A Canton Fair veteran on his 24th visit explains why showing up in person matters. Suppliers treat you seriously when you're there, respect your commitment, and show you their real capabilities. Online, they're unsure if you're legit and often inflate prices or oversell what they can do.
How many times have you been to Canton Fair? Man, this is my 24th Canton Fair. First time I came here was November 1st, 2010, so this is my 24th.
You've been here 24 times. Why do you keep coming back? Isn't it just the same thing every year? My main thing is building relationships with suppliers. So what have you found to be the main difference between speaking to suppliers in person versus speaking to them online?
Being here, the supplier knows that you're a serious buyer. They know you're a serious customer, right? Because you don't come to a place like Guangzhou on holiday. So supplier who sees you here knows you're here to do business, right? So they take you seriously from minute one, whereas the customer that they speak to online, they don't know if they're just like a 16-year-old in a basement just wanting to do like a side hustle. But traditionally, the serious buyers come here. When you find them online, they feel or they sense a bit of inexperience. They can just quote a really high margin if you aren't skilled in finding the right manufacturers or the manufacturers which specialize in a particular product. Because online you can find loads of suppliers, but they can just say they make that, but you can't actually know and see that until you actually see them here at the fair and see what products they really specialize in and what they have certification for.
