A Practical Guide to Exhibiting at Interzoo 2028
Interzoo is the world's leading trade fair for the pet-supplies industry, and the 2028 edition runs 23–26 May at the Exhibition Centre Nuremberg. It has been held every second May since 1953 and is organised by WZF GmbH (Pet Industry Services), with the ZZF association as institutional sponsor. The 2026 edition was the largest and most international to date — around 2,400 exhibitors from some 70 countries and approximately 39,000 trade visitors from more than 130 countries, with over 87 percent of exhibitors coming from outside Germany.
What separates Interzoo from most technical trade fairs is who walks the aisles. This is a procurement show. The visitor is usually a buyer — a pet-shop owner, a chain category manager, a wholesaler or a distributor — and they are there to decide what to stock for the next couple of seasons. That single fact should drive every decision about the stand, because a buyer evaluates a stand the way they evaluate a shelf.
Who Exhibits and What Buyers Are Looking For
The floor spans pet food and treats, care and grooming products, accessories, toys, aquatics and pond technology, terrariums and reptile supplies, small-mammal and bird products, and the technology and packaging behind them. Exhibitors range from single-line accessory brands to full-range manufacturers and the equipment suppliers who serve them.
Buyers are looking for range, margin and a reason to switch. They want to see the whole line, understand the pack and the price point quickly, and talk to someone who can quote lead times and minimum orders on the spot. The stand's job is to make that easy: show the product openly, group it so a category is legible at a glance, and keep the commercial conversation — samples, price list, order pad — ready at the counter rather than buried in a folder.
Designing for a Buyers' Show: Merchandising First
The instinct on a first Interzoo is to build a brand statement — a big logo, a closed reception, product behind glass. It photographs well and sells nothing, because the buyer cannot shop it. The stands that convert treat the space like a small, very good shop: product at reach height, clear category zones, lighting on the goods rather than the ceiling, and a counter you can actually serve from.
Two rules that catch first-timers. Live animals are not permitted on stands, so aquariums and terrariums are shown planted and running without stock, and demonstrations happen by video or model. And a live aquatic or pond display needs a water and drainage order placed with the venue, separately from power and well before build-up. Both are design decisions, not afterthoughts.
Stand Size: Choosing Between 9, 18, 24 and 48 Square Metres
Nine to eighteen square metres suits a single-line or accessory brand, or a first-time distributor. You get an open shelving run, a back wall and a servable counter — enough to show a focused range and hold real conversations, but not to host a full buyers' programme.
Twenty-four to forty-eight square metres is where a brand with a genuine range belongs. There is room for category zoning, a proper merchandising wall, a lockable store sized for multi-day restocking, and a semi-enclosed corner where a buyer can sit down over a price list. This is also the size band where a live aquatic or pond feature becomes practical, with the water and drainage designed into the floor.
Fifty square metres and above is flagship territory: enclosed meeting rooms, hospitality for international buyers, heavy-load flooring for large display units, and the option of a double-decker to buy meeting space without buying more floor. Given how international Interzoo is, the meeting capacity often matters more than the extra display metres.
What an Interzoo Stand Costs by Size
Ranges below are all-in for design, fabrication, graphics, domestic freight, install and dismantle. They exclude the floor-space rental you pay to NürnbergMesse, and the electrical, water and waste orders placed with the venue.
- 9 m² modular: €4,100–€8,700
- 18 m² modular: €4,800–€10,100
- 24 m² custom with an open merchandising wall: €11,500–€15,000
- 30 m² custom with a buyer meeting corner: €15,000–€19,000
- 48 m² custom with full merchandising, store and a live display position: €19,000–€26,000
- 80 m² premium or double-decker: €34,000–€48,000
Common Mistakes, in Order of Frequency
The most common is building a brand statement instead of a shop — product hidden, counter closed, nothing a buyer can pick up. The second is assuming livestock is allowed and having no demonstration plan when it is not. The third is under-sizing the store, so the stand runs out of samples or stacks boxes in view on a buyers' show. The fourth, for aquatics and pond brands, is leaving the water and drainage order until after the design is signed, by which point the venue deadline has passed and the feature has to be improvised.
Getting Started
Send your stand size, your hall and stand number if NürnbergMesse has issued it, your product categories, and — if you are in aquatics or pond — whether you need a live running display. That last detail changes the design more than anything else you can tell us. You get a 3D design and a full itemised quote back, with the water, storage and merchandising planned before the design is drawn.
Because Interzoo is biennial, the two-year gap makes a reusable system frame a particularly sensible purchase here — the structure stays in our Frankfurt warehouse between editions, and the next show costs a graphics-and-merchandising refresh rather than a rebuild. Our modular exhibition stands are built for exactly that pattern.
