Fruitful days for the pet industry in China, the 22nd to 25th August have been days of great performance which have proven important achievements and brought a variety of new ideas to Pet Fair Asia 2013 in Shanghai, China.

What made Pet Fair Asia a different story from any other show was once again the energy and positive spirit pouring out from the halls of the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition & Convention Centre, a high-standard infrastructure occupied by 602 international and domestic exhibitors for a total gross exhibition space of 37,000 square meters this year (+48% compared with 2012). Many big and leading companies exhibited at the show such as Royal Canin, Mars, Eukanuba, Bayer, Flexi, Patio, Doggyman, Hunter and etc. as well as pavilions organizers such as Consulate General of Argentina in shanghai, Abin Pet (Brazil) & Taiwan.

And meanwhile, 15,173 professional visitors walked the show ground in August 2013 (+9.2% compared to 2012). A remarkable increase of 12.3% was recorded among the domestic visitors apart from East China ones, whilst east China visitors’ attendance also grew not only in quantity but also in quality. The amount of consumers (pet owners) increased to 40,000 comparing with 36,000 last year.

The show positions in its developing China market

As officially announced by Euromonitor International during the International Pet Industry Summit (IPIS 2013), held one day before the show opening, the pet care sales volumes certified in China in the past months of 2013 were alone 1.4 billion US$, increased by 9.2% comparing with 2012. Nevertheless, as presented by the representative from T-mall, the leading e-commerce provider, “The China pet industry is in the process of making the market bigger instead of dividing up.“ - The Chinese market is developing fast but still facing important changes.

The trends is evidenced by the fact that almost more than 70% of the booths at Pet Fair Asia 2013 were decorated in a fantastic way, the importance of brand equity is more highly aware of by the exhibitors than before. Pet Fair Asia 2013 has once again been the place where to meet the China opportunities.

"InnovAction Campaign” – new product complex impressed the trade visitors

Professional visitors this year were positively impressed by the interesting new products exhibited at the 15th edition of show, platform of a not yet mature but more and more exciting pet industry. The show itself, attentive towards its visitors’ needs, and launched an original marketing campaign focused precisely on the new pet products on the market. “InnovAction Compaign” by Pet Fair Asia, won the praise of the many journalists who visited the show as well as the attention from visitors who were helped in finding the newest products throughout the ground by means of floor maps, free show guides and booth signs highlighting the InnovAction participating companies. The industry has proven higher quality and innovative products, backed by tangible technological researches at Pet Fair Asia 2013.

The visitors’ quality enhanced by a serious of new programs

Fueled by a rich onsite events program, the hosted buyer program & online pre-appointment system in which the organizer will keep on investing for the next edition, a wider base of visitors’ profiles could be met at this 16th edition. Pet Fair Asia 2013 visitors were 87% Chinese and 13% overseas from 43 different countries, top five visiting countries being South Korea, Japan, Australia, Malaysia, and USA.

A new specific program, International Pet Industry Summit 2013 – dedicated to the pet industry middleman, with 200 industry elites to participate, attracted this year a good number of Chinese distributors or retailers to the venue. In order to meet the market trends and help the industry developments, keynotes speeches sharing e-commerce booming in the Chinese pet industry were included in this summit, which is highly appreciated by the attendees.

The 2nd edition of Petfood Forum China (hosted by WATT publishing house) was held concurrent with Pet Fair Asia again. This full day of intensive learning and networking is specifically designed to address the needs of pet food and pet treat manufacturers located in China. It not only provides Chinese pet food manufacturers meet industry professionals and received expert advices and updates about the latest trends, but also bring a new pavilion for Pet Fair Asia focusing pet food ingredients, processing machinery & packaging technology.

And meanwhile, the upgraded visitor admission system made some adjustments to the visitors flow and guaranteed a smoother visitors’ access, to make it always very busy at Pet Fair Asia.

As David Zhong, President of VNU Exhibitions Asia, mentioned, “Exhibitors and visitors found in the show organizers strong supporters to their business and are happily satisfied with the results from their show attendance. Smiles are certainly not a scientific way to quantify the success of a show, but to see many happy faces among professional people is a first positive indicator of attendees’ satisfaction”.

Still much can be done for the improvement of the show, but opportunities and good prospects are rich and real. When talking about China, there is much more to explore and profit from than to worry about.

The organizers welcome the world to the next year edition of the show on August 21-24, 2014 at Shanghai World Expo Exhibition & Convention Centre!