Acting as gateways to foreign markets, trade fairs provide companies with an effective marketing tool to use in their internationalisation campaigns. Exhibitions allow businesses to showcase their latest products and services, to verify the state of competition in their industries, to learn of the recent market trends and opportunities, to identify suppliers and to build business contacts. Furthermore, new models of “online” or “online/offline hybrid” trade fairs have also started to emerge since the second half of 2020 and are expected to continue for the near future.
Nevertheless, to fully reap the benefits fairs have to offer, companies must be aware of the risks associated with exhibiting, such as an inadequate preparation for the event and poor follow up, an incomplete plan for IPR protection, or even the wrong selection of the exhibition to attend. Considering the costs associated with participating in trade shows in China, it is crucial that SMEs become aware of these risks and respond accordingly through the implementation of dedicated strategies.
The aim of this report is to help target SMEs devise such strategies through the provision of practical advice for trade-fair selection and preparation, as well as of a list of the most relevant sector specific exhibitions held yearly in China.
Key Contents
1. China’s convention and exhibition service industry
2. Get ready for the show
Set your goals and prepare
Secure your Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)
3. Event selection
4. Annexes
NOTE: This EU SME Centre report is an update of a previous report produced in 2019 – “Guide to Trade Fairs in China (2019 Update)”, accessible at: https://www.eusmecentre.org.cn/guideline/guide-trade-fairs-china-2019-update
Disclaimer: This report was published during the EU SME Centre in China Phase II (2014-2020), which was funded by the European Union (ICI+/2014/346-276).
The report was drafted in collaboration with external creators, who worked under service agreements with the Consortium running the EU SME Centre Phase II. The copyrights and intellectual property of this publication belong to the Consortium partner China-Britain Business Council. The latter was authorised by and acted on behalf of the Consortium running EU SME Centre in China Phase II. The China-Britain Business Council, which is currently part of the Consortium running the EU SME Centre in China Phase III, has granted the rights of use of this report to the current Consortium. The report is therefore re-published and made available during the EU SME Centre Phase III.
