Recommendations to make the trip to the Canton Fair a successful experience

Attending an International  Exhibition as Canton Fair is an experience from which you can obtain great benefits. Not only because of the contact with the suppliers but also because it is interesting to visit any Chinese city.  But, in order to make this visit beneficial, you should  take into account the following points:

4 basic recommendations for the Canton Fair

1) To have well defined the products you want to see:

You usually go to the fairs to meet suppliers and see the new products in your field, not to look for ideas about what would be good to open a business. Especially when the bazaar is so huge and has all kind of items (like in the case of Canton Fair). All the people we have met, who go to the fair just to see what the options are and what they can think of, tend to waste time, money and a lot of energy.

2) Focus on the products you went to see:

Give as much the priority as you can to the products you are interested in. Then, if you dispose of time and energy, take a look at the other stands of those goods in your field that might interest you.  You have to think that the expo is not as long as it seems and that, of the five days available, the last one is dead. The stands either close early or don´t open. The only reason for going to a fair on the last day is selecting the samples that you have already negotiated with the supplier.

3)Go with the numbers clear:

You must have very clear which is the purchase price of that product by your country´s distributors and which is the final price on the street. Furthermore, you must have a clear idea about how much is the percentage your product will be increased after transportation and nationalization. For example, if a product costs you 1 USD, when being in your warehouse it will cost 1,40 USD. Knowing all of these figures (prices in China, offer prices in your country and the percentage of transportation and nationalization), you will be able to recognize whether what they are offering you is really a good opportunity or not. Not everything that Chinese offer is cheap or good.

4) Take your time:

After returning to your country you should give yourself time to analyze the information you got, receive and evaluate samples, request factory visit and verification services to Shangai Aware Connection, design the packaging you´ve got in mind,  etc.

Practical recommendations to be considered in the Canton Fair 

1) Have a good breakfast at the hotel and, if possible, take a sandwich or a fruit to the fair. Fair´s food is very bad, think that McDonald´s is the “best” you can eat.

2) Take a handbag with wheels or a backpack to carry the catalogs. They give plenty of them and carry them in the bags they give away is pretty uncomfortable.

3) Wear sports shoes and comfortable clothes, think that you have to walk a lot. Usually,  there is no air conditioning or fresh weather (even if you go in November).

4) Most of the hotels supply transportation services to the fair. Make sure of counting with that benefit when going from or getting back to the hotel.  To do this, you must know the buses schedule and the parking lot where they await. The taxi line is extremely long, we don´t recommend this option.

5) Avoid leaving your presentation card in stands that are not really of any interest to you. Otherwise, you will be receiving unnecessary emails for months.