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Visiting a Commercial Fair in China

16 March, 2008

As much as the spectacular move that China is making on a commercial point of view, and as much as the massive invasion of Chinese products in our homes, the amazing organization of loads of commercial fairs in the country is a phenomenon that attracts every year un growing number of visitors from everywhere in the world. Leaders of Multinationals, buyers in SMEs, entrepreneurs-to-be, intrigued people, all are showing much interest for these almost weekly events that allow them to get more quickly into the initial phase of the Sourcing process.

Besides the impressive bi-yearly Canton Fair, acknowledged as currently being the world ‘s biggest commercial fair for commodities – in terms of numbers of visitors, number of exhibitors, and all kinds of commodities from all industries – you’ll also have many opportunities to visit as well some fairs that are more specialized on a certain industry in particular, in Mainland China and in Hong-Kong. A calendar of the Chinese Fairs per city and per sector of activity is available online through quite some websites such as http://www.eventseye.com/fairs/salons-guangzhou_0.html#ap170 for Guangzhou (capital of the Canton province) or http://www.eventseye.com/fairs/salons-shanghai_0.html#ap170 for Shanghai as an example.

What is the interest of visiting a commercial fair in China ? 

During these commercial fair, you’ll be able to meet up to 12500 potential suppliers each time. Factories as well as intermediary trading companies coming from all over the country display their standard products and their new items, so that within a few days you’ll be able to get a first idea of the market prices for a wide range of products. It obviously is as well a great opportunity to meet face-to-face with the potential suppliers you might want to work with, and make a first opinion about their basic skills within a few minutes. Moreover, Chinese suppliers try their best to become available for you during the fair hours and even during the daily three meals if you’re willing to meet them in a more private place in order to discuss on the spot about further details of up-coming orders. Although it is still recommended to proceed to a factory audit before you actually confirm your order, this kind of meeting can be helpful in the “time” factor is playing against you.

The Canton Fair

The CIEF (Canton International Export Fair) takes places twice a year in Guangzhou from April the 15th to the 30th and from October the 15th to the 30th, each one of them is simultaneously taking place in two exhibition centers (Liuhua & Pazhou) . In April as well as in October, it is organized in 2 phases, each of them presenting on each site several different sectors : from April or October the 15th to the 20th and then from the 25th to the 30th of April or October.

Between the two phases, some hotels of the city also host some exhibitors who couldn’t get a booth in one of the exhibition sites. The more it goes, the more exhibitors are willing to participate to the Fair, therefore Guangzhou regularly opens new exhibition centers in the area of the main sites (CAC, Jinhan, etc.).

The crowd that is attracted by the CIEF event is in proportion with the huge surface that hosts the Fair. That’s the reason why one shall avoid promiscuity issues by a good preparation to the fair.

Organization of your Journey to China for visiting a Fair  

If you decide to try the China adventure starting with participating to one of the yearly commercial fairs, you will have to set priority on: booking your plane ticket as early as possible, booking your hotel very early too, and pre-register to get your visitor ‘s entry badge for the fair. This is worth for most of the Fairs, however it is a Must-Do for the Canton Fair, as shown below.  

Indeed, twice a year during 15 days, the city of Guangzhou is getting all upside down. You might not have arrived yet (maybe not even left your country) that you might already have a chance to remark by yourself trying to find a plane ticket at the dates you want and for a good price can sometimes sound like the happening of a miracle. No need to be an expert in charters flights or low-cost flights, there’s one and only rule: anticipating the booking of your plane tickets at least 6 months prior to your date of departure. Of course, you will be able to find a seat even if you book later or at the last minute, but will never get all the conditions you wish. If you are really encountering difficulties to find a good ticket, consider flying via Hong-Kong, but take into account that there are also lots of fairs on the island and that getting plane, train or bus tickets to Guangzhou can also sometimes be a tough task.. 

As for hostels, anticipate the booking early enough because the booking requests are more than numerous. Around the exhibition centers, hostels are close to be booked from one fair to the up-coming one,  but more and more small hostels are now being promoted on Internet on websites focused on the Canton Fair. Prices are 2 to 4 times higher than in general throughout the whole city, whatever you book early or late. When you confirm the booking of your room(s), you’ll be required to swift a deposit or to provide your credit card copy and number (deposits are not always refundable in cas you cancel your booking, and sometimes it is only under certain unconvenient conditions.

When you arrive in China, it is better to bring along the address of your hotel written in Chinese so that the taxi driver understands where you want to go. When you’ll come out of the airport hall, you’ll be litterally attacked by punctual taxi drivers who will yell at you  « taxi ! taxi ! » , hoping to have you agree on walking across the huge airport parking lot for 15 minutes with your heavy luggages, to have you hop in the car and then to have you wait for other customers to join the journey (so that the final bill goes higher) : kindly ignore them and walk towards the regular waiting line for official taxis. It is recommanded to hand out your address only when you have got in the taxi, and we you go, make sure the driver puts the meter on. It’s been only a short time that it has become forbidden for drivers to bargain prices and while not putting the meter on, but not all of them take this new rule into account. So, better know about it on your side.   

Organize a Business Trip during the Fair period

If you are planning to go on a business trip during the period of a commercial fair, pre-qualify potential suppliers (see the article “Choosing your Suppliers in China”) or move forward on products sourcing, get well informed beforehand on the availabilities of the factories you plan to visit. The bi-yearly Canton Fair creates such a mis-organization of the industries ‘s usual rules that it is highly advised to make appointments, otherwise you’d take the risk to not be able to meet the persons who are able – and allowed – to welcome you in.

If you succeed in making appointments, try your best to respect your schedule, as suppliers availabilities sometimes are tight. As you’ll be able to see it (again) in the “Services” section of Objectif-Chine, we are offering in China various services including Coaching when you intend to visit factories, but also services of Assistance in Audit and Negotiation with your suppliers when you’re having a meeting with them in Guangzhou or other cities.

If the factories you want to visit are out of Guangzhou, no need to bother making hostels booking this time, as the crowd will be concentrated in Canton. If you need to purchase plane or train tickets, your hostel will be able to help you, as well as for cars rental. The last solution for a short journey is to pay a taxi for a two hours drive maximum, or for the full day if you intend to come back at night. 

Optimize your visit of a Commercial Fair

As you may have already understood, your visit of commercial fairs requires that you may prepare conscienciously in order to avoid useless time loss as well as physical and nervous tiresomeness.

Before you even go to China, you shall register via Internet on the official website of the « Canton Fair » as a visitor. If you forget to pre-register, that will not create unmanageable situations but you’ll have to queue up for longer time at the exhibition center ‘s registration area, fill in long forms about yourself and your company, queue up again to make pictures eventually, queue up again to get your badge, and then pay 10 Euros. If you pre-register well, when arriving at the exhibition center you will queue-up faster and will get your badge within far less time, for free. For this, you will have to give your passport, a business card with your name and company name on it, an ID picture, and the Internet pre-registration sheet that you have printed.   

You are now ready to get in the International Buyers Heaven ! The various exhibition centers are organized by industry, so get a map and start your day. It is highly recommended to use if possible some standard Sourcing materials, or at least to stick to a certain structure within your discussions with potential suppliers. The basic informations that you need to gather for any kind of interesting product are the following:

-          Reference number

-          Product description

-          Product picture

-          FOB unit price

-          MOQ (Minimum Order Quantity)

-          Eventual new prices for quantities that are higher than the MOQ

-          Delivery time (excluding international freight)

-          Product dimensions

-          Product unit packing dimensions

-          Dimensions of export carton

-          Number of pieces in an export carton

-          Number of pieces in a container

-          Number of export cartons in a container

-          Availability of certificate of conformity for the product (if required)

-          Reactivity and organization skills of the supplier on the Fair site

-          Potential skills to modify or develope products

-          Availability or not of an Export license

-          Possibility (or not) to go and audit his faactory someday

Think about analyzing all the informations on a daily basis, and start again the second day ! Good Luck !

Sophie Rebibo - Consultante Objectif Chine - sophie.rebibo@objectif-chine.com

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