Toy & Hobby China and Baby & Stroller China wrapped up on April 10 at the Poly World Trade Center Expo, marking the debut editions organised by Guangzhou Li Tong Messe Frankfurt Co Ltd – a newly formed joint venture between Messe Frankfurt (HK) Ltd and the Guangdong Toy Association.
The three-day events which ran from 8 – 10 April attracted 40,012 (2014: 38,171) visitors and 1,001 (2014: 932) exhibitors, 5% and 7.4% more than the previous editions respectively. “Several overseas toy associations said their member companies would be interested in exhibiting here next year to boost toy and baby product exports to China,” said Ms Wendy Wen, Senior General Manager at Messe Frankfurt (HK) Ltd.
The Spanish Association of Toy Manufacturers (Asociación Española de Fabricantes de Juguetes) was one such association. “I plan to be here with some member companies next time [to exhibit]. I think it’s more interesting to try to find a way to export to the Chinese market, and I think this fair is a good place to start,” Mr Oliver Giner from the Technical and Foreign Promotion Department said.
The Thai Toy Industry Association also believed bringing Thai exhibitors to the next edition could be a good idea. Mr Amornchai Naksuppamit, President of the association, said: “We have a lot of members producing wooden toys, and I think China is a very big market. That’s why they may be interested in exhibiting here.”
Imported toys are gaining more attention in China nowadays
Due to the one-child policy, Chinese parents are willing to spend larger amounts of money on their children, and buying more expensive foreign brand-name toy and baby products is gaining popularity in the country. “Our customers are less price sensitive now and they focus more on quality. In general, they prefer overseas products over domestic ones,” said Mr Wei Wang, Manager of Q-mart, a Shenzhen based franchise brand.
Hong Kong suppliers are some of those who benefit from this phenomena as their products are in favour in the country. “Mainland Chinese customers are more interested in overseas products as they have more money to spend on their younger generations now,” said Mr Casey Lai, Deputy General Manager at Metas from Hong Kong. “And plus, our innovative DIY toys are very special and can stimulate children’s creativity. That’s why our products received much positive feedback at the fair,” he continued.
Concurrent seminars prepare newcomers for the huge Chinese market
Show participants agreed the two fairs are good stepping stones to explore the Chinese market because, other than helping overseas toy and baby product suppliers to reach the massive buyer pool in the country, the concurrent seminars also assisted newcomers to set the right strategies for this market. “There was a conference yesterday discussing the Chinese market which has a lot differences than the US and Australia markets. I think there is lot more online sales rather than big malls. The conference was helpful as I could gain insights on the Chinese market and from a Chinese perspective as well,” said Mr Pete Cummings, Brand Manager from Zing in Hong Kong.
Three seminar sessions: China Toy Marketing Forum 2015, Overseas Toy and Stroller Buyers’ Sourcing Patterns and Behaviours, and Pre-school Amusement Toy and Play-set Tool Trends 2015 for Kindergarten were held from 7 – 9 April. Over 730 audience members joined while speakers included Ms Kristen Ytterbo, Senior Sales & Merchandising Manager at Toys “R” Us, Mr Peter Wang, Vice President of Marketing & Sales at Horizon Group USA Shanghai Office, and Ms Summer Chen, General Manager at Baby Mall Singapore.
Chinese exhibitors agree fairs are helpful to boost both overseas and domestic sales
While potential overseas exhibitors were excited about finding a new key to unlock the Chinese market, domestic companies were busy meeting with new buyers from around the globe at the two fairs. “This fair has a long history and we saw buyers from all over China and also some from the other countries, like Korea and France. One of the Korean customers was quite interested in our DIY toys and is planning to introduce them to Korea. This can help us open up the Korean market faster,” said Mr Leqiang Wang, the Asia-Pacific Partner of Finland Alfheim Education Group Ltd.
Ms Yuan Li from Shenzhen Do Quick Co Ltd, a manufacturer of hand-held learning tools for young children, was also satisfied with the outcome. “We were visited by many customers already and some were even from overseas. We got several orders on the first day and those overseas customers were also interested in placing orders with us. We really got a lot out of this fair,” she said.
Innovative products on offer impress trade buyers
After enjoying inexpensive labour costs for many years, China’s toy and baby product manufacturers are starting to look for other competitive edges by adding more innovative elements into their products. “In the past, ‘made in China’ was all about imitation and copying; but now our fellow manufacturers have become more creative and thus some of the Chinese-made products are leading the global toy trends now,” said Mr Leqiang Wang.
Overseas buyers also appreciated the innovative products offered at the fairs. “It appears to be a good idea to come here and look around to see what’s new. I found out that a lot of things I have seen here I haven’t seen elsewhere and there is a few things here that made me go ‘oh wow I haven’t seen that before’,” said Mr Paul Scott from Baby Barn Discounts in Australia.
Sharing the same view was Mr Hassan Ghaleb Aweidah from Events Line in Kuwait: “There are a lot of new products at this fair, especially in the educational and playground items sectors. The product quality and innovation here is very good compared to other domestic fairs, and it’s now much better than in the past.”
Debut Innovative Stroller Display Zone received much positive feedback
In order to encourage the development of innovative products in China, a new Innovative Stroller Display Zone was featured at the fair and displayed 72 creative products from 42 top-tier Chinese companies. “I am here mainly to see this zone and get inspired by the new concepts here. I’ve noticed the product quality in this zone has seen a big improvement,” said Mr Wei Wong from Q-mart in Shenzhen.
– end –
Media contact:
Cathy Wu
Tel +852 2230 9235
Fax +852 2598 7919
cathy.wu@hongkong.messefrankfurt.com
- Distributed via http://www.AsiaToday.com
