Exhibiting at the Canton fair for the first time
After fifteen days, hours of preparation and hundreds of thousands of attendees, it’s a wrap on the Canton fair! This year’s event is the first offline fair, free from the clutches of Covid, and it was fantastic to see huge crowds flying into Guangzhou, connecting with clients, meeting new people and seeing old friends.
Another reason this year was revolutionary for us is that it was Kinyu’s first time attending as an exhibitor! It was a great experience, and we learned a lot. Unfortunately, not everyone who wanted to participate in the fair this year could, so we have written this review as both a visitor and an exhibitor.
Here are our highlights!
Feedback from visitors
We are delighted to report that all in attendance were happy to be back! The atmosphere was phenomenal, and it was clear that many had anticipated the fair’s return. Businesspeople were extremely busy during the day visiting many different booths, having dinners with their suppliers in the evening and then seeing the factories during the breaks between phases. There was a sense of excitement being back in China; many people for the first time in several years, highlighting that online Zoom calls have been no match for the face to face engagement.
Booth set up
We exhibited in Phase 2, and whilst this was an exciting experience, one lesson we did learn was not to use maps in our booth display!
The day before the fair opened, we discovered we could not use our back banner as it had a map of China. According to a policy (which needed to be better documented and communicated), organisers prohibit maps of any country to avoid a misinterpretation of where borders lie.
Despite this slight hiccup, the show must go on, and our talented booth designer, Jay Birbeck from Bold Nation, immediately whipped up an alternative and then called our print company KaidPR. Luckily, we resolved the solution within 5 hours, and we could put it on the new display by midnight.
Different cross section of foreign businesspeople
This fair’s demographic was different from previous fairs. We met many visitors from Russia, Central Asia, the Middle East and Africa, but visitors from Europe and America were less frequent. Although we noticed this at our booth, it was only in retrospect that we found out other exhibitors were experiencing the same thing.
One inspection company counted that only 1 out of 15 foreign business people that left their name cards were from Europe/US. China’s CGTN also acknowledged this statistic as a ‘different audience’.
The reasons behind this are multifaceted.
Visas – throughout Covid, most businesses visas would have expired (China typically gives two years). So, when the country re-opened in January, many people rushed to get visas, leaving Chinese consulate services with a massive backlog of applications. Kinyu’s CEO Benjamin King spoke to people at the fair and online from the US, Spain, France and the UK whose colleagues or themselves could not get their visas in time. In addition, trade fairs in Hong Kong, such as Global Sources, have been boosted due to its visa-free policies.
Officials have also introduced new biometric requirements for visas. For example, Kinyu’s CEO Benjamin King hosted a delegate from Brazil, who travelled 400km to the nearest consulate to carry out biometric fingerprint scanning.
Flights – As our monthly travel updates expressed, flights to China have not returned to normal yet. Many cities and countries have not fully reinstated all flights. Kinyu’s Benjamin King was talking with a Senior buyer from a French firm; not only could his colleagues get visas, but when searching for flights from Paris, there was only one indirect flight available – via Amsterdam.
Flights from the US are still costly and have been an inhibiting factor, especially for budding entrepreneurs looking for supply partners to develop new ideas.
Geopolitical tensions? – This undoubtedly played a factor in people not attending. However, there are some key industries, particularly in renewables such as solar and hydrogen, where nearshoring has been a growing trend. Policies such as the inflation reduction act have helped along this trend.
However, businesses used this reason disproportionately for not attending the Canton fair. The changing cohort of visitors is almost certainly a combination of the above, but most likely the reason for logistical difficulties since China opened up too soon before the fair for businesses to plan their trips. As a result, we expect a different story in October when the Canton Fair returns.
Fringe events
To get away from the seemingly endless grind of booths, its always good to find out some networking events. You may meet like-minded people, and get some good tips on how to navigate the fair and talk to suppliers. Kinyu attended the Canton fair meet up organized by FBA4U, a platform to empower e-commerce sellers. It was great to see a large crowd of people from all over the globe, although it was a fraction of the size of their 2019 event.
The new Hall D and trade services area
The new Hall D was a topic of conversation for many people. However, if you are walking through the fair complex, you may not realise it’s additional, as it looks almost identical to halls A and B. It is fair to say that Hall D was not as busy as A and B, with some business people saying they did not have time to explore the hall.
Before the product halls, you could find the latest trade services area in a new multi-functional conference hall. The space itself was okay, well-lit and air-conditioned, but it could have generated a better level of footfall. We attributed this to 3 main reasons:
Services not products – most people visit Canton Fair to look for products and trade services. Fewer people will seek you out unless your services booth is in a strategic footfall location, such as on the bridge between Halls B and C.
New Hall D – as mentioned above, the footfall in New Hall D was not as high, and there this trade services area was not seen by many visitors.
Almost no one knew about the trade services area. There is little to no information about it online, and they poorly signed the conference hall. Not only was this bad for footfall, but it was also difficult to direct people to our booth, as they had no idea about this area.
This lack may improve as people become more familiar, but Kinyu calls on organisers to promote this area more to people walking past.
Trade Services Area – Notable companies like Kinyu offer game-changing services like The China Desk here! (Some less notable companies do too, but you don’t need to visit them.)
Overall it was a great experience; Kinyu generated some good business leads and met many interesting people from all over the globe. As our first time exhibiting, we have become more experienced and learned lessons about booth design, location and preparation.
