Recently we exhibited at the China Import and Export Fair, also called the Canton Fair, which is held twice a year, spring and autumn. This fair has taken place in Canton since its inauguration in the spring of 1957. It is China’s largest fair of the highest level, offering the most complete merchandise and the largest attendance and business turnover for its kind. Preserving its traditions, the Fair is a comprehensive and multi-functional event of international importance.
It’s our second time to attending this show; however, it is very different from the electronic trade shows we have exhibited at before. How different? You might see a customer who visits another booth and asks how to be a distributor of bathtubs. Immediately afterwards, he will come to our booth and asks the same question about duplicators. To me, it shows that these customers might not be an established distributor of electronic products, but they have the ambition to work with a product they feel will be both popular and profitable globally. The increasing rate of exposure is the main advantage to attending the Canton Fair.
To further illustrate the changes in the world we live in today, the Canton Fair added many new security rules primarily due to the 2008 Olympics being held in Beijing. In order to keep the Fair safe, every exhibitor was required to register their entrance identification months in advance coupled with numerous references to prove your countries citizenship. Every product shipped to the fair required far more detailed descriptions listed on the paperwork than the previous time we exhibited at Canton Fair. According to the local newspaper, the 103rd Canton Fair was the strictest one on record. The security examination to enter the Fair was almost the same as the airport security check. Although it was not easy to enter the Fair, it was obvious to see that a lot of people endured the added security to attend this show (as shown in the below picture). If you planned to join this year’s spring Canton Fair, you would need to be ready to fight the hustle and bustle from the crowded visitors.
The Fair was very successful for us and we received many inquiries from the visitors we spoke with, so it was very encouraging that we are providing the right product. To keep our competitive edge, we will continue to persist in our philosophy of “quality, service, innovation, share/win”, while providing our customers with new products and the best service…
To conclude, I would like to share a funny occurrence with our dear readers of this blog, regarding our small booth at the Canton Fair. During most of the time at the Fair, we had a lot of international distributors interested in our automated equipment. Although we were very happy with the great interest, but since we got just a small booth, to gauge the benefits to our company, it became very crowded quickly. Try to imagine me swarmed by so many customers, answering questions and servicing everyone almost at the same time contained in such a small size booth. Two of my colleagues had to stand outside the booth like busy bees trying to rescue their queen bee. It was quite a spectacle to see.