April 19, 2023
Hong Kong International Lighting Fair Attracts Crowds of Buyers
Author: Al Uszynski
Big orders, thousands of attendees and lots of selling
Last week, I had the opportunity to attend the Hong Kong International Lighting Fair, a lively event that, together with two other significant co-located events, attracted over 66,000 attendees from 160 countries and regions, as well as nearly 3,000 exhibitors. The fair was organized in collaboration between the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC). Sharing the venue with the Lighting Fair were the Hong Kong Electronics Fair and the debut InnoEx event, which focused on smart cities and digital business, collectively drawing the impressive number of participants.
Among the three co-located events, the Electronics Fair stood out as the largest draw, boasting the most extensive list of vendors. Comparable to a smaller, less-grandiose version of the US-based Consumer Electronics Show, the electronics fair catered specifically to electronics sourcing professionals.
Stronger Emphasis on Selling, not Marketing
Contrary to most North American lighting trade shows and events I have attended, which typically cater to architectural lighting designers, distributors, and contractors with an emphasis on branding and marketing, this fair took a distinct approach. The audience at this fair consisted of OEMs and other sourcing professionals, arriving in Hong Kong with shopping lists and spending budgets in hand. To cater to this audience, exhibitors employed direct and assertive selling tactics, aiming to engage attendees more effectively and facilitate swift business transactions. This change in strategy fostered a results-oriented atmosphere, distinguishing it from similar events I have previously experienced.
Sophia Chong, HKTDC Deputy Executive Director, mentioned to me that the fair taps into two main buying seasons, April and October. The Lighting Fair helps exhibitors write orders and boost their businesses. Vivian Wu of Obals Lighting claimed to have received and written a $3 million order from an Australian customer during the event. In another instance, an exhibitor told me they wrote a $500,000 order on the first day of the show.
Above: Sports lighting maker, IShine Lighting, will be exhibiting at LightFair next month.
“Buyers”, not “Attendees”
Show organizers refer to attendees as buyers, because that is the occupation of the many sourcing professionals who arrive at the fair ready to make puchasing decisions.
Before I embark on any overseas trip, my beloved and well-intentioned sister warns me to be careful as even though I am not a wealthy American, I may appear as one to others. I am not sure if my appearance had any impact on my trade show experience, but as I walked through the show over two days, I was approached by numerous vendors who attempted to hand me their brochures or guide me to their booths to view specific lighting products.
I received unsolicited sales pitches from at least 50 vendors during my two days at the event. They were handing me brochures or holding up fixtures in front of me, sometimes blocking my stroll through the aisles. Even just standing by the water fountain to send an email or two from my phone, there was a steady stream of sellers approaching me.
In one instance, I stopped at a booth to explore their flexible track lighting. A neighboring booth's personnel approached me after I left, mentioning that I had spent some time talking about flexible track lighting with their competitor and suggesting that I should explore their product line as well.
A couple of my favorite products:
OML Technology: Magic Ring commercial downlight
OML has recently received notice that it earned a Red Dot design award for its Magic Ring downlight, which is not only flexible and modular, but also visually appealing.
The Magic Ring is a commercial downlight that provides high 90CRI and comes in 50mm, 75mm, and 100mm (2", 3", and 4") diameters. This versatile product family boasts a modular design, which offers numerous options for applications that require both precision and flexibility. It features four fixed lenses with beam angles of 15°, 24°, 36°, and 50°, and a zoom lens option, which allows occupants to adjust the beam angle from 15° to 50°.
The Magic Ring offers aesthetic and performance flexibility with various flavors of reflectors and cutoff rings, as well as round, square, mitred, and polarized options. Aiming the Magic Ring is simple with trims that allow for up to 50 degrees of adjustability.
Topstar Triac-Dimmer Compatible Smart LED Downlight
Now, changing downlights to smart LED downlights can be done without replacing the wall dimmer that controls them. Topstar has produced a smart LED downlight series, available in 4” and 6” diameters, that can be dimmed through voice-controlled apps or smart assistants, while also being compatible with a line voltage triac dimmer.
At the Topstar booth, we observed a Lutron Diva (DV-600P) dimmer connected to the Topstar downlight. Any Alexa, Google, or Matter-enabled app can control the color or the light level. However, for times when you simply want to dim the lights without talking to your digital assistant, the wall control offers the capability to control lights the old-fashioned way. This “double dimming” setup does not create the wonky flickering that would normally be caused by such a setup.
We envision that consumers and occupants will still want to utilize the smart app for everyday light level control since the light-level setting of the wall dimmer creates a high-end trim that would cap the 100% light level in the app to whatever setting the wall dimmer is at.
Some past participants still remain on the sidelines
When I asked Chong about the factors causing attendees and exhibitors to hesitate coming to the show, she cited several reasons. COVID lockdowns in the region were more recent and restrictive, which still had a spillover effect into 2023. Local government only recently lifted certain COVID restrictions for international travel and vaccinations on April 1. She also mentioned the worldwide economic impact of inflation and reduced buying power affecting attendance. Moreover, companies that had consistently attended in-person during the pandemic learned how to operate business remotely, continuing to do so for efficiency reasons.
One change the show has made is adding the EXHIBITION+ aspect of the lighting fair which carries on for another week. The Click2Match virtual event connects vendors with potential buyers in an effort to facilitate new relationships and strengthen existing ones.
Government organized, government-sponsored
The event was organized by Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the Hong Kong Trade Development Council with occasional reminders of the government's involvement throughout. This was done in the context of positively promoting business and commerce, and never felt like unwanted government intervention.
For instance, Hong Kong-based exhibitors reportedly received a 50% subsidy for their booth. A nine-square-meter booth space, the approximate metric equivalent to a 10-foot by 10-foot booth, cost around $7,700 USD, but a Hong Kong-based exhibitor would receive a 50% subsidy from the government. There were also incentives for buyers to attend the show, reinforcing the fair's focus on business transactions. The luncheon speaker playfully reminded visitors to spend money shopping and dining while visiting Hong Kong.
Despite today’s business and societal challenges, the Hong Kong International Lighting Fair successfully showcased the exhibitors’ latest in lighting products while providing a platform for attendees and buyers to engage in business transactions and foster global connections in the industry.
The Autumn Edition of the Hong Kong International Lighting Fair is scheduled for October 27-30, 2023.
