My boyfriend and I went to the 117th Canton Fair Phase 2 this year (April 23-27, 2015) to discover what’s out there beyond Alibaba.com, to meet suppliers as a congregation, and know what goods to source from China. By going to the fair, I guess the main advantage is bypassing the long process of Alibaba.com and similar sites that starts from contacting and building connection with suppliers, collecting quotations, requesting for samples to be shipped from across the world, evaluating and testing samples, and so on.
In this post, let me share with you the things you should know when attending the Canton Fair. I hope that this will be helpful especially for first-time visitors.
15 Things You Need to Know When Attending the Canton Fair (Guangzhou, China)
1. What it is
The Canton Fair, also called the China Import and Export Fair, is one of the oldest trade shows in history. It is a comprehensive international trading event, an excellent place for sourcing and finding suppliers to make your products.
Visiting the fair is like learning about thousands of factories in the quickest time span and meeting suppliers face-to-face in a matter of days. Expect to find inside the most complete exhibit variety. This is the reason why many entrepreneurs see it as an annual pilgrimage.
Canton fair has three phases:
- Phase 1: Electronics & Household Electrical Appliances, Lighting Equipment, Vehicles & Spare Parts, Machinery, Hardware & Tools, Energy Resources, Chemical Products, Building Materials, International Pavilion,
- Phase 2: Consumer Goods, Home Decorations, Gifts
- Phase 3: Office Supplies, Cases & Bags, and Recreation Products, Food, Medicines, Medical Devices and Health Products, Textiles & Garments, Shoes, International Pavilion
2. When it is being held
The Canton Fair takes place two times a year: in Spring (April-May) and in Autumn (October-November). Established in 1956, this gigantic fair has been at the forefront of China’s industrial development and its rise to global manufacturing prominence. It was inaugurated in the Spring of 1957.
3. Where Canton Fair is located
Exact address of China Import and Export Fair Complex is No. 380, Yuejiang Zhong Road, Guangzhou. It is walking distance from Pazhou (琶洲) Metro Station (Exit A or Exit C).
Taking the subway is very easy, however, commuting (e.g. taking the subway or bus) requires patience, because both local and foreign buyers and exhibitors will be heading to the same direction. The first day of the fair is the busiest, so it’s not pretty advisable to “go to war” on the first day.
The Canton Fair is open until 6PM but note that on the last day, most suppliers pack up their booths as early as 12NN. Some of them sell their product samples at prices lower than retail so being present in the morning is best to grab your wanted merchandise.
4. How to get in
Admission to Canton Fair is free as a buyer. However, getting in is not as easy as getting in to a mall. Registration at the Canton Fair website is required. Here is the link.
In our case, we got our tourist visa to China via the Chinese Embassy in the Philippines and filled out an online form for us to receive the electronic invitation (Canton Fair e-invitation) and the pre-registration form to claim the buyer’s badge. As noted from their website, processing of registration takes three to seven working days. In my experience, receipt confirmation sent to my e-mail only took less than an hour.
The Buyer’s Badge can be claimed either at the appointed hotel/s or at the Canton Fair Office. We got ours from Ramada Pearl Hotel to avoid long lines of people expected to queue up at the Canton Fair Office.
5. How many times you can enter
You can attend the Canton Fair multiple times or every day while you’re there. It being the largest trade is enough reason why you cannot possibly cover every portion in one day alone if you are searching for many product categories. Just be sure that you map out the areas you want to hit to save more time and energy in walking the fairgrounds.
6. Where to stay / which hotel to choose
Book in a hotel months in advance, to make traveling arrangements easier, since most hotels will be fully booked. Also, it is wise to stay in a hotel that’s near or a few stations away from Canton Fair or Pazhou area. Look for hotels which offer shuttle service directly to the Canton Fair location for much convenience. In addition, booking months in advance will help save money since hotel rates go higher during the Canton Fair season. If you are really in tight budget, you can opt to stay at a hostel, but the standard is not as good in comparison with the hotels.
We stayed at Haiyue Hotel at No 16, Xinhe Street, Hengxin Road, Haizhu District (Jianghai Avenue). What I like about this hotel is that it’s relatively near the Canton Fair (4.2 km which is like 10 minutes away via taxicab) and the hotel offers free shuttle service back and forth. Here’s a review of this hotel for everyone’s reference.
7. How to communicate
If you don’t know how to speak in Mandarin or Cantonese, don’t worry. Most of the suppliers in the fair can speak in basic English. If you feel you need to communicate deeper in business terms, there are professional translators available that can be hired for a day for a reasonable price.
8. What to wear
Since you will be talking and dealing with potential business partners and suppliers, projecting a good impression of yourself is best. However, you don’t have to put your best foot forward and don in a business attire paired with black leather shoes or high heeled shoes. Since you will be walking around a very BIG area, wearing the most comfortable pair of flats or sneakers you own is completely fine.
9. What to bring
You will receive hundreds of brochures, business cards, and some product samples, so be prepared to bring a suitcase with wheels to carry them without burden on your shoulders. Note though that those samples from the booth may not be real samples of the final products but are more likely surpluses from the factory.
I recommend bringing a pen, notepad or notebook, and a stapler (to staple the business cards on the notebook’s pages) with you so you can easily make notes and markings and remember the suppliers that you want to meet again. In addition, writing the items and their indicative pricing information and corresponding vendor names on a paper-based or electronic notepad will help keep track of those you are really interested in.
You should be ready to exchange business cards, as this is one of things that represent your genuine interest in the business. Suppliers feel quite reluctant to deal with those who don’t give out their business cards and tend to not give out a copy of their catalogs in return.
To document your trip and the experience, bringing a handy camera is advisable for posterity and practical business purposes. You can also use your smartphone camera to take snapshots of the booth and product samples that catch your attention. However, some suppliers do not allow taking of photos. In this case, you may ask for a brochure or their website information to view the photos instead.
10. How to focus
With so many choices upfront, you feel be lost if you are not sure which product group you are interested to invest in. You should know the product standards to look for and determine the most viable price range to sell. On the other hand, it will help if you can also stay open-minded with other opportunities and seed relationships that may be useful in the future.
For us, the map provided in the information counter helped a lot in navigating the entire Canton Fair area. We had no problems moving from one building and one hall to another. Also, there are shuttles provided so people can transfer to the other side of the street via the footbridge without a hassle.
11. What questions to ask
Do not be afraid to ask questions. You’re already in the Canton Fair so it’s not the time to save your thought for some other day. Be direct and straightforward. It will be good if you can write down the list of questions you wish to ask suppliers ahead of time. 🙂
Examples of good questions to ask are related to the supplier’s main products lines, factory address and website, number of years in the business, main export markets, product price, minimum order quantity, lead time, biggest clients, product safety testing experience, product certifications, etc.
12. What terms to remember
| 发货 | dispatch goods for delivery | fāhuò |
| 合作 | to cooperate | hézuò |
| 商量 | to discuss | shāngliang |
| 報價 | quote | bàojià |
| 定货量 | order quantity | dìnghuò liàng |
| 成本 | cost | chéngběn |
| 报价单 | quotation form | bàojià dān |
| 标签 | label | biāoqiān |
| 样品 | sample | yàngpǐn |
| 联系 | to get in touch with | liánxì |
| 货款 | payment for goods | huòkuǎn |
| 费用 | cost | fèiyòng |
| 运输 | shipping | yùnshū |
| 销售 | sales | xiāoshòu |
| 预付款 | advance payment | yùfùkuǎn |
13. Where to eat
There are several fast food joints in the exhibition center, so you don’t need to travel far. You can walk around the halls and eat. Even exhibitors eat and drink while engaging with the visitors in their booth.
14. Why you should consider going
The Canton Fair is a great trade event of comprehensiveness and specialization. It exhibits over 150,000 kinds of quality Chinese products and overseas commodities with distinctive features. Exhibitors of the Canton Fair come from various industries in China and the world.
Chinese exhibitors of the Canton Fair boast good credibility and strength. Over 24,000 Chinese enterprises attend each session of the Canton Fair. Among them, manufacturers account for 51%; foreign trade enterprises account for 38%; industrial trade enterprises account for 10%; scientific research institutions and enterprises of other types account for 1%.
15. What to do after visiting Canton Fair
Canton Fair can be quite an experience. If your only interest is have business with the Chinese suppliers, the best thing to do after visiting the Fair is to talk further in detail with the exhibitors afterwards. Maybe you can sit down in a lunch or dinner meting and start building rapport or ask if they have time to tour you in their factories.
If you also came for pleasure, the rest of your time can be spent visiting the famous attractions in Guangzhou, China just like we did. 😉 Read this post to know about the places we have visited as tourists in Guangzhou.
Wrap Up
This was our first time to attend the Canton Fair. We spent three days in Phase 2 looking for items and talking to suppliers, and within this period, our perspective on importing products from China has definitely widened.
After long hours of walking and with tired back and feet (ouch), we are truly happy to have experienced a purposeful trip where learned the process and some insider tips that we could have never learned by just reading articles online about trading (importing and exporting). Will we visit the Canton Fair in Guangzhou again? Well, yeah, maybe after two years. Its seduction calls us back. 😛
Feel free to share your own guide and experience in Canton Fair or drop questions below. For more information, check out the Canton Fair website, call +86-20-2888 8999, or e-mail info@cantonfair.org.cn.
About Rochkirstin Santos-Sioco
Health and technology freak. Food and lifestyle blogger with a large appetite for food and travel.
OH MY!! SO this is what you were talking about. I hope you and the boyfie were able to check out everything and get good deals! I can’t wait for the “products” you guys will be sharing to the Manila consumers.
See you soon dear.
Haha YES. Thank goodness, we were able to survive on our own without the help of a travel agent or any interpreter. 😛 Yup, see you soon!
These are some great tips. It looks like an event worth going to for sure. I can see a lot of potential here.
Yup! Canton fair has 3 sessions, so you must be clear which session you would attend as each session has completely different sets or categories of products. It will be total waste of time to visit the wrong session. (Each session spans in 5 days and breaks 5 days before starting the next.)
I love the camera tip!! We started doing that at conventions/fairs and what not it was so much easier to picture what was our favorite. This looks like a fun fair to visit!
Hi Tammilee! Before visiting the fair though, it will be advisable for you to research and get to know more about the products you are likely to be interested in selling to have a proper mindset and focus when you’re in the Canton Fair. 🙂
Wow, this is reallly a highly informative and educational post! In our line of work (we work in services, as our main businesses are running hotels) we don’t really get the need to visit this kind of fairs, but i always been quite curious about what’s the inside looks like 😀
Oh yes, by visiting this kind of fair, you will also get to widen your horizon on the world of product suppliers. For hotels, you might wonder where most affordable supplies come from. 🙂
[…] Read our Canton Fair experience and tips here. […]
I love it! Everything looks so organized and the trade displays are impressive. With all the items showcased ( I’m sure a lot are ‘something new’ ) I can imagine how exciting the Canton Fair must be.
Prior our visit, I could not visualize the size of the Canton Fair. When we were there, it was very surprising to see that the buildings were like three SM Megamalls (or more) combined in each side of the street. Gosh, it was HUGE. 🙂
Wow, you made it sound so easy and I am sure this will help a lot of people. Especially people going for the first time.
Well, that’s the plan. 🙂 I hope to help others find and be armed with useful information before going there.
Wow! That is a huge fair! You definitely need more than one day to see it all. You shared some really good tips about navigating it all! Glad you got to go 🙂
If you’re only looking for specific items in limited number of categories, then one day may be enough. There are new sections such as Gardening and Pets that occupy a small area. It’s just ideal to know beforehand the placement of the booths in the fair to maximize your time. 🙂
omg this sounds like it was a great fair!!! I love it when I go to a good one! Here in NY where I am these kinds of things can be a hit or a miss!
Canton Fair is held annually twice and it’s an international fair so you can expect for something big. 🙂
You certainly gave us a lot of information. I love the phrase cheat sheet. Thanks!
You’re welcome, Stacie! If you have more questions regarding the Canton Fair, I’ll try my best to answer based on experience and what I know. 🙂
What an amazing trade show! I’d love to see this sometime. Thanks for all the great tips!
You’re welcome, Melissa! You may use these tips when you plan to attend the event this October. 🙂
This was such an informative post. Sounds like it’ll be a great fair, lots to see and do.
Yeah, this is place where you can start planning on your focus in business, socialize more with vendors and other buyers, cool off, and just enjoy your time in China. 🙂
I would love to visit the home decor part of the fair! I’m going to remember your tips about taking a notebook and stapler to keep business cards neat and to take corresponding notes.
Everybody is doing that. 🙂 Print out lots of business cards so you can be sure you won’t run out of it. There are also some advertisers on the side that offer freebies and souvenirs in exchange of your business card.
Wow this looks like a business persons playground, there seems to be so many things for someone to do it would be hard to not enjoy yourself. What I like about this whole fair is that they do their best to cater to everyone and even offer translators! Wow thats very professional, I hope to go to one of these in my near future.
Yup, these days though, since most of the suppliers have at least one in their group who know how to communicate in basic English, there’s no solid need for you to hire an interpreter. Hopefully, more sections/categories will be opened up by the time you visit. 🙂
Now this would be a long, fun day – and I know I’d enjoy the 117th Canton Fair Phase 2 – sounds and looks amazing- I especially like your tip #5 – how to focus – It would be so difficult to get sidetracked
Right. It’s hard to be distracted when you’re in the world’s largest trade show. 🙂 You may picture it as a very large swap meet or flea market that’s expanded to 10 or a hundred times with presentable booths.
Wow, that’s a pretty extensive review of the events. It sounds like a great experience too!
It was. 🙂 If you are serious about sourcing products in China, the Canton Trade Fair is a must-see experience. You get to see a vast array of products and make some key contacts with actual manufacturers.
This is so exciting! I didn’t know about this fair but I wish I could go.
Take your time to research and get to know more about trading products from China so you can appreciate the exhibits better. 🙂
Wow sounds great! I haven’t heard of this fair before sounds pretty interesting and like a great experience!
Yes, for first-timers who have a slight clue on what to expect, with the variety of products, the best benefit is that you can improve your business or get inspiration to open a new business.
This does sounds like a wonderful fair to attend. It’s so organized. I wish they had something like this in the U.S. How fun!
There are so many factories in China manufacturing raw materials or finished products. It’s the best place now where you can really find good suppliers and get sizable orders for their merchandise. 🙂
Great tips on how to handle the Canton Fair. I have never heard of it before but it seems like a great place to go and network!
Basically, the Canton Fair is like a display of companies from all the regions of China coming to Guangzhou for product display and order booking. It opens up opportunities for all traders.
I have never heard of the Canton Fair before. This looks very fun and exciting. This would be a lovely place to be able to go.
Now that you know of it, you may want to go to the 117th Canton Fair in Autumn or the 118th fair next year. 🙂
This fair sounds like it was a ton of fun! I really love going to fairs and sampling the food! These are also great tips for going to the fairs! Love the camera tip!
Haha this trade show does not center on food sampling but you can go to the foodstuffs and agricultural section if you want to focus on those categories for import/export. 🙂
I can see why it’s considered the ultimate pilgrimage. I love all the variety!
Planning to go? 🙂 I recommend you to apply for your VISA one month prior to departure to have a safe margin.
The Canton Fair in Guangzhou sounds like an amazing fair to attend. I would love to go there one year. I have always wanted to visit China.
Canton Fair is like a golden business bridge, linking insightful overseas buyers with high-quality domestic exhibitors.
For entrepreneurs, the Canton Fair stands as a good reason to explore China. You can book several trips and go from one city to another. 🙂
This is certainly a great guide you wrote here and it let me know exactly everything I would want to know. I would be excited to go to a fair like that.
Anyone looking to start business with China or people who have been doing business with China for years and are always on the look-out for new unique and interesting products cannot afford to miss out the Canton Fair. 🙂
[…] It’s incredible how the Canton Fair was so organized, with four floors and multiple halls holding countless opportunities for importers. The breadth of products and service is very wide! Read more of our experience and tips when attending the Canton Fair in this blog post. […]
I love going to fairs because I know for certain that I will learn something and see a lot of new cool things. I am sure you had a blast.
After having sore feet and aching back and shoulders muscles plus some tears, yeah, I can say that I learned a lot from our experience and truly am happy about it. 🙂
This fair is huge. I did not know that it had 3 phases. I would love to attend one day.
Yup, make sure to know in advance in which phase the category you’re interested in is so you won’t be confused with the dates. 🙂
How exciting! I have never attended a blog conference before. Maybe someday I’ll decide to, though!
It’s great to arm yourself with these tips so you can plan better in advance.
OMG -I’d love to attend this. Your guide is amazing and one day I’ll use all these tips!! Thanks!
If you’re looking for a new business opportunity or inspiration to make more money, attending the Canton Fair might just be what you need. 🙂 You can bring someone to accompany you!
Wow! That sounds like a really interesting place to visit for sure! I’ll had to add it to my list 🙂
This is a chance for you to let go / leave behind your stressful daily life and discover something new. 🙂 Come visit Canton Fair in Guangzhou for some splendid business deals.
I’ve never been to China but I would love to travel there someday! It looks like you had a fantastic trip!
Yup, there are lots of places you can include in your itinerary for a week’s travel time. 🙂
I actually really like going to these types of fairs/trade shoes, but I imagine going to the one in China is absolutely unreal and so much more far ahead than the one’s here in North America (like with really cool products and stuff, of course). Looks like you and the boyf had a good time there hey! 🙂
Haha this one is super huge. If you want to get away from the “chaos” that can be overwhelming in the Canton Fair, other shopping destinations are train rides away. 😉
This is a really informative post. Sounds like a fun place to check out with some great information and tips.
Thanks, Shannon. If you want to know more, you can drop me a message or refer to other useful forums online before heading to the Canton Fair. 🙂
You’re very lucky to have been to the Canton fair! It’s one of my dream events. I heard from my former professor that if you’re a businessman and is looking for suppliers, this fair would be the ideal fair for you. Thank you for sharing this! I’ll use these tips when I get the chance to attend the next one. 🙂
Yup, you can get ready for the next one this year or catch the next event in 2016. Just follow the steps for registration and getting your visa and you’re good to go. 🙂
it does not tell people. that canton fair management is greedy and just want money to give badge which you need to do on site. they just do not want to approve any one badge on website. you need whole day or night to sit front on computer and wait for their website link to be work. the only part people i hate is to get the badge. suppliers are awesome inside and get sources. personal i hate canton fair management. they also have people standing outside of convention center to sell badge. so beware of that and make sure you have extra money out of your budge. so you can pay for nonsense badge.ohhhhhhhhhhhhh
It helps to know the facts and get to know more about the processing of the badge before actually going. Without the knowledge of what to expect, one may be fooled out of his/her ignorance.
Hi! I’m planning on attending the Canton Fair this April 2016, and I’m so glad I stumbled upon your blog cos I’m quite confused about the registration process. I applied for a buyer’s badge today through the website and the status is “to be accepted.” What am I supposed to wait for? Are they going to send me a form (showing their approval) that I have to print out and present to the office/partner hotels when getting the physical Buyer’s Badge? I’m not quite sure cos it does state in the website. Really hoping to get a response from you!
Hi Colleen. In our experience, we received the confirmation email 3-5 days after we submitted the request/registration form. You may expect to receive the email with subject “IC Badge Pre-application” in the next few days. The content is as follows: Dear Sir or Madam, Congratulations! Your IC Badge pre-application has been approved. Please go to Canton Fair’s service counter to get your first free badge. If not, send an email to them to follow up.
Thank you for the response! I actually got their confirmation email just now 🙂 Thanks again!
Hi! My husband and I have been living in China for more than 4 years and we offer services during the Canton Fair, like translation, factory inspections, tourism and we can share lots of experience in import and export in China! 🙂
It would be nice to help you next time and all people interested in doing business in China! Thanks, Stela
Sounds good. Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Hey There, Thanks for sharing your experience of visiting canton fair through this amazing post. As it will guide many people to attend this fair.
You’re welcome! 🙂
I am planning on going to the canton fair. Thanks for the informative blog. I am really nervous about the language barrier. How do I convert my money? Do businesses take american debit? What phone service did you use for international calling?
Hi Sylather! We converted our money even before we flew to China through our local bank. Maybe you can also check out if banks if your country offer the same service. If not, you can do that as soon as you arrive at the Guangzhou Airport. Different businesses have different ways of accepting tender so it will be good if you ask them directly. For international calling, we just used our mobile phones, but you can also purchase a China sim and also buy a call card (cheaper).
Will I need a visa? Should I fly into Guangzhou or to Hong kong?
HI! I’m planning to go to the Canton Fair this October 15-19,2016. I’d really appreciate it if you can help me. I have a few questions. (1)Do you remember how long it took for them to process your pre-aaplication for a badge? It’s been a week since I
applied for mine, and status is still “to be accepted”. and also, (2) did you have to wait for the badge to get approved before you were able to request for an invitation letter? coz I tried, but it keeps asking for a badge no. Lastly, (3) if the pre application for a badge doesn’t get approved, time is running out for me, can I just directly apply for one at the canton fair? I don’t wanna book my flight and hotel unless I’m assured I can get a badge and get in the fair. Thank You so much!
Hi. Sorry for the late reply. I think it took us about less than two weeks to receive the pre-application badget through email. I sent a followup to them after a week just to make sure that they have received our application and also to have an idea when to expect ours. We also have the invitation letter after some time…not too long. The pre-application badge is a must before you go there.
Hi Roch Kirstin!
I’ve got a 16th tip to add to your amazing article – great details btw! – it’s an app called ShowSourcing. It helps you take notes, pictures of products or suppliers you see in trade fairs. In Canton Fair it’s especially useful, considering the amount of exhibitors and products!
Find out more and give it a try by clicking on my name ! 🙂
Thank you for sharing! That’s wonderful for those who will be attending Canton Fair in the future. 🙂
Canton fair show is one of the trade shows visited by business people. I agree that people must be aware of details of this trade show before starting.