Messe Frankfurt has acquired a stake in Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) company nmedia GmbH. The acquisition is part of a plan to set up its “nextrade” digital B2B marketplace, which will provide standardised ordering and data services for both suppliers and retailers. Philipp Ferger (pictured) has also been appointed second managing director of nmedia GmbH effective 1 June 2019, and will share management responsibilities with Nicolaus Gedat. In addition to his new function as managing director of nmedia, Ferger will remain responsible for Tendence and Nordstil as vice president. He will report directly to Stephan Kurzawski, senior vice president of Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH.
Kurzawski commented: “Philipp Ferger’s many years of experience in the trade fair business and his specific sector expertise will stand him in good stead in his new position as managing director – and will be instrumental in meeting the strategic objectives of Messe Frankfurt in coming years. “In this way, we – together with nmedia – will provide our new, digital order tool online with a view to helping to meet the challenges faced by the sector. We wish Mr Ferger every success in his new position.” Messe Frankfurt says that nextrade “eliminates the need to order manually from the individual suppliers – for example on site during trade fairs – thus saving time, money and other resources. Via nextrade, orders can be placed day or night 365 days a year, regardless of whether retailers have their own merchandise management system.”
Philipp Ferger has a wealth of experience in the trade fair sector. A business administration graduate, he was assistant to the executive board since March 2011, working for Detlef Braun, whose responsibilities included the Consumer Goods & Leisure business segment. This position not only enabled Ferger to take on traditional management duties but also to garner international experience at both strategic and operational level, particularly in the field of consumer goods fairs. Since 2014, Ferger has been in charge of the regional trade fair concept for the consumer goods business segment. In 2016, he was appointed Vice President of Tendence.
