New platform aims to connect chinese firms with overseas customers

Xiamen, a city with the largest manufacturing base in China, is home to more than 500 manufacturers of fitness equipment.

That's a lot of bench presses, treadmills and elliptical trainers. Good thing, for international buyers, the city is now home to the country's first professional exhibition of sporting goods.

The Xiamen (China) Sporting Goods Fair will be a new platform for hundreds of local manufacturers to promote their brands in domestic and overseas markets.

"Holding the fair in Xiamen can help our local manufacturers promote more equipment and also help international buyers make orders easily," says Cai Wensheng, secretary-general of the Xiamen Sporting Goods Association and the Chamber of Fujian Sporting Goods Export Base.

Cai says the fair is beneficial to buyers because it's not easy to transport those massive, bulky fitness equipment made in Xiamen.

"The international buyers usually make orders after a factory inspection and the fair in Xiamen makes the products' showcase link to the factory inspection easily," he says.

In the past, there wasn't an event to promote the industry in Xiamen and local fitness equipment manufacturers had to go to Guangdong province to participate in the China Import and Export Fair, also known as the Canton Fair.

Even though the Canton Fair has an abundance of buyers, potential international clients still need to visit Xiamen after the Canton Fair to check how the manufacturing environment is, what certifications the factories have gained and other standards the companies are required to meet before making orders.

The annual exhibition is held in late October shortly before the sporting goods exhibition in the Canton Fair.

"We want all buyers from China and other countries to attend our event in Xiamen before Guangzhou," Cai says.

The first annual exhibition, from Oct 25-28, consisted of approximately 76 sporting goods producers showcasing their products at the Xiamen International Conference and Exhibition Center. Chief among them were some of the world's biggest fitness equipment manufacturers: Xiamen Cowell Industrial Ltd and Land America Health and Fitness Co Ltd. More than 560 domestic and international buyers visited the event.

"We hope to promote our brand and products in the Chinese market through the event. Our sales in China increased 20 percent last year, and we hope to reach a 30 percent growth this year with the help of the professional event like this fair in Xiamen," says Xu Xiaohu, special assistant to the general manager at Land America Health and Fitness Co Ltd.

Other than manufacturers in Xiamen, major international service groups such as TUV SUD, the Germany-based testing and certification company, were also invited to the event by the Xiamen Municipal Bureau of Commerce and the Fujian International Economy and Trade Department, the exhibition's organizers.

"During the sporting goods fair, we were able to communicate directly with the fitness equipment manufacturers and provide services such as quality testing, certification, inspection, training and so on, which can help them to expand into overseas markets successfully," according to a press release from TUV SUD.

Most Xiamen fitness equipment companies over the past two years have shifted from being original equipment manufacturers to building their own brands, but many local companies admit they don't have clear ideas about how to promote their brands.

"The factories are easily satisfied with logo registration and advertisements in magazines or newspapers. But those random promotions cannot make a big market splash. At the same time, we definitely need a general image of the industry in Xiamen. The sporting goods fair can be the new image of our city," Cai says.

Personal fitness is becoming a more important issue to Chinese people and the market demand for fitness equipment has grown in recent years in China. Instead of building the Xiamen sporting goods fair into an export-oriented event, organizers also expect more domestic buyers at the event.

(China Daily 01/11/2013 page16)