Trade Fair for Retail Promotions and Imports (IAW) will once again welcome visitors and exhibitors from all over the world to the Cologne exhibition halls. For over 20 years, the IAW trade fair has been the established industry meeting place for all areas of global trade and regularly brings together around 6,000 visitors and 300 exhibitors from more than 80 countries.

On 30,000 m² of exhibition space, the 39th IAW trade fair will present the complete product range of the retail world, just in time for the Christmas business. Well-known exhibitors will present their goods from all retail sectors – from promotional and trend articles to DIY, garden, household and toys to drugstore products and food. The compact range of products on offer provides buyers with short routes to new product ranges and suppliers. Particularly in times of trade and global political uncertainty, the IAW trade fair offers a reliable hub for attractive deals and lasting business relationships.

The IAW underlines its role as a leading trade fair in particular through the diversity of its exhibitors. At the 39th IAW, not only traditional retailers will present themselves, but also numerous first-time exhibitors can be visited in the exhibition halls. Justus von Siebert, Director Sales & HR at L&K BrandTrading GmbH, explains the importance of the IAW trade fair for healthy business relationships: “We can make initial face-to-face contact at the IAW trade fair, where we can talk about every offer in detail.” The varied and diverse mix of first-time exhibitors and long-standing partners has made the IAW trade fair a reliable sales and networking platform for many years and inspires visitors to expand their product range.

The innovative character of the IAW trade fair is underlined by the E-Commerce Arena, which will be an integral part of the hustle and bustle of the trade fair for the 21st time. In the E-Commerce Arena, the audience will receive compact knowledge in the form of specialist presentations on topics relating to marketplace strategies, online marketing, logistics and many other areas of online retail. Stefan Grimm from GKS-Handelssysteme GmbH, organizer of the programme, emphasizes that a retail company can only maintain its sales if it sells via online channels. The E-Commerce Arena helps with this: “In the end, it’s always about practical application: What can I do to directly improve tomorrow?”. The e-commerce quarter gathered around the stage brings together specialized service providers – from store systems to fulfilment – and thus facilitates the transfer of knowledge between analogue and digital retail.

Visitors and exhibitors can experience this and many other highlights at the 39th IAW trade fair. The next trade fair will take place from September 2 to 4, 2025 in Halls 6 and 9 at Koelnmesse. Until July 1, 2025, there is a 10% early bird discount on the basic stand rental when registering as an exhibitor. Registration for free tickets for trade visitors is already open. More details at www.iaw-messe.de

Multichannel platform for international retail: the 39th IAW trade fair gets underway (PDF)