Who you meet
Retail and e-commerce buyers, distributors, manufacturers, press, and a large public audience. The trade visitors are a minority of the crowd, which is what makes them hard to spot.
Consumer electronics
IFA Berlin
IFA Berlin is the consumer electronics and home appliances show held every September on the Messe Berlin grounds. It is open to the public as well as to the trade, so retail buyers and distributors share the halls with consumers.
Sept3–72027
Next edition
3 – 7 September 2027
Berlin, Germany
Prepare lead capture for IFA Berlin
Free account · Your first two events are on us
Exhibiting as a team? See the Team offerPhoto: Florian Wehde / Unsplash
Source · checked on 26 October 2026
Next edition
3 – 7 September 2027
Venue
Berlin, GermanyMesse Berlin
Frequency
Every year · September
Organiser
IFA Management GmbH
Official website
Dates come from the source shown and may change: confirm them on the official website before you book.
IFA Berlin in figures
220,000
visitors
1,900
exhibitors
140
visitor countries
Figures for the 2025 edition, as published by the organiser. Source
What makes capturing contacts hard here
A stand can collect hundreds of contacts that are mostly consumers. Without a way to separate them, the sales team ends up digging through a list where the three distributors who mattered are buried.
How to prepare
Make the first question "trade or consumer", and for trade visitors, ask the channel and the country. Send consumers a friendly connection email and keep the follow-up sequence for the professionals.
The exhibitor’s guide to IFA Berlin
Berlin's consumer electronics fair, a century old
IFA dates back to 1924, when the first radio exhibition opened in Berlin. It has been tied to the city ever since, and is held every early September on the Messe Berlin grounds, under the Funkturm radio tower built for the show in the 1920s. Over the decades it has followed the industry from radio to television, home appliances and connected devices, and it is now one of the main moments of the year for consumer electronics and household appliances brands.
IFA is open to both trade visitors and the general public. Retailers, distributors, buyers and press come to see the products that will be in shops for the end-of-year season, while consumers come to try them. That double audience is the main thing an exhibitor has to plan for.
Planning your participation
Decide what a lead means for you at IFA. For most exhibitors it is a retailer, a distributor, a buyer or a journalist, not a consumer. Write the first question of your form to make that distinction, and prepare a separate, lighter path for the public: a newsletter sign-up or a simple connection email.
Book the trade meetings in advance, especially with retail buyers, who plan their visit around the brands they already work with. Berlin has a wide choice of hotels, but prices rise during the fair; book early near an S-Bahn line that serves the grounds. Give each person on the stand their own link and QR code, so the team knows who met which buyer.
On the floor
During public hours the stand can get crowded. A visitor tablet takes the details of people who are waiting, while the team spends its time with the trade visitors who matter most. Salespeople capture those trade contacts in trade show mode, with a photo of the card and a note on the range, the volumes and the timing of the order.
For press contacts, note the outlet and the product they were interested in. It is what makes the follow-up useful to them.
After the show
IFA sits just before the busiest retail season of the year, so timing counts. Send buyers and distributors the price list or the samples they asked for within days, and confirm the next meeting. Consumers who left their details should get one friendly message, not your sales sequence: keep them in a separate list from the start.
Your countdown to IFA Berlin 2027
The dates that matter, worked back from the opening day.
- D-605 July
Shortlist who you want to meet
List the accounts and profiles you are going for. Your qualification questions follow from that list.
- D-304 August
Open your event campaign
One campaign for the show: its own register, your questions, your follow-up delay.
- D-1420 August
Print the QR poster
A5 for the counter, A4 for the wall, and NFC cards for the team if you use them.
- D-21 September
Brief the team
Each person gets their own link. Show them trade show mode and the visitor tablet.
- D-day3 September
Opening day
Every contact lands in one register, even when the hall Wi-Fi drops.
- D+36 September
The follow-up leaves
Your follow-up email goes out on its own, while the stand is still fresh in mind.
Three ways to capture contacts at IFA Berlin
They scan your card
A QR code on the stand or an NFC card in your hand: the contact fills in your form on their own phone, with your qualification questions.
Or you capture them
In trade show mode, photograph a business card or a badge, add a note and a temperature, and move on. It works with no signal.
Or they use the tablet
A visitor tablet on the counter takes the details of whoever is waiting while you are busy, and resets for the next person.
Exhibiting at IFA Berlin?
Set up your lead capture in minutes: a QR code for your stand, trade show mode on your phone, and the follow-up email ready to leave.
Getting there
S-Bahn stations Messe Süd and Messe Nord/ICC, and U2 at Kaiserdamm or Theodor-Heuss-Platz, serve the grounds.
From BER airport, allow about 45 minutes by train.
Questions
IFA Berlin 2027 is announced from 3 to 7 September 2027, in Berlin, Germany. Dates come from the source shown and may change: confirm them on the official website before you book.
Past editions
- Sept4–820264 – 8 September 2026
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