I. The situation and resistance of offline exhibitions in the epidemic environment.

The sudden epidemic in 2020 caught both sides, who were used to developing international trade buyers and suppliers through offline exhibitions, off-guard at once. China's largest exhibition, the China Import and Export Fair (Canton Fair), was forced to call a halt to offline because of the need for epidemic control, and the 127th to 129th sessions of Canton Fair will be the 3 sessions of online Canton Fair that foreign trade people are impressed with.

Finally, in the 130th Canton Fair just held, the organizers re-opened the offline mode, but because foreign buyers need to enter China for quarantine, as well as the current high airline costs, not many foreign buyers come to China to participate in the Canton Fair. This also makes buyers and suppliers start to think, if the complete control of the epidemic in the world is a protracted war, then the traditional offline communication method, is there a need for a new model to optimize? With the development of the Internet, online trade exchange will become the development trend in the special environment.

II. The main online ways to find suppliers.

Many foreign importers are not too familiar with China's existing online supply chain display, so here's a look at a few ways to find supply online that foreign buyers can focus on under epidemic conditions.

1.Find suppliers and products through search engine

For foreign buyers, more than 60% of the world's buyers will use search engines to find suppliers. The most commonly used search engine is GOOGLE search engine.

For example, if you want to search for suppliers of Led Panel Light, you can directly search for "Led Panel Light Sourcing from China" "Sourcing from ChinaXXX" specific search methods. There are a variety of search methods according to different products and here not to expand. From the search results, we can see that the first few positions are advertising positions, that is, through the bidding ranking can be displayed, followed by the natural ranking after the advertising page, you can find some relevant product information.

As Google's search results have a huge number of search results, it would be a very inefficient thing for a new buyer to filter the information. Thus, for those who want to have an understanding of the market, you can use Google search to have an overview of the industry information, but you need to see the following content if you want to have a more efficient way to get suppliers.

2.Find products on manufacturers and suppliers’ website

In the age of developed information technology and the internet, many Chinese suppliers have their own independent websites and have the company's product descriptions on their websites. If there is already an interested manufacturer, you can directly visit the website of that manufacturer and supplier and get the relevant contact information on the website. For the electronic product category, the manufacturer will introduce the company's product line and show representative products. Not all products will be shown on the website, but the buyer can ask the supp

lier for the catalog of the detailed category to get more product information during the communication.

Of course, the information of many exhibitors’ at large exhibitions in China can also be obtained through some channels, which is also very valuable for buyers who do not have target suppliers yet. Interested buyers and friends can leave a message to inquire about the information.

3.B2B, website, etc.

The more well-known B2B sites are Alibaba, Made in China, EC21, etc. Before the supplier is admitted to these platforms, the platform will review the basic qualifications of the supplier, and later the buyer needs to further communicate with the platform store to further understand the supplier's product structure, production capacity and the relevant certificates. The following are the 2 major B2B websites in China: Alibaba and Made in China.

(1) Alibaba. (Official website address: https://www.alibaba.com/)

Alibaba international platform can be said to be the leading sourcing and wholesale platform in China and the world, providing a range of services for raw materials, production and processing. The platform is characterized by a comprehensive product category, including a full product supply chain of electrical and electronic equipment, machinery and chemicals, electronic products and so on.

As you can see from the above screenshot of the website home page, the search bar at the top can be entered to search for related products, and the following tips in the search process are worth noting for purchasers.

The more subdivided the search term, the more accurate the search results. For example, if you need to find a supplier of LED flat panel lights, if you simply enter LED lights, the search results will be many, but not the flat panel lights you are looking for, you can enter LED flat panel lights, then the search results will be within this range. If you want the search result to be more accurate, you can also enter the color, power, size and other information. Of course, with the continuous refinement of the search range, the search results will be less and less.

Communicate with suppliers online in a timely manner. As shown in the figure below, the platform has online chat tools. If buyers in the selection of target suppliers, want to have a more in-depth understanding, you can communicate directly online. After the communication of both sides have the intention to cooperate, you can further send catalogs, etc., for product selection and specific cooperation matters exchange.

(2) Made in China. (Official website address: http://www.made-in-china.com/)

Made in China has more advantages in industrial products. Specific use notes see can refer to the content of the previous Alibaba talk. Compared with Alibaba platform, Made in China has relatively less advertising investment abroad, so the popularity rate for foreign buyers is not as high as Alibaba, and there is much to strengthen in terms of optimizing the consumer experience.

4.Find products by consumer reviews and recommended sites

Regarding consumer reviews, we can get this information from many sources. The post-trade reviews of order customers mentioned in the third point earlier is one of them.

With the development of social media, there are many individuals or review accounts that will recommend and review the products they buy or the mainstream brands in the market. You can pay attention to the content of these accounts on mainstream social media platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Some big brands' social media accounts often have messages from Chinese suppliers in the comment section, so you can filter the supplier information in these messages and get the target supplier information.

5.On-line supplier reliability judgment

(1)Check the content of the supplier's independent station.

Mature foreign trade suppliers will establish their own independent website, used to show buyers their product lines and professional degree. For example, the following figure is the independent website of HOMEBEST brand (https://www.hbsocket.com/) web page product line distribution introduction. Through this introduction, buyers can clearly see that the HOMEBEST brand focuses on wall switches, wall plates and LED lights.

Many independent sites will have Blog options on them, and we can also read these Blog contents to understand industry-related information and judge the professionalism of suppliers. These contents are closely related to the basic knowledge of the industry, new policies of the industry, and the dynamics of new brand products. Pay attention to this information, because not only for trade cooperation is helpful, for new buyers to enter the industry, but also a convenient way to obtain information.

(2) Check the supplier's information on LinkedIn, Facebook, Ins and other social media platforms.

In order to better communicate and interact with buyers, Chinese suppliers have become more and more international. Some companies have opened accounts in FACEBOOK, LINKEDIN, INS and other social media platforms. The relevant marketing staff will also have their own social media. Compared to independent websites, the content on social media is more flexible and real-time. Buyers can get a better understanding of the actual situation of their target suppliers on these social media platforms.

The LinkedIn company page will also show the employees under the company, and you can find the corresponding job contact to get further contact to learn about the products of interest.

These are the 5 noteworthy ways for buyers to find suppliers online. With the global epidemic difficult to fully control in a short time, trying online communication will be the trend in the next period of time.