The Canton Fair

Update: I am a couple weeks into my trip and I have not yet lost all my money, though I am already falling behind on my blogging. In fairness, it has been a rather hectic two weeks.

Last week, I attended the Canton Fair in Guangzhou. The Canton Fair is the largest Import and Export fair in China. Thousands of Chinese manufacturers and suppliers gather to showcase their wares to vendors from all over the world.

The event is massive. It occupies 3 enormous convention centers in Guangzhou housing thousands of booths. And even then, the event needs to be broken down into three phases, each phase focusing on a specific subset of goods. This year there was a total of over 23 thousand exhibitors. The city is so flooded with buyers and entrepreneurs from all over the world that hotel prices all over are typically marked up 300%.

I attended the 3rd phase of the Fair with my friend from the US. He is starting a business importing Chinese goods to the US. Like the hundreds of thousands of other buyers in attendance, the premise of his business is a simple one. He is seeking out marketable products manufactured in China for dirt cheap and selling them in the US for twice the price.

One reason the business model is so appealing because it doesn't necessarily require any extensive expertise or training. With a little bit of initiative, research, salesmanship, and hard work, a small investment could pay significant dividends.

My friend has already put in a significant amount of legwork:

• He has identified a product that he believes has significant sales potential in the US.
• Researched the market online, attending trade shows, and talking with potential vendors.
  
• Contacted and established relationships with a number of suppliers in China, evaluating them on the quality of their product and their pricing.
• And outlined a marketing and sales strategy, involving multiple sales channels.

It helps that he is a native Chinese and already has contacts and resources in the import/export business. He is also a natural businessman and I have no doubt that he will be successful.

The Fair was quite an eye-opener and I am actually tempted to go work for my friend to learn the in's and out's of the business, though that would mean moving back to the US and working for a living. :P

I do recommend checking out the Canton Fair to anyone regardless of their interest in the import/export business. It takes place twice a year, so in 6 months it will happen all over again.

Here are a few pics: