5th HK International Lighting Fair (Spring Edition) ends; buyers increased by 18 percent

HONG KONG: The Hong Kong International Lighting Fair (Spring Edition), organised by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC), drew to a successful close today. The four-day exhibition (6-9 April) welcomed close to 18,000 buyers, up 18 percent from the previous year.

Over 1,000 exhibitors from 12 countries and regions and close to 18,000 buyers from 109 countries and regions attended this year’s Spring Lighting Fair. Most of the buyers came from the Chinese mainland, Russia, India, the US and Taiwan. Buyer attendance from mature and emerging markets both saw an increase of 10 percent over the previous year. Attendance from France, Germany, UK, and Brazil, India, Thailand and Russia recording double-digit growth. This reflected an optimistic buying sentiment from global buyers.

A number of well-known brands and chains also sent representatives to the Lighting Fair, including LED Lighting Tecnologia em Iluminacao Ltda from Brazil, LinYi TianMa Light Co Ltd from the Chinese mainland, Wipro from India, Orbit Lighting from New Zealand, Daste from Poland, Megalux and PROlight from Russia, Ull Lighting Industrial Corp from Taiwan, Lighting & Equipment Public Co, Ltd from Thailand, Adım Aydınlatma from Turkey and Gargash Lighting System LLC from the United Arab Emirates etc.

Apart from more overseas buyers, local buyers also increased by over 30 percent. Many local lighting retailers, property developers, estate management companies, government departments and public organisations, hotels, etc. sent representatives to the fair as well.

Ideal platform for expanding customer base and promoting new products
French lighting supplier IPW EUROPE has been engaging in the R&D and manufacturing of LED lighting systems since 2008. Its director, Daniel Wang, said their products are eco-friendly, energy-saving, waterproof and durable, and are designed for use in a wide variety of indoor and outdoor environment.

“Our company has been attending the Spring Lighting Fair since 2009. As we launch our home lighting series this year, we take the fair as a prime opportunity for us to reach out to more buyers”, Wang said. “We met a good deal of buyers from Europe, South America and Southeast Asia at the fair; and a few buyers from France, Germany and Thailand have expressed keen interest in our products. We are now discussing the details of our cooperation.”

Hong Kong’s MEGAMAN, a regular of the Lighting Fair (Autumn Edition), is attending the Spring Lighting Fair for the first time. Its senior marketing manager, Matthew Chu, indicated that its products are already sold in a number of countries.

“We noticed how this fair is attracting more and more overseas buyers, so we decided to attend this year. We do so in hopes of expanding our customer base, as well as capturing more promotion opportunities for our products as the market trends towards shorter product cycles. We have met many quality buyers in just a few days’ time, from Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, Middle East, Russia, and Sweden, etc. We are confident that attending the fair would translate into new orders.”

Good buying atmosphere as LED products took centre stage  
HKTDC organised a number of buyer forums alongside the fair to share information on the latest developments in different markets. At one of the forums, buyers from India, Singapore and Thailand all agreed that LED is going to drive the market. Yet marketers should also be mindful of the conditions presented by different markets.

Indian buyer Ramesh N. Chandra, deputy CEO of CEMA Electronic Lighting, noted how India’s consumer markets are more dispersed, making it more time-consuming to position LED products and set prices. Singapore’s Loh Kah Phang, director of VTX Solutions, highlighted Singapore consumers’ preference for energy-saving and stylishly designed products.

As for Thailand, Warut Jaengsadaeng, senior product engineer of Lighting & Equipment Public Co. Ltd, remarked how Thai buyers generally prefer working with distributors that could provide certificates of origin and certified products.

The overall buying atmosphere at the Spring Lighting Fair was good. Joe Chua, MD of Lightcraft Private Limited, Singapore, said they have placed over $200,000 worth of orders by the second day of the fair, which included LED decorative lamps and ceiling lights, wifi lighting controller, etc. He considered the fair to be a good place to find new products and learn about the latest market trends.

A Small-Order Zone was also set up at the fair. The Zone was very popular with buyers, attracting around 6,000 visits from buyers during the four-day fair period, generating over 12,000 business enquiries.

Seminars explored inspiration behind lighting design  
A number of seminars were also organised during the Spring Lighting Fair to facilitate exchange among industry professionals. “New Definition of Metropolitan Lighting” held yesterday (8 April) explored the inspiration behind lighting design, prompting industry professionals to use innovative designs to make their products stand out to consumers.

C.P. Poon, director of Acelab Technology, spoke about LED lighting in retail design. He said retailers are most concerned with the shop design’s distinctiveness, attraction and cost in order to present the best shopping experience to customers.

“As LED lighting technologies rapidly develop, LED is becoming an important solution to contemporary shop design.” He explained how LED lamps’ many advantages make them particularly useful for shop designs, “The high brightness and focused beams are great at minimising light waste; they consume only a small amount of power, are quick to start-up, and can be adjusted for brightness and colours. They last longer than incandescent light bulbs too.”

Poon cautioned about the initial costs and fluctuating quality of LED lamps. He suggested industry professionals to carefully examine the quality of LED lamps they use.

Danny Ng, principal of 4N Architects, also touted LED’s impact to lighting design on buildings, and how LED is able to create the moods for shops or restaurants. He cited an interior design project his company handled, explaining how adding bright yellow lights in a restaurant could help bring out the festive atmosphere of the Chinese people.