Why Exporters Should Still Attend Trade Fairs
Why exporters still need overseas trade fairs in the ecommerce era: face-to-face trust, visible capability, and buyer meetings that emails cannot replace.
Contents
Looking back over the past few years, the e-commerce market has grown at an unprecedented pace.
Led by Amazon and eBay, online shopping became part of daily life even in the once-snooty European market; Allegro expanded the market in Eastern Europe, and Shopee in Southeast Asia. Beyond these B2C channels, overseas B2B channels led by Alibaba are also becoming more active online. These online markets grew explosively through the unusual circumstances of COVID-19.
Trade fairs, in an age like this?
In a situation like this, you’re telling me to go to an overseas trade fair? And spend all that money?
Well, you might find it puzzling.
An overseas trade fair isn’t something you can pack for and leave the day after tomorrow just because you decided “Let’s go!”, and the money it takes isn’t small either.
Above all, as online markets have developed, these days you can open a store on Southeast Asian or U.S. e-commerce marketplaces without ever setting foot abroad. So an overseas trade fair, which burns expensive money, time, and capital, can look like a huge luxury and a waste.
But that judgment forgets that overseas exporting is fundamentally a B2B transaction between companies.
On the other side of every export is a company that imports
Exporting is paired with importing. On the other side of a company that exports is another company that imports its products.
Simply put, we have to persuade the other company to source our goods from “abroad” into “their own country,” overcoming the constraints of time and space and taking on risk.
To do that, we first have to let them know we exist, show them our products, and convince them that we are the best partner, qualified to do business with them.
And naturally, this kind of trust is easier to build face to face than through a monitor screen. After all, it’s never easy to trust someone you don’t know and have never seen, and commit a large sum of money.
All else being equal, a company you’ve met face to face even once, a company whose products you’ve seen even once more, is bound to have the advantage.
Simply taking part shows your capabilities
Beyond the trust that comes from face-to-face meetings, an overseas trade fair is a good opportunity to show a company’s various capabilities just by participating.
A company that has the capital, time, and people to bring its products abroad and exhibit them, and can invest in doing so, can be seen as having at least the minimum qualifications.
And if it also has a well-planned booth and staff to run it?
Just one visit and conversation at the booth can leave a positive impression of that company. Naturally, the results will also be far better than exchanging emails without ever meeting and, at best, trying to persuade them in an online meeting.
Other advantages, and preparation
On top of that, there are many other advantages of overseas trade fairs that online promotion still can’t beat, such as meeting many potential buyers in a short period and grasping the trends of various competitors at a glance.
Of course, not all overseas trade fairs are the same, and even at the same fair, results can vary enormously. If you decide to exhibit at a fair that takes significant capital and staff, you need more careful and precise preparation.
How to choose the right fair, and how to do market research at one, are covered in these posts:
