Trade Show Digitalization: What UNIMEV Numbers Really Reveal

Let's be honest. The word "digitalization" has become so overused that it barely means anything anymore. Between software vendors' marketing promises and ground reality, there's often a huge gap. So I dug through UNIMEV's Event Data Book 2025 to understand where the industry really stands.

The French Market in Numbers

Let's set the scene. According to UNIMEV (French Union of Event Professions), the French event industry generates 65 billion euros in annual revenue. Trade shows and fairs alone represent 30.5 billion euros.

These are massive numbers. Yet digitalization remains timid: only 25% of French professional trade shows have integrated virtual elements in 2025. That's a 10-point increase from 2024, sure, but we're far from the announced revolution.

Why this gap? Because digitalizing a trade show isn't about slapping a mobile app on an existing event. It's about completely rethinking the experience.

What Really Changed Since Covid

The pandemic served as an accelerator, that's undeniable. But not in the way we often imagine.

What exploded was online ticketing and paperless registration. Today, offering paper registration seems anachronistic. Organizers understood that the first contact with exhibitors or visitors needed to be seamless.

However, hybrid experiences (in-person + remote) struggle to find their audience. Paris Games Week 2025 gathered 188,000 physical visitors. Its streaming reached a few thousand people. The ratio speaks for itself: people want to be there, physically.

Cost Inflation, the Real Driver of Digital

Here's what you read less often in enthusiastic op-eds about digitalization: organizers have no choice.

UNIMEV estimates cost increases at +16.4% since 2020, including 14% in the first two years. Hall rentals, temporary staff, logistics... everything has soared. Facing this pressure, automation becomes a matter of economic survival, not a visionary strategic choice.

A concrete example: a 200-exhibitor trade show that digitalizes its registrations, billing, and communications saves the equivalent of one full-time position. That's the reality of digitalization in 2025.

Tools That Actually Make a Difference

After talking with several organizers, here's what stands out:

Interactive floor plans remain the most impactful tool. When a visitor can locate an exhibitor in two clicks on their phone instead of searching on an A3 paper map, their satisfaction mechanically increases. The 2025 Agricultural Show, with its 1,000 exhibitors and 603,652 visitors, would have been unmanageable without digital signage.

Centralized exhibitor management comes second. No more Excel files circulating by email with contradictory versions. A single database, accessible to the entire team, with exchange history. It seems basic, but it's what most organizers lack.

Analytics are starting to break through, but we're still on simple uses: entry counting, peak hours, occupancy rates. Sophisticated predictive analytics remain the domain of very large shows.

What Doesn't Work

Let's be honest about failures.

Oversized mobile apps with integrated networking, chat, gamification... Adoption rates rarely exceed 20%. Visitors don't want to download an app they'll delete the next day. A PWA (Progressive Web App) accessible via QR code works better.

Automated matchmaking between exhibitors and visitors. Algorithms will never replace chance encounters in an aisle. Organizers who invested heavily in these features are disappointed.

100% virtual trade shows. Post-Covid, some thought the format would persist. Numbers are clear: visitors have returned en masse to exhibition halls. Japan Expo 2025 did see a decline (200,000 visitors versus 255,000 in 2024), but that's linked to the Paris Olympics, not a migration to virtual.

2026 Outlook According to UNIMEV Observatory

UNIMEV's economic observatory predicts an 8 to 12% increase in trade show attendance in 2026, driven by technology, health, and sustainable development sectors.

This optimistic projection comes with a finding: shows that will perform are those that integrate digital as a facilitator, not as the main attraction.

The 2026 visitor wants:

• To register in 2 minutes on their phone

• To receive their badge by email

• To easily find what they're looking for once on-site

• To leave with the contacts they came for

Nothing revolutionary. Just efficiency.

My Take

Trade show digitalization is neither a revolution nor a gimmick. It's a necessary evolution, driven by economics more than innovation.

Organizers who succeed are those who start from their concrete problems: "I lose 3 hours a day answering the same exhibitor questions", "I have no visibility on my occupancy rate before D-30", "My teams are overwhelmed on the day".

Solving these problems one by one, with appropriate tools, that's real digitalization. Not a five-year digital transformation plan with PowerPoint slides.

UNIMEV figures show the industry is moving forward, at its own pace. It may not be as spectacular as digital prophets announced, but it's more solid.

Sources: Event Data Book 2025 UNIMEV, Paris Games Week 2025 Report (SELL), International Agricultural Show 2025 Report