It’s 9 PM. The lights in the Wan Chai Convention Centre are dimming one by one, and I’m standing in our booth (1D-B44), looking at the walls.

There are our soft, plush Christmas pillows, the glowing felt-and-wood houses, and rows of Halloween pumpkins and wreaths. We poured our hearts into developing these new samples.

I reached into my pocket. Zero business cards.

Yeah, you read that right. Out of a 3-day run at the Hong Kong Mega Show (Oct 21–23), we didn't get a single formal business card. We only managed to add 2 or 3 people on WeChat, and ironically, none of them were specialized seasonal gift buyers.

I won't lie to you: the result is deeply disappointing and frustrating.

If you are a European or American importer or a supermarket buyer, I want to talk to you directly tonight—not just to vent, but to give you an honest look at the reality of a Chinese export business, why we were here, and why we failed to connect.

Why Were We Even Here?

If we had the choice, who wouldn’t want to be at the Canton Fair? But the cost of booths at Canton Fair is incredibly high, and the conditions for exhibitors are getting stricter every year. This forces small and medium-sized enterprises like us to look for alternative exhibitions.

Last year, we attended the Jinhan Fair. In 5 days, we got 30 cards and closed 2 clients. It wasn't much, but it kept the lights on. This year, we couldn't get a booth at Jinhan, so we decided to test the waters at the Hong Kong Mega Show.

The decision was backed by a friend in the industry. He attended the same Mega Show last year: less than 10 cards in 4 days, but he closed 2-3 clients. The ROI was decent—enough to cover his costs.

So, we developed new products: fluffy Christmas pillows, intricate glowing felt/wooden houses, and a whole new line of Halloween decorations and wreaths (you can see them in the photos I attached). We were full of expectations, thinking we’d finally meet buyers who understood our designs.

Instead, reality hit us with a heavy punch.

The Autopsy: 6 Reasons Why We Got Zero Cards

If you are in the retail or import business, you might see the industry's current pain points reflected in our experience:

1. Dwindling Foot Traffic & Influence
The macro environment is shifting. Big buyers aren't flying in as much; they’re doing online sourcing or flying directly to factories. The exhibition halls were filled with people walking past, but very few were stopping.

2. Totally Mismatched Buyer Profiles
Most attendees were from Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Traditional mainstream importers from Europe and the US were few and far between. Yet, our products are designed strictly to meet the aesthetic and quality standards of European and American supermarkets.

3. The "Promotional" vs. "Seasonal" Clash
The Mega Show’s main focus is promotional gifts—keychains, umbrellas, thermos cups, tote bags. We brought highly detailed, specialized seasonal home décor. Many buyers walked in, looked at our beautifully crafted felt houses, and immediately assumed the cost was "too high for a promotional giveaway."

4. The "Rent-a-Crowd" Phenomenon
We genuinely suspect some of the "buyers" were hired by the exhibition organizers just to make the halls look busy. They had zero purchasing power and no real procurement needs.

5. Unlucky Booth Location
We were tucked away in the back, far from the entrance and away from the main cross-aisles. With traffic already low, being in a dead zone was a death sentence.

6. The "Trading Company" Penalty
This one hurts the most. Our diverse product range made it obvious that we are a trading company, not a single-product factory. A few buyers walked in, liked a Halloween pumpkin, asked for the price, shook their heads, and bolted.

I totally get it. You traveled across the world to find factories and get the absolute bottom price.

A Message to EU/US Buyers: Are Trading Companies Really Useless?

Standing in my booth, watching those buyers shake their heads and walk away, I thought a lot about this.

Yes, you want factory-direct pricing. I completely understand. But what I want to say is: a truly excellent trading company is never just a "middleman making a markup."

Take our products for example. The original prototypes for those glowing felt houses came out of the factory looking rough. It was us—the trading company—who combined it with the European/American Christmas aesthetic. We modified the designs, adjusted the color temperature of the LED strings, tested the shedding rate of the felt, and went through dozens of rounds of sampling until it was a product that could actually catch a buyer's eye on a supermarket shelf.

If you want one-stop sourcing for both Halloween and Christmas décor, what happens without us? How many single-category factories would you have to manage? Who is going to handle the quality disputes, the shipping delays, and the specific box packaging requirements?

We brought a rich variety of samples to Hong Kong not to overcharge you. We are here to offer more flexible small-order customizations, strict quality control, and a one-stop supply chain integration—from Christmas pillows to Halloween figurines.

Walking away just because our quote is a few cents higher might have saved you some money today. But it might also leave you facing empty shelves or a massive defect rate during the peak holiday season.

Final Thoughts

This Hong Kong trip ended with a painful zero. We definitely lost money on this trip, but let's call it the cost of tuition. Disappointment aside, life goes on.

I know many people reading this are fellow Chinese exporters. We are all struggling, all looking for a way out. Trade shows are getting harder, but if we don't go to trade shows, where else are we supposed to meet you?

If you are an importer or a supermarket buyer looking at these photos, and you see that our glowing wooden houses, Christmas pillows, or Halloween wreaths are exactly what your shelves need this year...

Please reach out. Even if it’s just for a coffee outside the exhibition hall, I want to hear what a "good factory" and a "good supplier" actually looks like to you.

I didn't hand out any business cards this time. But my phone is always on.

Ningbo Multi Creative Import & Export Co., Ltd.

www.multi-creativity.com

Wechat: 15968439972

— A Chinese supplier who is still looking forward to the next Christmas season.