Some 100,000 buyers have flocked to Hong Kong’s major series of lifestyle, fashion and home products trade fairs in April, reflecting the strong demand from buyers to source products from some 6,000 exhibitors.
Buyers from over 130 countries and regions attended the four-day Gifts and Premium Fair, Fashion InStyle, Home InStyle, International Printing & Packaging Fair and Deluxe PrintPack Hong Kong which concluded on 30 April.
Non-local buyers came primarily from Mainland China, Taiwan and Malaysia, underscoring Hong Kong’s influence as an international trade platform.
Despite challenges in the global economic and trade environment, buyers and exhibitors were upbeat with a flurry of transactions taking place across the four days.
Michael Baumann, a German buyer at the Gifts & Premium Fair, said he had sourced souvenirs and giveaways from India, Vietnam, Bangladesh and Mainland China for his clients mostly based in Europe, and planned to place orders worth US$2.3-2.8 million for sports bags, recycled paper boxes and metal souvenirs.
For exhibitors, market diversification and finding new customers emerged as common responses to changes in trading conditions. Staff from Hong Kong backpack brand and longtime fair exhibitor Moral Holdings said the fairs had connected them with potential buyers from Japan, Singapore and Taiwan, and new buyers from the outside the gift industry, such as the fashion and houseware sectors.
Sustainability in product manufacturing and sourcing continued to be a strong theme across the fairs with many exhibitors displaying their environment-friendly credentials through dedicated labelling.
Faux leather made from mushrooms turned the head of Malaysian buyer Richard Tsen. He connected the exhibitor - Indonesian company MYCL - with the Malaysian Furniture Design Institute, saying the material “has the potential to make a significant impact and resonate within the Malaysian and wider Asian market.”
The Hong Kong International Licensing Show and the Asian Licencing Conference were held at the same time, providing seamless opportunities for collaboration on licensed merchandise, gifts and souvenirs featuring IP assets.
Some 20 industry leaders presented case studies on successful licensing projects and discussed topics such as strategies for creating IPs from Chinese culture, using popular IPs to advance social issues and other current industry trends.
Optimism amid challenges
A survey of over 1,500 exhibitors and buyers at the Gifts & Premium Fair, Home InStyle, and Fashion InStyle revealed that nearly half of attendees (49%) expected an increase in sales over the next 1-2 years while 44.5% anticipated stable sales.
Respondents were most optimistic about sales prospects in mainland China (77.3%), India (74.2%), Taiwan (67.6%), South Korea (66.4%), and ASEAN countries (65.8%).
With recent market turmoil weighing on attendees’ minds, 45.7% cited growing protectionist measures as the main challenge ahead, followed by global economic fluctuations (43.3%), and inflation (32.0%).
