Néih hóu Hong Kong
Having just returned from my annual pilgrimage to China for the world's largest gift show, I have been asked to provide information about my trip and explain some of the new items we uncovered.
Day 1 – Take Off
Myself, Chris and Charlotte set off on 23rd April for an 8-night trip to visit 2 of the world's largest gift fairs in Hong Kong and Guangzhou.
We flew from Manchester via Dubai to Hong Kong on Emirates. Flying Business Class on the A380 (the double-decker!) is an experience in itself especially with 600 passengers and luggage – How does it actually fly?
I’ve been fortunate to visit Hong Kong over 30 times in the past two decades and the place never fails to impress. I don’t think there is a safer city in the world, it is awash with colour, smells and fantastic people. It's also a city of complete opposites from amazing Multi-Billion Dollar skyscrapers with spectacular views of the iconic skyline, to the hustle and bustle of the tourist trap that is Mongkok market - with its fake watch and handbag sellers.
It makes for a fantastic city and one I urge everyone to visit at least once.
We arrived in Hong Kong at 3 pm and after a quick wash and brush up we headed out to our favourite pastime in Hong Kong – a trip to Happy Valley Racecourse.
Every Wednesday there's a 10-race card, under floodlights in the middle of the city. The Hong Kong Jockey Club is surrounded by skyscrapers making it a surreal place to watch live horse racing.
Day 2 – Guangzhou
We headed out of Hong Kong and into China to Guangzhou for the Canton Fair – the largest gift fair in the world. Because we had problems with our travel visas in the UK, we had to apply while in Hong Kong, which took 4 hours as opposed to the 3 weeks wait we had endured in the UK.
Guangzhou is only 2 hours away on the train, but the trains run like clockwork and are spotless. If you haven't got a ticket for a seat, you don’t get on the train – meaning all trains have people seated and aren’t overcrowded – a nice change!
Day 3 – Canton Fair
This place is simply vast – we counted 25 halls, each the size of 3 football pitches! The transportation from all local hotels was well organised – taxis & shuttle buses ferry people from all nationalities to the show every half hour. We arrived on day 3, so it was quiet - but the registration and badge collection points were as large as experienced at major sporting events – and gave us an appreciation of how busy it must have been on day 1!
We managed to walk and cover 3 halls all dedicated to the gift industry, lots of interesting items, new suppliers and some extremely whacky products. But even the stands with the most bizarre items are obviously selling them to somebody, the range of products on show was mind-blowing.
Day 4 - Day at Leisure
We headed back to Hong Kong on the Bullet train, this time knocking the travel time down to 1 hour – and probably the most comfortable business seat ever experienced on a train – only $54!
Saturday night we met up with our agent Max and his wife Vinny, for drinks at the Rosewood Hotel. Sitting out in a beer garden 55 storeys up is a weird sensation but amazing views. We then headed to AQUA our favourite restaurant in Hong Kong, where we met up with our UK Badge supplier Roy and his colleagues Hayley and Yvonne. Great food, great company and amazing views of the iconic skyline.
Day 5 / 6 - Hong Kong Gift Fair
With sore heads, we rose early to head out to the Hong Kong Gift Fair. The world's largest exhibition solely for the gift industry. The show is held at the Hong Kong Exhibition Centre in Wanchai, in 7 halls on 5 levels, and has everything from pens to powerbanks, keyrings to umbrellas and mugs to cuddly toys. There are also a lot of stands that aren’t simply our market so we just meander past with a polite “no thanks” but you have to walk the whole show to find that one product! We have always arrived home with new ideas and products that we have added to our range and this year was no different.
Our main takeaways from the 3 days at the shows were: -
Lots of drinkware – variations on what's been popular before e.g. Multiple “Stanley” Mug -copies! Ideal to complement our 360-bottle printing.
“Starbucks” style Coffee Tumbler that can be printed 360 degrees with mix-and-match lids (coming soon to LSi)
New pens with recycled aluminium barrels, bamboo fittings and recycled plastic refills.
Smartwatch with all the features of an Apple iWatch with an RRP of only £50!
Notebooks NFC technology –a chip that can be programmed with a website or app details - clients can use their phones to connect to your company.
A new range of budget plastic pens to rival the “Curvy Ballpen” will be exclusive to LSi in the UK - coming soon.
Plus, we have many more ideas in the pipeline.
Day 7 – The long trip home to the UK
Lots of new suppliers made contact with mountains of catalogues and samples to wade through, but more importantly, new relationships were made and existing business relationships cemented.
Watch this space for more new products arriving soon.
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