Japanese tableware and kitchenware trading company, Imoto Sangyo Ltd.「news」page

At Imoto Sangyo Ltd., we visit many exhibitions both in Japan and overseas, select products directly on-site, and ask questions to manufacturer representatives, to ensure fast and safe transactions. An employee with ample experience participating in such exhibitions has written a column about how to get around there and the changes he has noticed over the years.

Table of Contents
1.　Introduction
2.　Scale
3.　How to Get Around
4.　What Has Changed
5.　Conclusion

Introduction

Working for a trading company, going to exhibitions overseas is almost a routine job for me. I’ve been to China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, the US, Germany, Italy… I don’t even need to look back at my records to see that the place I’ve been to most frequently is by far China. The pet product exhibitions that I am in charge of include the China International Pet Show (CIPS) and Pet Fair Asia, and for the general merchandise industry there is the East China Fair in Shanghai, but the one that first comes to mind is undoubtedly the Canton Fair.

Scale

The Canton Fair, one of the most representative exhibitions in China, is held every April and October, and the materials for this October’s event are labelled as the 136th. The first one was held in 1957, but it was originally held for a month. It is now divided into three periods, each lasting five days, which is half the number of days, but it is easy to imagine that the scale of the exhibition itself has grown to an incomparably large size. The venue seems to have changed several times in its 67-year history, and each time it has grown larger. When I started going around 2000, the venue was not the current one, but I was still surprised by its extraordinary scale. It moved to the current venue in 2008, and of course I went there then, but the thought of walking around the venue from now on makes me half tired. By the way, last fall (the 134th), there were 28,000 exhibitors, 450,000 visitors, and a total venue area of ​​1.55 million㎡. It doesn’t really ring a bell, but I can tell it’s extraordinary. There are also a lot of other exhibitions taking advantage of the venue, and there are an incredible number of them. It’s definitely impossible to cover everything.

How to Get Around

The term “sundries” itself refers to a fairly wide range of things, but as this is an exhibition attended by people in the sundries industry, there’s just about everything. There are dozens of booths for the same product. You decide which one is best based on the subtle differences in the quality of the samples on display, the atmosphere of the display, the impression of the person you spoke to, and the content of their comments, but if you examine it too much, you’ll run out of time. Just thinking about having to do that for each product makes you anxious.
The corridors continue on forever, with countless booths lined up on both sides. You may feel like you’re looking at the products halfway through, but you’re not. Your goal may change to just finishing the day. Some venues have escalators that lead down from the entrance to the exhibition area, allowing you to get a bird’s-eye view of the area as you go down, but it’s better not to look at them.

What Has Changed

It is still common to see salespeople eating lunch at the business meeting table in the middle of the booth at lunchtime, but the number of people smoking at the booth has decreased significantly. In the past, I would collect a lot of paper catalogs and drag my heavy suitcase to the airport, and I would often be told that I was overweight and pay extra, but now I just get an e-catalog by email. Business cards are also disappearing. Instead of exchanging business cards, we exchange WeChat IDs. When I gave them cash to buy a sample, they said they didn’t have any change, but if that was okay. It’s rare to have cash these days (and taxis are the same). I really feel that things have changed. Well, I think these things are not limited to the Canton Fair, but are seen at all exhibitions in China.

Conclusion

I wonder how many people, including exhibitors, will come and go to this exhibition hall during this period. Transportation, hotels, and restaurants will not be able to cope if they continue to operate as usual. As expected of a country with a population of 1.4 billion, they may be used to large-scale events, but anyway, buyers come from all over the world. From Europe and America, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. It is customary to have lunch at the venue, but McDonald’s is always full of buyers from all over the world. It satisfies the palates of people from various countries and serves an extraordinary number of people at once, making it the perfect place. Speaking of which, there is always a McDonald’s at any exhibition you go to. And it is always crowded. This is a familiar scene that has not changed for 25 years… I wasn’t going to talk about McDonald’s. Anyway, consumption of all kinds of things is promoted during the fair, so I can’t imagine how much of an economic effect it has (incidentally, hotel accommodation fees in the area are normally three times higher than usual during the fair), but as long as it brings a great deal of wealth to the country, the Canton Fair will continue in the future. And I go there twice a year as a matter of course.

Imoto Sangyo handles a wide variety of kitchen utensils, tableware, and daily goods.
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