The Canton Fair, held twice a year in April and October in Guangzhou, China, is a mammoth gathering of suppliers and manufacturers – the largest of its kind worldwide. Imagine a stage where innovation and business evolution come alive.

Nestled in the Southeast of China, Guangzhou is merely a stone’s throw away from Hong Kong (1-hour bus ride), and a few hours’ flight from Beijing. 

Sourcing online can’t compare to the tactile, immersive experience the Canton Fair provides. Imagine you’re sourcing new decorative pillows for the home – you can walk into the booth and feel the materials. You can look at and touch them versus you going to an online source, trying to imagine what that looks like, and getting a sample sent and all the time that takes. What’s great about going directly to Canton is you have all these suppliers in one place. There are more than 60,000 booths. They’re all competing with each other so they bring their most innovative stuff to get people into their booths. You’re going to see stuff that you’ve never seen before that your brand can bring to market. It’s an incredible and exciting sight to see. You walk into there and you’re like, “It’s incredible. It’s awesome.” You quickly realize this is HUGE for your business and this will be the first of many times you come back to China.

If it’s your first time attending, we recommend you plan to be there every day of each phase you’d like to attend.

There is no better opportunity than to visit a factory already making your products or one you are considering for the future. You’ll want to first find out how far the factory is from Guangzhou and whether you’ll need to fly there or you can catch a train. Next, you’ll need to know if the factory will be at the Canton Fair so that you can arrange the visit before or after this time. Most people arrange factory tours immediately after the phase, toward the end of the week of the next phase when they’ve seen everything they are looking for.

You can register online for free at https://www.cantonfair.org.cn/en/index.aspx this will allow you to get an invitation to the fair so that you can get a visa. Do not use google chrome. Mozilla Firefox or Microsoft Edge browsers work much better. You’ll just need your passport and business information to register.

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Get to know more about the China Trip with these articles:

Your Ultimate Guide to Attending the Canton Fair in China

How to Get an Invitation Letter and Register for the Canton Fair 2023

Each country and state in the United States have different requirements for Visa registration. There are also many visa registration services to help you with this process. Simply google “business visa for china from ______” enter your country in the blank and you’ll see lots of online services to help you out. If you’ve already visited China, your visa may still be good for your next visit. Simply check the visa paper in your passport.

We are offering an opportunity for you to travel with a group to the fair without all the extra expenses of the other big China trips. When you sign up for our group trip, your hotels and transportation are covered AND we’ll work together in a private group before the trip so we can all coordinate travel and learn the best secrets of sourcing.

Then, you’ll choose your travel dates and book your flight and any additional nights beyond our travel dates in the awesome hotel we’ve arranged for the group.

In the weeks leading up to the trip, we’ll host weekly live sourcing strategy sessions to get everyone prepped for the trip.

Once in China, you can choose how much you want to participate in group activities. Either way you are covered. The benefit is we will all be in the same hotel, the same networking travel group, and we will get to experience Canton Fair together!