Many importers are preparing their visits to the April trade shows in the Hong Kong & Guangzhou area.
I thought it would be useful to reproduce these excellent tips for visiting trade shows.
(I found these tips in a past edition of Fiducia‘s newsletter. Fiducia is a German-owned accounting firm based in Hong Kong and China, and these tips were written by their Head of Trade Services.)
► You will probably have your standard supplier and you want to visit them to see what new products they have. Search online first to know exactly where their booth is.
► The trade fair is a great opportunity to keep up with the current environment. Learn about the market development, which companies are still competing, which are growing, which ones are the most aggressive in the market and which have left.
► If you are looking for a new potential supplier, you need to find out first if this is a manufacturer or a trader. Naturally traders will have a mark-up on their prices as opposed to direct manufacturers.
► After choosing the product, a negotiation with a supplier normally includes four elements: packing, pricing, shipment and payment term.
► Talk about the packing and conclude on a packing method accordingly, as it will influence the price.
► Price negotiations are always a hassle. The Chinese will never miss the opportunity to start with a very high price. As long as your knowledge of the product price range and negotiation tactics are in place, you will not be cheated.
► Note down the price, and make sure your supplier does too, as the emailed quotation afterwards will otherwise show a different price.
► Payment terms of course vary in accordance to the product. Some products and suppliers need to buy the material in advance and this has to be paid for before it goes into production. But the normal payment term is: 30% down payment and 70% after shipment for fast moving consumer goods. Try to have these points covered with your supplier before placing an order to avoid surprises.
Related reading:
Those are some good tips and that’s a timely post consider the upcoming influx of buyers on to those April fairs.
Here is a good tip to add on: make a name card with an email address just for the fairs. That way once the wave of emails from the suppliers come, it will all go to an account just for trade fair purposes. After the fair, the supplier you decide to work with (or who decides to work with you), you can then give them your normal account. The fair email account you can always check looking for new product ideas or restart communication w/possible vendors…because once those suppliers have your email, they will email you for life.
Thanks Jacob, very good tip.
Some Chinese suppliers will spam you to death, it’s true. I saw some name cards with “GZapr10@gmail.com” or similar email addresses. Smart idea.
It was very interesting
I am Fatemeh Ghanbari
Attorney and university professor
Of Iran
Thanks Fatemeh.
thanks very basic but extremely relevant information
am planning to visit china this april but i have learnt that things are expensive is it true
Molly, I suggest that you go on a few online supplier directories (globalsources.com for example) and request quotations for the products you want to buy.