Discovering China as a sales market

How has the fair developed and how are things at the moment? Mathias Küpper: Ten years ago, in the early stages, the China International Hardware Show (CIHS) was a purely domestic fair without any international exhibitor participation. Then, after individual European firms used the CIHS as a show platform in 2003, we began to have a regular German presence there from 2004, with a group stand and the support of the FWI (a tool manufacturers’ association), as well as steadily growing interest from the other countries of Europe and repeated group participation from countries including Italy and Spain. Today the CIHS is the only fair in this particular sector in China that attracts any international participation worth mentioning. Around ten per cent of the 2 300 exhibitors at the CIHS 2010 are non-Chinese. What is your assessment of China as a procurement and sales market at present? Küpper: In the past many companies were focused on the idea of procurement in China – I would even say there was too much stress on this aspect. They were not sufficiently aware of the opportunity to see China also as a sales market, and are still today failing to do so in many cases. Not all firms have rethought the situation and realised that, with the right products and a strategy designed for the longer term, business can be done and goods sold in China as well. However, it is gratifying to see that the CIHS has been able to report a great number of success stories over the years and that a not inconsiderable number of the European firms that have for years been CIHS exhibitors have meanwhile become firmly established in China themselves. What will the show look like in 2011 and 2012? Küpper: The CIHS has seen dynamic growth over the past ten years, becoming established in the hardware industry’s trade fair calendar as the world’s second-biggest hardware fair. In the years to come we shall continue along the path we have already started out on this year: of further developing the fair in terms of quality and paying more attention to our core expertise. We shall continue to expand the special events, in addition to providing identification and separate illustration of individual product segments eg, fasteners, building hardware and locks & security. Also included here is the “matchmaking” between exhibitors and buyers, an activity that has been carried out for three years now within the framework of the “CIHS Sourcing Salons”, as well as a great number of initiatives in…