What the fair is actually for
It is not for finding the cheapest price. It is for meeting, in three days, more suppliers in your category than you could visit in a month, and for eliminating most of them quickly.
Treat it as a filter. You are looking for a shortlist of six suppliers worth a factory visit, not for a supplier to place an order with on the spot.
Prepare like it is a series of interviews
Bring a one-page specification of what you want to buy, printed, in English and Chinese. Bring your target volume and your target landed cost. Bring photographs.
Booking the phase matters: the fair runs in three phases by product category, and turning up in the wrong one is a wasted flight. Check the phase for your category before you book anything.
The questions that separate the booths
- Are you the manufacturer? Can I see the business licence?
- What is your MOQ for this item at this specification?
- Who else do you export this to, and to which markets?
- What certifications do you hold for this specific article?
- Can I visit the factory this week?
The fifth question is the one that does the filtering. A supplier ninety minutes from Guangzhou who cannot host you during fair week is telling you something.
The week after is the actual work
Visit three or four factories from your shortlist while you are still in China. A day on a factory floor is worth a month of email, and you are already there.
Then order samples, in writing, against your specification, and go home. Nothing should be paid for at a booth.
- The fair is a filter that produces a shortlist, not a place to place orders.
- Bring a printed bilingual specification, a target volume and a target landed cost.
- Ask to visit the factory that week. The answer is the filter.
- The factory visits after the fair are where the actual decision is made.
