5 Essential Tips for Finding A Reliable Supplier at Canton Fair

5 Essential Tips for Finding A Reliable Supplier at Canton Fair

The Canton Fair, held twice yearly, stands as the ultimate global trade fair for comprehensive product exhibitions. With exhibitors so numerous they make your eyes water and venues so vast they leave you breathless, many buyers find themselves in a bind: how to find suitable suppliers within the limited time frame? Let’s break down the key strategies. Together, we might just uncover the “Canton Fair’s Eye-Opening Secrets” – it’s not impossible to master these trade show survival tactics.

1.First of all, let’s talk about how to book registration for the Canton Fair.

It is a very important first step for purchasers who are visiting the exhibition for the first time.

Method 1: Pre-registration by email

If you receive the official email of Canton Fair(cantonfair@newsletter.cantonfair.org.cn or  cantonfair@newsedm.cantonfair.org.cn) For the email sent, you can click the button of planned exhibition extension in the email body pre-registration module, and the pre-registration for this exhibition will be completed after successfully jumping to the prompt page.

Method 2: Pre-registration through the official website of Canton Fair merchant service system

Enter the Canton Fair official website procurement service system (buyer.cantonfair.org. cn), register or log in your account, and complete the registration on the system homepage to complete the pre-registration of this session.

Method 3: Pre-registration through the Canton Fair APP

Scan the code to download the Canton Fair APP, enter the APP, click “Personal Center”, click the top left corner to complete login or registration. Click “Buyer Certificate” and select the exhibition period to participate in the exhibition, which is the completion of pre-registration.

While booking the appointment, the purchaser should also prepare a business visa to come to China. Due to different policies in different countries, we will not elaborate here.

2.Next, we will talk about how to screen suppliers in advance;

• Study the market and products: Before attending the Canton Fair, buyers should have a deep understanding of the products they need to purchase and their markets, so that they can quickly identify potential partners among many suppliers.
• Make a purchasing plan: Make a clear purchasing plan according to market demand and company strategy. This will help purchasers to find suppliers in a targeted way at the Canton Fair and improve work efficiency.
• Understanding Canton Fair essentials: Before attending the Canton Fair, buyers should familiarize themselves with key arrangements including exhibition zone layouts, exhibitor directories, and visiting schedules. Additionally, staying informed about specialized seminars and forums held during the event proves particularly valuable, as these sessions typically address industry hot spots and share professional knowledge.

3.After the big concept, are there any specific ways and methods to screen suppliers in advance? Of course, we will share them.

• Canton Fair official website (https://www.cantonfair.org.cn/en-US)
• After accessing the official website (assuming you’ve registered), click “Buyer” in the navigation bar. Scroll down to view the interface featuring “Find Products” and “Post Request”. You can search by exhibitor name or product category, using filters for “Product”, “Exhibitor”, or “Booth” to refine your search. This section helps you explore potential suppliers and product options in advance.

• After initial understanding, it is time to develop a clear list of purchases and budget.
• If you’re a distributor/reseller, check your inventory levels and carefully consider delivery timelines, shipping schedules, and customs clearance processes. During the Canton Fair period, you can place orders with established suppliers to replenish stock in advance. This strategy also allows you to negotiate favorable discounts with suppliers – a smart move that could boost your business.
• In addition, I believe that you will not only find existing suppliers to place orders at the Canton Fair, but also finding new suppliers,business opportunities, new products & fresh business prospects. As exhibitors typically debut their latest offerings at the Canton Fair, it’s crucial to establish early connections with.Communicate with existing suppliers and visit their booths at the Canton Fair to place orders while learning about new products. For potential candidates selected in advance.
• With suppliers, first communicate and understand whether their products and new products meet their positioning, and if so, add them to the purchase list.
• After completing the first version of the purchase list, check to see if it exceeds your maximum budget.
• If it does not exceed much, you can expect reducing costs through on-site negotiations at the exhibition.
• If it exceeds a significant amount (such as over 30%), then you need to consider adjusting the main budget down to a reasonable level by increasing the priority value of profitable products & advantageous products and reducing the quantity of other products.
• When purchasing for your company or household, you should have a clear procurement list. The key is selecting appropriate models & specifications. For machinery, consider parameter requirements and configuration needs. Communicate with suppliers online in advance to obtain preliminary quotes. After calculating the total cost, check if it exceeds your budget. If the overrun is minor, you can negotiate discounts with exhibitors at trade shows (which usually works). However, if the overrun exceeds 30%, you should explore alternative cost-saving measures. Consider downgrading configurations – some exhibitors might recommend unnecessary models to boost profits.

4.Finally, we will face offline exhibitions in the substantive stage.

• First of all, you should plan your route in advance. Because the Canton Fair is so big, if you can’t plan your route well, you’ll not only waste time, but also get exhausted quickly.And affect the subsequent negotiation and procurement schedule.
• Then there is the art of negotiating with suppliers.

Service is not “good attitude”, but “proactive problem solving”

Many buyers think that a good service is a good attitude and polite speech of the exhibitors. In fact, it is not. The real good service is that the supplier can actively help you solve the problem.

Take two suppliers of a car parts company:

Supplier A will attach a “quality improvement proposal” to each delivery, telling you what risks the goods may have, such as a batch of steel is a little too hard and may wear parts when loaded;

Supplier B was enthusiastic, but never took the initiative to say anything until the production line stopped, when he came to explain.

You say which of these two is good service?

• The answer is self-evident. We Grace Kitchen have strict SOPs for pre-sales, sales and after-sales services
• Fragile parts are shipped with the machine to avoid machine downtime due to lack of parts
• Confirm the voltage, plug and other details before sale, so that the equipment can be smoothly installed when it arrives at the site;
• Product user manual, this seemingly simple and basic thing is easily overlooked by many Chinese manufacturers. We Grace Kitchen operates a strict shipping process, and the English user manual will be sent with the machine.
• The label information is complete and rich. We Grace Kitchen has a standard label format with detailed information such as product pictures, name and model.When the goods are delivered to the customer’s warehouse, they can be quickly sorted and placed, which is very convenient.
• After-sales response is fast, 24×7 online support, we will send engineers to customers’ site when necessary.

5.In addition, we have briefly sorted out 5 Essential Tips for Finding a Reliable Supplier at Canton Fair.We should ask exhibitors one by one with these questions to evaluate their strength, industry experience, performance rate and other scoring criteria, which are summarized as follows:

1. Where is the factory? Inform the specific location of the factory so that you can understand the production environment.
2. Can I visit your company?
3. Ask if you have a chance to visit the factory and learn about the production process.
4. Will you allow third-party QC agents to conduct inspections? I hope to confirm whether third-party quality control inspections are allowed.
5. Have you exported to the country or region where I live before? Ask about your experience in exporting to the target country or region.
6. If the finished product is defective, how will you deal with it? Can I see your certification? I care about the quality assurance measures and whether you have relevant certification.
7. Have you done similar projects before? Can you provide proof of such professional questions? I hope to understand the experience of previous projects and request proof materials.

By presenting these questions to exhibitors and evaluating their responses for fluency and clarity of thought, we can establish a preliminary scoring system. With these 5 Essential Tips for Finding a Reliable Supplier at Canton Fair,after two rounds of screening, we can finalize our partner selection. If time permits, it’s crucial to conduct on-site visits with two key suppliers to verify initial assessments and ensure flawless execution.

We’ve shared practical tips for finding reliable suppliers at the Canton Fair. We hope these insights prove truly helpful. For maximum convenience, we recommend printing this guide and carrying it with you during your visit. Wishing you every success in your search! Welcome to Canton Fair Hall 19.1 D16-D17 – Guangdong Grace Kitchen Equipment Co., Ltd.

Be There Or Be Square!