Opening Up China, Hainan First Unveils "Unusual" Consumer Expo

The heat brought by the 2021 annual meeting of Boao Forum for Asia has not dissipated. The first China International Consumer Goods Expo (hereinafter referred to as "consumer Expo") was officially launched in Hainan International Convention and Exhibition Center on May 7, 2021.

On May 6, Han Shengjian, director of Hainan International Economic Development Bureau, disclosed to the media in advance before the opening of the exhibition that the total exhibition area of the Expo was 80000 square meters, attracting 2628 brands from home and abroad to participate in the fair, with more than 30000 professional purchasers and professional visitors, and more than 200000 visitors of various types were expected, which "will become the largest consumer boutique exhibition in the Asia Pacific region".

On the same day, Zhu Xiaoliang, director of the Department of market operation and consumption promotion of the Ministry of Commerce, told the 21st century economic report that the holding of the Expo aims not only to provide opportunities for various countries to enter the Chinese market for display and trade, but also to create business opportunities for domestic and foreign consumer goods to be sold to all parts of the world.

The top-level design will be put forward in June 2020, the time and venue will be confirmed in September 2020, and the exhibition will be set up at the end of April 2021. How can this world-famous international exhibition be rapidly formed? What are the hidden stories behind it?

Asia's largest consumer show

From May 7 to 10, the first China International Consumer Goods Expo was held in Hainan International Convention and Exhibition Center on the west coast of Haikou. It is the first national level exhibition with the theme of consumer goods, and it is also the "largest consumer Expo in Asia Pacific region".

According to Han Shengjian, the Fair attracted 2628 domestic and foreign brands, including 1365 international brands from 69 countries and regions. The top brands were 124 brands in Korea, 99 brands in France, 89 brands in Japan, 68 brands in the United States and 56 brands in Italy.

In addition to international brand merchants, 31 provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the central government and Xinjiang production and Construction Corps, as well as two cities with separate planning, Xiamen and Dalian organized local consumer goods and time-honored brands to participate in the exhibition. There were 857 exhibitors and 1263 brands.

"Exhibition activities, especially international ones, have a significant role in promoting the development of the host country." Xie Xiangxiang, vice president of the school of tourism of Hainan Normal University, believes that the holding of the Expo can bring huge flow of people to Haikou“ Most importantly, the flow of information through exhibits is even more important in the digital age. "

The fair is not only a new business card for Hainan, but also a rising star in China's international exhibitions.

"The orientation of these exhibitions is different. To hold the Expo is to build a global exhibition and trading platform for international consumer goods around the construction of Hainan's "international tourism consumption center." Wang Bingnan, Vice Minister of Commerce, said. He stressed that Hainan is building a free trade port, which is planned, deployed and promoted by General Secretary Xi Jinping himself. It is a major national strategy and a new highland of reform and opening up“ To hold the Expo in Hainan is to gather the policy advantages of the free trade port and gather global popularity. After several years of cultivation, it will form a consumer boutique exposition with international first-class level. "

According to Han Shengjian, the 60000 square meter international exhibition area of the Expo is divided into five professional exhibition areas: fashion life, jewelry and diamond, high-end food and health products, living and service consumption. In addition, the domestic exhibition area of 20000 square meters presents well-known domestic brands in various provinces and cities, such as Huawei, Gree, Haikang, iFLYTEK, FAW Hongqi, BYD, Maotai, Wuliangye, etc Tongrentang, Pianzihuang, cloisonne, etc.

"The fair focuses on medium and high-end consumer goods in terms of positioning, which is different from other exhibitions." Chen Feng, the first level chief staff member of Fujian Provincial Department of Commerce, said that the fair is a manifestation of the domestic and international dual circulation. There are consumer brand representatives from various provinces and cities, as well as overseas first-line brands. This is a two-way interactive display.

Xie Xiangxiang believes that although the fair is only held for four days, the whole long cycle of planning, preparation and publicity in the early stage and the end in the later stage, including the return visit of exhibitors and the landing of business and investment activities, will bring about sustained effects.

Rapid prototyping

The fair is not only unique in its positioning, but also very fast in preparation. On June 1, 2020, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council issued the overall plan for the construction of Hainan free trade port (hereinafter referred to as the plan), which proposed to hold China International Consumer Goods Expo. In September 2020, it is confirmed that the first consumer Expo will be held in Hainan International Convention and Exhibition Center from May 7 to 10, 2021. On April 27, 2021, the first consumer Expo officially began to set up and arrange exhibitions. From the top-level design planning to the final implementation of the formation, the first consumer Expo preparation less than a year.

"Generally, it takes a year to prepare for an international exhibition when it is mature." Xie Xiangxiang told reporters.

"A mobilization meeting was held at the end of last year, and an invitation notice from the Ministry of Commerce was received in January this year to confirm participation. The whole preparation time is only four months. " On May 6, Chen Feng said, "all departments are working overtime, including today, we are constantly optimizing."

Driven by the policy, what links are included in the preparation process of the fair?

Chen Feng disclosed the preparatory process of participating provinces to the 21st century economic reporter. After making clear the intention to participate in the exhibition, the exhibition area is determined first, and then the products are screened“ Focusing on the exhibition planning direction of the Expo, we determined to focus on four categories: food, daily necessities, handicrafts and time-honored brands. From these four categories, we will select the products that can represent Fujian and meet the positioning of medium and high-end consumer goods of the fair. "

"It took more than a month to determine the brands to be exhibited." Chen Feng said.

"At the initial mobilization stage, all enterprises were very active, and more than 100 enterprises in the whole province signed up for the exhibition. Due to the limitation of exhibition area, according to the theme of "Liaoning intelligent manufacturing with full rhyme and clear wind", we selected 46 enterprises, covering 77 categories, including intelligent equipment, clothing, musical instruments and other products representing the industrial foundation and brand characteristics of Liaoning Province. " Li Zhi, deputy director of the exhibition industry development department of Liaoning Provincial Department of Commerce, mentioned that after determining the group plan, a vice governor will lead the team to participate in the fair with the approval of the provincial government.

Zhou Bing, global vice president of Dell technology group and general manager of Greater China government affairs department, told reporters that the exhibition materials were continuously transported to Hainan at the end of April. After receiving the notice that the organizing committee could enter the exhibition hall to arrange exhibitions, he was busy building exhibition stands in 10 days, including the May Day holiday.

"Busy" is actually the normal of the curators of the fair these days. No matter in the morning or at night, there is a lot of noise around them on the other end of the phone. At 1:41 a.m. on May 6, the reporter received a wechat reply from Wu Haolin, curator of hall 1 (living and living area) of China Consumer Expo: "I have too many things to do. There's a lot to do tomorrow. "

"At present, the exhibition focuses on the international and exhibitor related activities. However, for an exhibition, we should combine government, industry, education and Research on the basis of Canton Fair, China International Fair and World Expo Xie Xiangxiang believes that it is particularly important for the fair to present the professional services and management of the government and relevant institutions through four-day activities, including volunteer services, event planning, etc“ I think we must plan systematically, push forward as a whole and make breakthroughs in a single point. In the future, there will be a lot of room for improvement in this respect. "

Linking domestic and foreign markets

Even in a hurry, such a scale of consumer exhibition has already attracted a lot of attention at home and abroad. The fair is planned to be opened to the public on the fourth day. For the sake of epidemic prevention and control, only 50000 tickets were released to the public, which were snatched up in an instant. This shows the high public interest in high-end consumer goods.

According to the data, the number of middle-income groups in China has reached more than 400 million, and the per capita GDP has exceeded 10000 US dollars. The people's demand for medium and high-end and diversified consumption has been expanding. Wang Bingnan believes that the fair is a new carrier for building a new development pattern“ The fair can realize direct transaction between global buyers and sellers, introduce foreign high-quality consumer goods, and make up for the shortage of domestic high-end supply. It is the carrier of smooth domestic circulation; Connecting the two markets to promote the smooth flow of goods, services and elements is also the carrier of promoting double circulation. "

According to Han Shengjian, the proportion of special booth area is more than 90%. The international exhibition area is 60000 square meters, accounting for 3 / 4 of the exhibition area. Many international brands from Switzerland, France, Japan, the United States and the United Kingdom will hold 72 events and release hundreds of new products, covering more than 20 categories such as yacht cars, clothing, luggage and cosmetics. Shanghai, Fujian, Guangdong and other 10 places will hold local boutique release activities.

"Through the consumer Expo, we can recommend the latest products to consumers, highlight the technological vitality of our brand, and expand our brand to a wider area." According to Zhou Bing, global vice president of Dell technology group and general manager of Greater China government affairs department, Dell has successively received some cooperation from many provincial delegation and domestic professional procurement teams. During the exhibition, a series of new business with Hainan Province and other partners in Hainan will be announced, including the opening of duty-free stores in Haitang bay with China National immunity group.

It is not only the international exhibitors who have recognized the advantages of "buying the world and selling the world" of the fair, but also the representatives of various provinces in China with their regional characteristics and time-honored brands.

"The fair is first of all an important platform to stimulate consumption, but also an important fulcrum for the combination of domestic and international dual circulation. We should actively integrate into it." Li Zhi said, "the fair is positioned as" high, new, excellent and special ", with outstanding international elements. It is of far-reaching significance for domestic brands to compete with international big brands on the same stage." In his opinion, the arrival of domestic and foreign purchasers provides a very good opportunity for domestic high-quality products to enter the domestic and foreign markets. "We want to realize the seamless connection between Liaoning products and domestic and foreign markets through the platform of consumer Expo."

Chen Feng believes that "the Fair provides exhibition space for time-honored brands, which is a kind of empowerment, and can help some time-honored brands, especially those whose market positioning is limited in the province, to go abroad." Chen Feng said that starting from the positioning of Hainan free trade port and its tax-free preferential policies, he hopes to invite some key luxury e-commerce and business enterprises to settle in Fujian with the help of the exhibition.

"It is a very positive attitude for all provinces and cities to show with high-quality domestic products. Whether we can use the window of traditional foreign trade and consumer Expo to expand the effect may be the direction of our next efforts to produce high-quality products. " Xie Xiangxiang thinks that we can buy duty-free imported goods in Hainan. In the future, foreigners can buy duty-free domestic products in Hainan, which is very imaginative.

Zhu Xiaoliang also pointed out that the holding of the Expo will help accelerate the construction of Hainan free trade port, effectively promote the gathering of various production factors, attract the landing of industrial chain, drive the development of service industry, add impetus to the construction of a high standard free trade port, and help to further promote the steady recovery of the world economy“ The world economic situation is still complex and grim, and the recovery is unbalanced and unstable. Under such a background, China held the consumer Expo on schedule and actively opened its market to the world, demonstrating China's firm determination and confidence in promoting high-level opening-up, reflecting China's sincere desire to share market opportunities with the world and promote world economic recovery, which will surely inject new momentum into the world economy in the haze. " Zhu Xiaoliang said.