Exhibition enterprises should adjust to industry development trends

In the past years， within the global exhibition industry， these trends such as shifted exhibition destinations， integrated resource， and enhanced cooperation have become more and more obvious. Exhibition enterprises need to adjust to the development trends of the industry and seize the opportunities to remain invincible in fierce competition.

Trend one——Shifting

In the 21st century， with the strong support from Chinese central and local governments， the gradually opened exhibition market and multiple beneficial elements， the Chinese exhibition industry grew quickly in both exhibition number and the whole industry scale. Now， there have formed four main “hot plate” regions for exhibition industry in China： Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region， Yangtze River Delta Region， Pearl River Delta Region， and Sichuan-Shanxi-Chongqing Region. The Yangtze River Delta Region hosts the largest number of exhibitions and possesses the biggest exhibition area， and according to a prediction by China Council for the Promotion of International Trade （CCPIT）， this kind of unbalanced regional development in mainland China may be further intensified in the future.

To my opinion， one of the major trends of the Chinese exhibition industry in the near future is shifting. Apart from some cities which possess unique advantages of certain industry sectors or of political significance， the development momentum of the Chinese exhibition industry would gradually shifted to those four “hot plate” regions mentioned above， especially to the following cities： Beijing， Shanghai， Guangzhou， Shenzhen， and Chengdu. On the other hand， second and third-tier cities would face a development bottleneck inevitably. For these cities， based on local travelling resources， striving to develop incentives travel and conference industries may be a wise way for those second and third-tier cities to obtain future development rather than making great effort to develop exhibition business blindly.

As for the exhibition organizers， the shifting of exhibition destinations must be taken into consideration in the process of the site selection of new fairs. When it comes to site selection， the organizers usually need to consider the following factors： first of all， there should be strong and solid local industry base and market demands in the proposed fair destination， otherwise the organizer probably does not need to organize a show there. Secondly， organizers need to figure out where their best resources are located and what is the strength of their partners. Thirdly， organizers should seek to launch the fairs in the “hot plate” area. Beijing， Shanghai， Guangzhou， Shenzhen， and Chengdu are much better places for running a trade fair compared with second and third-tier cities， and Chengdu is a perfect choice with most potentialities in western China. However， there are also challenges for holding the show in “hot plate” cities， and organizers may face more existing and potential competitors. Therefore， organizers need to consider carefully.

Trend two——Integrating

In the coming future， there will be more resource integration of both exhibitions and organizers. In mainland China， same-topic shows would be less and less， and instead， there will be several typical， outstanding， large-scale fairs in each industry sector. Meanwhile， the entire exhibition industry will be shuffled again for integration.

During the process of resource integration， the industry associations can play an important role in coordination and guidance. Take Germany for instance， the long-term plan for its exhibition industry development is quite reasonable.

There are hundreds of exhibitions held in Germany every year， and AUMA plays a vital role in the balanced positioning of the shows， avoiding fairs of repeated topics between different organizers and making sure that there is only one or two large-scale fairs in the same industry sector. These shows include for heavy industry， Hannover Messe； for construction machinery， Bauma； for automobile industry， IAA； for the book industry， Frankfurt Book Fair； for toy industry， Nuremberg Toy Fair etc. Sometimes， there are two famous electronic shows sharing the same topic， but with different positioning. For example， CeBIT by Deutsche Messe mainly focuses on information communication and cloud computing， while IFA by Messe Berlin focuses on consumer electronics in daily home life. Of course， China is China， which is quite different with Germany in many national conditions. Will there be some associations like AUMA to be founded soon？ Or will some existing associations be granted the similar function？ We will see.

From the customers side， when it comes to choosing a fair to participate in， exhibitors would prefer the large， famous， and the already long existing one to guarantee good value for time and money. In that case， mature and large-scale fairs would become ever stronger， while the smaller and the newly launched fairs would probably find it hard to expand， which is a case of the typical “Matthew Effect”.

So then， do these small companies still get a chance？ Yes. Although they can not compare with the big names in almost every single resource， their fundamental way out may lie in the following issues： focus on their own core competence （buyers and trade visitors）； get a powerful and reliable partner； merged by these big names； seek the boost in the industry or some related significant preferential policies from the government. Meanwhile， it is also good opportunity for these big companies to take more market share and achieve long-term development through methods such as brand duplication， new shows launching， and merger and acquisition.

Trend three——Cooperating

In recent years， the huge exhibition market in China has attracted many international organizers to explore business opportunities. For foreign exhibition companies， cooperating with the local partners may be an easy way to extend the market share in China. On one hand， local organizations， associations and companies know the local market very well， and can run fairs and shows “down to earth”； on the other hand， with years of accumulation of connections and channels in sales， visitor promotion and communication with the local government， local partners can help foreign organizers break into the local market in a relatively short time. Local partners can also learn a lot from these foreign companies in cooperation and extend their business scope.

In this matter， we have a pretty good precedent. Donghao Lansheng Group struck a cooperation relationship with Deutsche Messe Group to hold the “China International Industry Fair” （CIIF） in 2006， and it turned to be a 12-year win-win business. Nowadays， CIIF has turned itself from a regional industry fair into a leading industry trade fair in China even Asia， thanks to the hard-work and great efforts made by both sides year after year.

For exhibition companies， cooperation and development are the two most important themes in these days. Cooperation is a critical opportunity for the companies development. In my opinion， healthy and free competition should always be encouraged and appreciated， because the competitor of today might just be the partner of tomorrow. In the predictable future， there will be large number of cases of cooperation， mergers and acquisitions in the Chinese exhibition industry.