I was in YiWu last week. Going to the markets reminded me of the first time I went there YiWu is famous for its huge markets, where you can find all kinds of “small commodities”. I compare it to walking into a B2B website, packed with booths and stuff everywhere! A friend of mine once said that YiWu is like a “daily Canton fair”, so for those of you who have been in the Canton Fair, you know what I’m talking about

With its markets that cover more than 2 million square meters, its more than 300 thousand different kinds of products (registered), and more than 50,000 booths, make YiWu a shopper’s dream. Oh yeah, every day over 1000 containers leave YiWu another great fact of YiWu, apparently 80% of the world’s Christmas decorations come from YiWu.

To get to YiWu in Zhejiang province, you can take a domestic flight from any of the major cities in China, or take a train or a bus. It takes about 3 hours by train from Shanghai.

The best way to shop here, is taking a digital camera with you, a notebook and a translator. Once you find what you are looking for, you should enter the booth, take a picture of the product, write the price the booth number, and move on to the next booth I guarantee doing this will take you longer than you think. The markets have business hours of 9-5 usually, so once you are back in your hotel, review your notes, select the best options, and get ready to visit those booths the next day.

What attracts most foreign buyers to YiWu are it’s low prices however the quality is not the best you can find in China, YiWu’s products are perfect for “1 dollar shops”. The other great advantage of YiWu, is that you can fill a container with as many different products as you want you can buy 20 different products and ship them all together!! Most of the booths in the markets are not representatives of factories, and to be honest if you are not going to buy hundreds of thousands pieces of the same product, I don’t see this as a big problem if you wanted to consolidate a container with more than 20 suppliers say for example in Guangdong, it would take you a lot of time and energy

YiWu has a commercial fair too. It is held around the same dates as the Canton Fair; of course many suppliers from YiWu exhibit their products at the Canton Fair, which attracts way more foreign buyers. (Click here to get more information on YiWu’s fair.)

I recommend you visit YiWu if you have the chance. It will expand your business vision and options

For more information, hotels reservations, transport, etc just send us an email to info@dragon-exports.com We’ll be happy to help.

See you later!!

Sergio