Week 4: Is it Normal to Take a Black Station Wagon with Tinted Windows to the Canton Fair?
An Accountant’s’ journey to navigate the landmine ‘Field of Everything’ but Accounting.
I am writing “52 Cups of Espresso” weekly update on a Startup Journey for a #workleisure lifestyle brand. Documentation of lessons learned and advice along the way. See where the journey began here. Read on and join the conversation.
Worn out and missing regular coffee shops (specifically for wifi), I’m sitting in a hotel dining area in Guangzhou, China writing this while surrounded by constant chatter in multiple Chinese dialects, the clinking of dinnerware and by no choice of mine, blanketed by cigarette smoke thanks to the diners around me.
You never realize how much you use Google (drive, email, maps), Facebook (whatsapp, Instagram), Youtube and related products until you are in China and everything is banned from usage. It’s never been more frustrating trying to use my electronics. That said, there are things in China that are more advanced than anything I’ve ever seen in the West. If you’ve never heard of the WeChat app, you need to start paying attention. Everybody in China uses WeChat, or what translates to at least 20% of the world population uses this app. I didn’t quite understand truly why it was so popular until I was physically here. In China, it is used as a chat app, network app, e-commerce app, community building app, money transfer and e-payment method all in one. It’s actually quite amazing, leave your house with only a phone with the WeChat app and you are all set, you can even buy from little street side shacks using WeChat QR Code.
Now on to the continuation of last week’s post about crossing the border of Hong Kong and China. Last week I rode in a station wagon with complete strangers from the airport. American Airlines accidentally cancelled my local Dragon Air flight from Hong Kong to Guangzhou and with no other flight in sight, I decided to take the flight attendant’s advice and take a bus to Guangzhou.
Basically, when I arrived at the bus ticket area, there were different vendors, each yelling out, bidding to be chosen as the vendor I eventually purchase my ticket from. Once I picked a bus vendor and bought the ticket, I was told to rush towards a black station wagon with tinted windows right across the way. I got in the car, and they drove for an hour across the HK/China border surrounded by tons of security and two levels of immigration check points. It felt a bit like being smuggled across the border, but the strangers in the station wagon swore that this is completely normal. Once we got passed the ‘smuggle’ area, we consolidated in a giant bus pool, where I needed to find the bus for my final destination, Guangzhou for the Canton Fair. Tip: Make sure you get there on time so they don’t leave without you!
I have to admit, I was initially very hesitant about AirBnb in mainland China, I had spoken with various people before my trip to China regarding what they thought of AirBnb, being that the concept is relatively new and unfamiliar to many locals, hence they were very wary of this. Anyhow, I thought I’d brave it out and give it a try.
After being dropped off at the bus stop and a taxi ride later, I was taking in the unfamiliar surroundings as I waited for Lin, from JiSu (booked via AirBnB) to come pick me up, as there are many areas in neighborhoods where taxis can’t drive through. It was very nice of Lin to come pick me up and help me with my oversized luggage. Unlike the AirBnb in the US, here you generally share an apartment with complete strangers.
I ended up sharing the AirBnb with two guys from Lithuania who specialize in online selling through Amazon who also happened to be attending the Canton Fair. Lin and the Lithuanians turned out to be my favorite people and were all entrepreneurs through their own path.
- Lin, is a real estate finance professional turned community builder, via community events and rentals such as AirBnb. His unique concept on business is taking Airbnb and offering community services better than what local hotels can offer.
- Paul, anti-corporate amazon fulfillment guru specializes in performance sports apparel and gear (Owner and CEO of Sparthos). He has an obsession with electronics and weird Chinese snacks. Loves following American Politics; he equates to American Politics akin a TV drama like the Kardashians. SMH.
- Tomas, an ex real estate flipper and ex-corporate regional sales manager turned Berlin loving hipster working on building his amazon fulfillment business (Owner and CEO of Astimex). He has couch surfed the world, and finds different cultures fascinating. Like Paul, American Politics is one of his favorite topics.
Being around this group of people was not only enjoyable but really inspired me that I need to be more and do more with my business. I quite enjoyed my experience of AirBnB in China, in fact more so than the local hotels that I experience later in week 5.
Since I am in product retail, attending the Canton Fair seemed to be a no brainer. I stayed for the entire Session 3 which included apparel and accessories and lasted about 5 days. There were rows upon rows of vendors, on multiple levels and in different areas. After going through all the sections I was interested in, my review of it, is that it’s mediocre.
I do think it depends on what you are looking for; Canton Fair is meant for large volume trades, hence, the suppliers generally do not provide high end, high quality niche products which is what I went looking for. This fair better serves commodity products. However, I did enjoy the experience in itself, the sheer massiveness as well as the atmosphere at the fair.
After spending a great deal of time there, I only managed to find a couple of manufacturers who met my expectations. Most manufacturers snubbed me after finding out I required high quality products, which in itself indicated to them, that I am looking for low volume, minimum order quantity which falls outside of their quality manufacturing capability.
I left the fair very disappointed and couldn’t help but think to myself, “this is NOT going as planned!” since I originally wanted to find manufacturers while at the trade show, so I could later visit them while I was still in China.
Disappointed by the trade show visit, my journey in Guangzhou continues. After the show I knew I needed to come up with a new plan for the rest of my trip, which is currently what i’m working on and will write about in next week’s, Week 5 post.
In the meantime, here are some photos of the week and a short clip of local tunes from Guangzhou.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
Check out the #52WeekStartup company’s current state e-commerce presence, and track the progress over time:
Landing Page | Instagram | Facebook
Let’s continue this conversation.
If you enjoy reading about the #52WeekStartup journey, please “Like” and “Share” this week’s article. Any questions or topics you’d like for me discuss further, please leave in the comments below.
Lisa Hu / Share this using #52weekstartup
