Differences Between CHIC And Foreign Garment Fairs

The annual China International Clothing Expo (CHIC ）It has begun again. This year should be the 20th. The author has participated in almost every year's CHIC, and participated in the organization of some activities or exhibitions for the first few years. He has personally experienced its changes and development, and has also seen the development and changes of China's clothing industry. Some foreign professionals visited CHIC, and they also marveled at the scale of the exhibition, but the author believes that it is normal that China has the largest clothing industry in the world, and there must be a world's largest professional exposition to match it. As a clothing practitioner, the author has also participated in many international clothing fairs, such as Paris Women's Wear Exhibition Dusseldorf Clothing Exhibition, Cologne Men's Clothing Exhibition, etc; I have also participated in some exhibitions that are not specialized in clothing but have clothing content, such as the Canton Fair in China, the Premiere Class in Paris, and so on. There are many differences between China CHIC and major international expositions for both exhibitors and visitors, so it is very meaningful to analyze the differences between China CHIC and other international professional expositions, as well as the results of these differences.

　 Clothing expositions in Europe and America are mostly sales exhibitions

Internationally, the most important fashion fairs in the world, such as the Paris Women's Wear Show, the Dusseldorf Fashion Show, the US Las Vegas Fashion Show, and the Hong Kong Fashion Week, are mainly sales exhibitions.

Exhibitors should display all the new products of the next season. The visitors are mainly worldwide or regional retailer . Quite a number of exhibitors have to rely on the exhibition to complete their sales tasks for one season, and visitors have to rely on the visit to solve the product ordering problem for the next season. Everyone is very serious and does business in real terms. In such an exhibition, due to the business relationship formed over the years, the communication is mainly carried out among the old customers. The sales manager of the exhibitor receives the purchase manager of the old customers at the exhibition, introduces the new products designed by the enterprise for the next season, so as to get as many orders as possible; The customer's purchase manager also needs to negotiate with the seller about the desired style according to his own sales situation and understanding of his own market. So in this kind of exhibition, the main business is to continue the business between acquaintances. Of course, there is no lack of finding new customers besides doing business with old customers, or visitors who have ordered goods from old friends to see if there is anything new, but this is only the second important content. Because of this orientation, these expositions must be held twice a year to sell the latest products in spring, summer, autumn and winter. Considering the time required for production, they are usually held in January, February, July and August, at most until the beginning of September. Moreover, as long as economic conditions permit, these exhibitors will continue to participate and become loyal customers of the exhibition.

　　 CHIC in China is mainly Investment promotion exhibition

Back to our CHIC, of course, it is also for the purpose of sales, but its positioning is basically a investment attraction. Because there is basically no independent retailer in China, and the commercial sales mode of clothing products is single, which is basically the brand counter sales in department stores. On the other hand, China has a vast territory and a vast territory. To establish a nationwide sales network, we must make full use of the power of local franchisees, especially in the early stage of brand development. The success of a brand has a lot to do with whether it can attract a group of good franchisees. Therefore, a large-scale investment exhibition is really necessary, which is very important for both brand owners and franchisees. Therefore, the largest number of professional visitors on CHIC are local brand franchisees. Brands (exhibitors) will show their products, styles, strength and image here, and franchisees (visitors) from all over the country will also come here to find new brands worthy of investment.

Due to the nature of this investment promotion exhibition, the main business of such an exhibition is the business between strangers. One side should show its strength (especially its corporate image strength), while the other side should also evaluate whether the enterprise is reliable and worth investing its own funds. Under such a positioning, the product itself becomes secondary, and the enterprise or brand image becomes the first element. So we can see that in CHIC, all exhibitors should strive to expand the area, luxury decoration, and improve their strength and image by all means. It is also due to the positioning of this investment attraction exhibition that CHIC is enough once a year, and the exhibitors change a lot each time, because when a brand has enough franchisees, it is unnecessary to come again, unless it wants to launch a new brand, or the existing franchisees are of poor quality, which requires "replacement". The positioning of clothing expositions held by various provinces in China is basically the same.

　　 Results of different positioning

As mentioned above, the difference between China's CHIC and major international clothing exhibitions is clear. To make a more vivid and interesting analogy, foreign exhibitions are like regular appointments between old lovers. They are warm, rational, low-key and innovative (they need to bring out new things); CHIC is a blind date meeting for young people. It is passionate, publicity and high profile. Everyone should open their beautiful feathers to attract the attention of the opposite sex. There is no sense of praise or criticism here, but their respective positioning is different, and the requirements of exhibitors and visitors are different.

The purpose of our analysis of this difference is to point out that our enterprises should also clearly understand this difference so as to participate in the exhibition in a targeted way.

For Chinese enterprises, in recent years, our brand enterprises began to want to go abroad. Naturally, it is also a way to participate in exhibitions abroad. However, because we don't understand this difference, we take it for granted that foreign sales exhibitions are also similar to China's CHIC, which also has "red flags and loud drums" at foreign exhibitions, but we don't show decent and seasonal products, and we don't have a long-term exhibition plan. If we go there once or twice, we will not go there if the sales results are not satisfactory. To go to an international exhibition, because it is a sales exhibition and the business of acquaintances, exhibitors must have a plan to participate in the exhibition for a period of time. Exhibitors must participate twice a year, and each time they must come up with a seasonal product portfolio. In this way, international retailers can think that this is a reliable enterprise, and gradually establish mutual trust relationships with acquaintances, so that sales can be gradually established, It is unrealistic to go there once or twice and try to achieve something.

For foreign exhibitors in China, they are also accustomed to international sales exhibitions. They bring their autumn and winter products (because CHIC is always in March), and hope to reach some Chinese retailers. Therefore, their booths are not large, and they do not spend much time on decoration, but the display of products is very careful. And they are often disappointed. People who want to be their dealers come here, but can't see the ordering people. Then they won't come next time, so the organizers will always go abroad to attract investment. The author will explain the difference of this positioning to them every time, so that foreign enterprises can understand the reasons for their disappointment and complaint. However, there have also been favorable changes in recent years. In recent years, there have been a lot of Chinese brand merchants in foreign exhibition areas. They come to see clothes, order some styles that they like, and then place orders for OEM production, which also makes it worthwhile for these foreign exhibitors to come back. This situation mostly occurs in fur brands, or in Chinese Hong Kong and Korean enterprises.

Therefore, the difference between China CHIC and the international clothing exposition is mainly in the positioning. One is the investment attraction exhibition, which is mainly for franchisees; The other is the sales exhibition, which is mainly aimed at retailers. There is no difference between good and bad, but the characteristics of the clothing sales system they face are different. We just need to understand that exhibitors should take different approaches at different exhibitions.