At the Canton Fair, the eye- catching household article booth of Fujian Deyi International Trade Group Co., Ltd. attracted lots of buyers by virtue of its European-style elegant layout and simple, low-profile yet luxurious product design. The company’s primary business is to export original light industrial products under six categories. All the household articles Deyi displayed at the Fair were originally designed by its professional design team, which also cooperates with renowned designers from France and Germany to develop new products and innovate & modify the external appearance of its products in order to keep up with the trend of the world fashion.
On April 23rd, the 2nd session of the 109th Canton Fair opened as scheduled, where such traditional labor-intensive products as gifts and toys were displayed. This year, the foreign trade environment has been worsening: rising business cost due to higher prices of bulk commodities and labor force, coupled with RMB appreciation, poses a new round of challenges to enterprises. But some enterprises were still founded to have more or less made headway in the path of “created in China”.
China’s exports have long come from the manufacturing sector and its reputation of being the “world’s factory” does not bring high returns. Then, once the cheap raw materials and the large working-age population no longer exist, where will China’s export go?
Innovative design is an important link for the shift from quantity expansion to quality upgrading. “Enhancing product design capability is pivotal for China-made products to nudge into the two high-end links of the global manufacturing—brand and marketing,” said Li Rongchan, assistant of the Minister of Commerce, at the unveiling ceremony of the Product Design & Trade Promotion Center (PDC) es-


tablished at the Fair.
In the past, the Canton Fair witnessed the rising of “made in China”, while “created in China” is taking off at today’s fair.
To win the market with design
Every year, Deyi’s designers attend the world’s largest consumer goods expo—Ambiente & Tendence Frankfurt, where the company’s designers and marketers communicate with clients or purchasers to get the upto-date design information and obtain feasible suggestions via communicating the design department’s design scenario to purchasers. At the same time, the company’s designers and marketers try to follow the latest trend (eg. design style and material selection) through communicating with their counterparts from the purchaser/client side, said Mr. Cui, Chief Designer of Deyi, when speaking of how the company’s design keeps abreast with the world fashion in a spot interview with Guangzhou TV Station.
Since the domestic higher education for design started late, Deyi’s designers mainly accepted overseas education and some even had worked abroad, Mr. Cui introduced. Lin Yanping, a designer of the company interviewed by the reporter, graduated from a domestic fine arts academy, but every year she is sent to Ambiente & Tendence Frankfurt to enhance professional expertise.
“Despite a higher price compared with the alike products, our products still sell well in the European and American market because of the rising R&D expenditure during these years for high product quality and favorable design,” said Mr. Liang, a business representative of Deyi.
“Proper market positioning is closely related with the product design philosophy and the enhancing of the company’s strength,” said Li Xue, Executive General Manager of Ariamotion (Dalian) Co., Ltd. As a leader in Northeast China’s colored handmade glassware, Ariamotion attracted purchasers’ attention on the strength of its fashionable, fresh and romantic design philosophy—“breathe the air of design” over the years. In the context of a declining European and American market due to the financial crisis, this year cheap products are still favored in the European market and purchasers become more demanding, Li added. At the fair, products with high-grade appearance, favorable design and low cost reaped many orders. According to Hao Wentai, General Manager of Qingdao T & T Houseware Co., Ltd., to narrow the gap with the European market, the company has invited European designers to take charge of product design, including building the brand philosophy—“quality, sustainable, slow-paced & natural life”. In order to cater to the European preference, the company added natural materials, which were still favored by purchasers despite their higher price.
I learned from the Jiangsu trade group at the Fair that the export-led enterprises in different fields pin their hope on design innovation for a competitive edge and higher product added value and have set a good example for the traditional enterprises to upgrade and sharpen their competitiveness. East City (Wuxi) Corporation, a manufacturer of lock products, displayed its “crystal diamond lock series” at the Fair. East City reportedly attaches great importance to product design and cooperates with 15 global designers for development of new products. With product portfolio, packaging and transportation fully in accordance with the supermarket’s commodity layout, the set of logistic solutions innovated by Wuxi Flagship Tools Industry Ltd. particularly for the European hypermarket greatly cuts the labor cost and is thus favored by purchasers. In the course of export transformation, many enterprises begin to locally manufacture China-created products, providing a new perspective for Chinese enterprises to go global. As a leader in manufacturing of industrial electric equipment, Sassin International Electric Shanghai Co., Ltd. set up a R&D center in Germany and a design headquarters in Italy, where all the designers and the R&D personnel are Europeans, in a move to design up-to-standard products suitable for the European market.
Enhancing product quality is the way out for enterprises, replied many participating enterprises at the Fair when asked how to deal with the rising cost. Given the fast-changing external environment, enterprises are confronted with the challenge of a rising cost due to higher price of materials and fluctuating exchange rate

and enhancing product quality is an inevitable choice for the enterprise, said Liang Mei, a business representative of Guangdong Haijilun Cultural Education Product Co., Ltd., a manufacturer specializing in preschool furniture. Owing to the lack of design talents and experience, imitation served as a shortcut for many enterprises to become stronger and to rapidly expand in the past. But this shortcut no longer adapts to the present market, as an enterprise without design and innovation capabilities will undoubtedly end in being eliminated after lowering price and product quality.
Overseas design fuels
transformation & upgrading of enterprises
“The past Canton Fair witnessed the rising of ‘made in China’, while today’s Canton Fair is witnessing ‘created in China’ taking off,” said Li Rongchan, assistant of the Minister of Commerce, at the PDC launching ceremony held at the 2nd-session Fair on April 23. The PDC set up for the first time highlighted the Fair and design agencies from such countries and regions as Hong Kong, Holland, Spain, France, Greece and Taiwan made spot displays on the marina along the Pearl River connecting with District A of the Fair. And the newly established PDC launched nearly ten activities including theme forums, sodality for brand enterprises and design service match making respectively in the three phases of the Fair in an effort to promote exchanges between enterprises and overseas designers.
“As traditional exports are weakened by increasingly severe constraints from resources and the environment, it is unlikely to continue to depend on low cost and scale effect for larger exports.
Therefore, it becomes more and more pressing to transform and upgrade foreign trade,” said Wang Runsheng, Vice Director of China Foreign Trade Center, at the ceremony celebrating the establishment of PDC on April 23rd. “The newly established center at the Fair has served as a platform for overseas professional institutions to cooperate with the participating enterprises at the Fair for product design & development and for the local enterprises to look for overseas support so that Chinese enterprises will earn more opportunities in the international market with novel products under the assistance of international designers.” In the changing global market, the world needs more diverse products from China and Chinese enterprises thus attach greater importance to product designs and hope to access and make full use of global design resource via faster channels, Wang added.
“China has become the world’s manufacturing center, but its enterprises mainly engage in such simple labor division as labor-intensive and low-profit OEM, while the profitable design and R&D together with terminal marketing are dominated by the developed countries in Europe and America. The participating enterprises at the Fair should shift from the low-cost strategy to a differentiation strategy for transformation and upgrading. However, the simplex product design of many enterprises cannot meet and even deviate from the diverse demand in the international market. More and more enterprises come to realize that on one hand, excellent international design resources may serve as a fast, convenient and effective path for them to nudge into the international market; on the other hand, as overseas purchasing groups desire more for product design, product with novel and practical design always promise enormous market potential,” said Wang Zhiping, Secretary General of Canton Fair and Director of China Foreign Trade Center. Some enterprises have adjusted their product mix and grabbed market share by cooperating with excellent international designers. PDC established at the Canton Fair aims at cooperation between inbound world-class design resources with China’s top export-led enterprises gathered at the Fair, which will sharpen the international competitiveness of Chinese export-led enterprises with adjusted exported product mix; meanwhile, it will serve as a good starting point for global design resources to flow into the Chinese market, Wang explained.
It is widely regarded that transformation and upgrading of Chinese foreign trade enterprises will bring about abundant opportunities. “The establishment of PDC will provide opportunities for the business circle both in China and Holland, and outstanding Dutch design enterprises will tap into the intensive cooperation op-

portunities in the process of Chinese enterprises’ transformation and upgrading,” said Antonius van Zeeland, the Dutch Consul-General n Guangzhou.
Against the backdrop of an upward cost for export, international designers can be depended on for upgrading product grade, the enterprise representatives told the reporter in the exhibition area for internationally renowned design agencies on the marina along the Pearl River.
Overseas designers have long before begun to help domestic enterprises explore the market. Paul Cohen, President of the Australiaheadquartered Cube Design, told the reporter that Cube China Design was set up as early as 2004 and now two subsidiaries were located in Shenzhen and Foshan of Guangdong. The household appliances Cube designed are all manufactured in China, such as through Midea, and are sold to Philips of Europe, RL Polk of Russia and Sonoma of the US.
“China’s manufacturing industry is developing so fast that pure manufacturing can no longer keep abreast with it. We’re looking forward to a transition from ‘made in China’ to ‘created in China’,”said Enric Batlle, a Spanish designer at the theme forum “innovation eading future” hosted by PDC on April 24.
At the forum, five lectures were arranged for seven designers from four countries — “2012 fashion trends, interpretation of design elements and case analysis”, “Barcelona design means business opportunities”, “western design of Chinese products”, “innovation to bring business opportunities”, and “how to design new products”.“Design can change product value, enhance productivity and even transform people’s lifestyle,” said the Spanish designer who emphasized the significance of design towards products. The Dutch designer Michel Millot introduced the exhibiters a practical design aw—daily necessities and household articles follow last year’s clothng trends. Adopting Cola Cao’s packaging as a case, Designer Romon Martinez explained the five design procedures and the design scenario embodied in them. At the beginning, manufacturers need to deliver as much as possible information to designers, such as their production capacity and the expected effect, so as to provide a clear direction for designers, Boukje Koch held.
On the two afternoons of April 25 and 26, the design match making hosted by PDC was held on such themes as product design, brand, packaging and commercial space design. More than 30 designers from seven countries and regions were present at the two-day event. Both designers and enterprise representatives were ooking forward the event. Many designers had identified cooperation ntention with enterprises, said Xiao Rong, Vice General Manager of the Canton Fair Work Department in charge of match making, when addressing the event. Xiao also introduced the three functions of PDC: first, PDC will provide long-term, diverse and more considerate services for enterprises. Enterprises may rely on PDC to look for suitable partners. Second, the match making also serve as a platform for the participating enterprises to broaden their horizon, upgrade management philosophy and perfect management process. Third, designers not only design products, but also make marketing scheme, which is a significant link for enterprises to develop. Thus, the management of enterprises will also be improved.
After a brief self introduction from designers, designers and exhibiters conducted free exchanges. “Xinjiang boasts quality local specialties, but without bands, even the best products will sell at a low price. Through the match making, we hope to find outstanding designers to promote our products with higher added value,” said Zhang Jie, General Manager Assistant of Xinjiang Yaxin Int’l Economic & Trade Co., Ltd., who attended the match making every afternoon of these two days and marveled at the creative designs by the designers. Familiar with the local market, overseas designer can design products better catering to the aesthetic taste of the international market, which will help enterprise to manufacture fast-selling products. The reporter learned from the Ningbo trade group that more than 30 enterprises in Ningbo such as Changrong Electrical Appliance Co., Ltd., Ruyi Joint Stock Co., Ltd. and Homa Artware Co., Ltd. had hired overseas designers for R&D and design. Many Dutch design enterprises have served Chinese enterprises for years, and some have set up branch offices in Guangzhou and Hong Kong so as to look for long-term partners, said Zhong Wenyi, a member from the Dutch design delegation.
PDC reportedly plans to provide more booths for designers at the next Canton Fair so that enterprises will have more choices. In addition, PDC members will enjoy professional trainings, as well as opportunities for attending overseas exhibitions and innovation competition of the displayed commodities.