After some years not attending to the Canton Fair I have decided to go again to see what’s going on, make some networking, study new products and basically the overall experience of the fair.

 

The first time I have attended was on 2005 and it was a great experience in terms of open my eyes to the wide range of products that china market can offer. This fair it’s divided on 3 phases and it’s made twice a year. The first fair its on May and the other one its on November giving distintive seasons for worldwide buyers.

 

On this fair you will find all kind of products, from textiles, shoes, accessories, home accessories, garments, sport equipment and more, so be ready to walk and walk for hours on the biggest complex and event for commerce on Asia. Being said, make sure you are taking confortable shoes, water, light clothing and a spare t shirt, especially on May where is one of the most humid month on the province of canton ( Be ready to sweat )  and where its also rains a lot, so don’t forget to bring always your umbrella.

 

To get in, you will need your passport, your name card, a picture of your self (please note on a “Blue” background) and of course filling up the formats where they will ask your info, company name, position and so on. Even if it sound like a lot to do, its very expedite and it wont take you more than 30 minutes.

 

Please note that the entrance is not “Free” but the price it’s very accessible, around RMB 200 per person. The great thing is when you are registered and have your badge; you can take it to next canton fairs, with out doing any registration. As well you can find many services of “Translators” in the case you are facing language barriers. Now, lets go a little dipper.

 

Canton fair, despite of their huge offering of products it’s a retail oriented fair, where prices are super competitive but please note that the volumes are pretty high, so if your distribution channel is not a big retail store it would be a little hard to find suppliers that offers lower MOQ for initial entrepreneurs, ventures and projects, but this doesn’t mean that its not worth it to go.

 

Canton fair besides to be the biggest commerce event on china held for more than 50 years, its also a great place to meet different cultures and make networking with people alike and buyers from all over the world.

 

The diversity of people who goes it’s enormous and for sure you will be impressed. Please take in mind to take a big luggage for all the catalogs you will collect (The first timers as I did back on 2005) tent to grab any brochures available, thing that when you get more experience will avoid, since the catalogs are not just volume, they are also weight and waking hours and hours like that wont be a good idea.

 

Now regarding to the suppliers inside the fair and their products, you will quick realize than even if the fair its tremendous in size, the diversity on each category’s is not that much, so try to make a little research of the products you are looking for before you get in, to narrow the chances to find the one you where looking for, since literally you will need about 1 month to cover the whole fair but you have only 5 days.

 

In resume this fair it’s a great experience to learn, to experience china, the culture and give you a better insight of what is china and even if you don’t find the product you where looking, is a worth to go. Advice: Never go out close to 6 PM (Where the fair close), always try to finish your journey at 5:00 or 5:30 PM to avoid congestion and not lose the “Free” shuttle bus that will be waiting for you at the parking lot and take you back to your hotel…Believe me, you don’t want to miss it.

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