Artificial intelligence (AI) and digital tools are streamlining efficiency for both buyers and exhibitors at the ongoing 140th China Import and Export Fair, widely known as the Canton Fair, seamlessly connecting participants across the massive exhibition halls.
Spanning 1.55 million square meters with over 75,000 booths, the main challenge for buyers is navigating the vast grounds to find products, while exhibitors fear being overlooked or quickly forgotten.
To solve this, the fair has embedded smart services such as AI-powered navigation into every stage of the event, streamlining how participants find contacts, locate products, conduct business, and track orders.
The fair marks a domestic milestone by offering booth-level augmented reality (AR) navigation accurate to within one meter. When buyers enter their destination, AR navigation guides them directly to the booth. What used to take one or two hours a day just to find the way around now translates into time saved for doing business.
"So if you don't have this feature, you might end up in the wrong place, wasting 30 to 40 minutes and walking about two or three kilometers. It's just too much wasted time," said a buyer from the U.S.
Another standout digital feature is image-based product search. By taking and uploading a photo of a sample via the app's 'Ask Me' assistant, buyers can rely on AI to instantly identify the product category and match them with relevant suppliers. Within seconds, the system pushes product details, company info, and booth distances, generating a customized sourcing list and walking route.
"In the past, we could only visit about ten suppliers a day, but now that we have this app, we can visit 20 to 30 suppliers a day. Because I can pinpoint each location more accurately, I don't waste time and I can see more product information on the details page," said an Australian buyer.
As soon as buyers add a booth to their itinerary, the exhibitor receives a real-time notification and can proactively extend an invitation, enabling precise matching.
During negotiations, AI automatically captures on-site footage and audio, compiling them into a written summary with a single tap to securely lock in potential business opportunities.
"As soon as they (the buyers) add us to their itinerary, we receive a notification immediately. From October 15 until now, I've received 79 such notifications. Then I can see which guests are interested in visiting our booth and I can immediately send them a message inviting them to come. I think that the number of clients I've gained this time is at least three times my original expectation," said an exhibitor at the fair.
At this year's Canton Fair, digital capabilities have been integrated throughout the entire process from visitor entry to product search, business negotiations and post-fair follow-ups, thereby increasing the frequency of effective negotiations and the chances of closing deals for both domestic and international merchants.
Serving as a barometer of China's foreign trade, this year's fair, marking its 70th anniversary, features innovation, intelligence, greater specialization and higher quality.
The Canton Fair is one of the world's few one-stop trade platforms offering a complete range of products with convenience and efficiency, while bringing together the latest products and technologies.
Smart tech streamlines matchmaking, sourcing at Canton Fair
