On April 15th, the 133rd Canton Fair started. The Group's employees actively participated in the fair, showed their strengths, made new friends, strived for orders and expanded new markets, which was a rare chance to explore new business opportunities, and contribute to the Group's sustainable high-quality development with more comprehensive products and services.

#01 During the Fair

The Group's 16 subsidiaries set up a total of 78 booths for the Canton Fair. Before the fair, each subsidiary established a common objective of "showing the Group's strengths and accumulating the experience for future business development", and established different aims such as cultivating new talents, exploring markets and gaining industrial insights based on their respective realities.

Despite the limited preparation time for this offline Canton Fair, the participants still cherished the rare opportunities to meet customers face-to-face. They analyzed recent exporting data and determined the final samples among numerous products with rich product and shipping experience. At the same time, they actively selected foreign trade professionals who are good at spoken English with positive attitudes and provided pre-exhibition training for newcomers, and encouraged them to make full use of their respective advantages.

During the fair, participants warmly received the guests and actively introduced the company and products to them. When there were few customers, they might go to other exhibition halls to observe the booth layout and product situation of other companies or go to crowded areas to promote products and attract customers. After the fair, they would review the situation and follow up with customers to adjust the details of the next day's work.

Through the Canton Fair, participants obtained contact information of many target customers, reached friendly communication with potential customers, and gained opportunities to further cooperate with customers.

#02 Great Harvest

- Showing Great Strengths -

Steven Ni, the person in charge of Greentime's booth, said that the objective of participating in the Canton Fair this time was to let customers understand the company's advantages and strengths through sample display and communication, so as to facilitate subsequent long-term cooperation. "The point is not selling products, but selling services." Steven emphasized that comprehensive service capabilities including rich industry experience, perfect supply chain background, high-quality product development potential and the understanding of the target market are the company's biggest advantages. After the Canton Fair, Steven's team has continued to follow up with 8 new customers. He is full of hope for the next customer development cycle, and is looking forward to establishing good relationships with customers.

- Exploring Future Directions -

Soler Wang, the person in charge of Union Source's booth, noticed that many foreign customers would be attracted by the word "recyclable" at the Canton Fair. Considering that international community is paying much attention to the concept of sustainability, he believes that environmental protection will inevitably become an important trend of the foreign trade industry in the future, and the Group must plan the layout ahead. In fact, he had researched renewable materials a few years ago, but the research could not be continued due to the immature domestic supply chain in the early stage and the high substitution cost. He said that currently domestic companies that specialize in environmental protection materials are still in the development stage. The Group has abundant supplier resources and is fully capable of developing qualified renewable materials for product production and packaging. We will surely be able to seize more market shares and obtain opportunities of new industrial trends if we focus on the research and development of such materials in advance. Soler said that the 133rd Canton Fair was accompanied by many uncertainties, but opportunities outweighed challenges, and finding new business opportunities from it gave him a lot of confidence.

- Becoming A Complete Foreign Trader -

The offline Canton Fair is a platform for in-depth contact with the market, improving negotiation skills and expanding international horizons. It is a rare learning and growth opportunity for many foreign trade newcomers. Ciel Lu from Sellers Union indicated that, as a foreign trade newcomer at the Canton Fair, in addition to the familiar online marketing, she finally experienced offline exhibitions, communicated with many customers face-to-face and achieved a closer relationship with them. She now has become a complete and qualified foreign trader after the unique experience at the Canton Fair. At the same time, she saw the "super power" from her master – Jason Lin, an excellent foreign trader. Based on simple communication, he can infer the customers' company and business direction, and quickly find common topics, which needs sensitive observation, rich experience and strong industry familiarity. In order to become an excellent foreign trader, Ciel is working hard to improve her professional ability and she is trying hard to win the trust of customers through diligence and efficiency. After the Canton Fair, many customers have praised her for prompt response of quotation and sample delivery, which has encouraged her a lot.

#03 Together for the Future

Canton Fair has become China foreign trade's "barometer" since its birth in 1957. The 133rd Canton Fair has helped us stay in touch with the latest market trends, strengthen foreign customers' trust through communications, learn and promote healthy competition within the industry.

The Group has also accurately touched customer pain points in the massive information flow, adapted to their actual needs and explored the most satisfying products and service methods for both parties. As for the trend of cost-effectiveness, the Group will provide more diverse and professional customized solutions to reduce costs, and show multiple options for the same product at different prices and qualities. In the face of fierce competition of homogeneous products in the market, the Group will fully tap into product selling points, develop products with both practical and additional functions, and enhance service capabilities.

Patrick Xu, Chairman of the Group, deeply analyzed the trip to Canton Fair during the internal communication and exchange meeting. He stated that the offline Canton Fair has restarted after three years, the market environment has changed dramatically. Industry competition is fierce, and there is a significant trend towards product innovation, creativity, specialization and recyclability. Customers are more sensitive to product prices, and online and offline channels are gradually integrating. He emphasized that the participants faced many challenges at the Canton Fair, but they gained a lot in terms of customer recognition and long-term development results through their hard efforts. He encouraged the whole Group to have discussions on how to balance between grocery products and professional products, how to adjust and innovate procurement models, and how to learn from colleagues in the industry. He claimed that the Canton Fair will accumulate valuable experience for better exhibition participating and serving customers in the future... Based on the current and long-term perspective, Patrick's summary inspired us to think about the future business development of the Group.