CIFF Shanghai Reports a Successful Virtual Edition

December 29, 2021  by Laurie Northington in Business Strategy, Industry   

The virtual edition explored new ways for the furniture fair using Wechat’s CIFF Shanghai Hongqiao applet, divided into four main sections: Cloud Exhibition Hall, Cloud Live Broadcast, Cloud Negotiation and Cloud Activities.

The success of this latest unusual edition starts from afar and is based on activities that have retained visitors’ and exhibitors’ loyalty. In fact, important marketing activities have recently been organized to support exhibitors in these complicated times marked by the global pandemic. And so Red Star Macalline, as well as many other furniture distributors, attended the live streaming presentations organized by the exhibitors.

This edition has shown how the online fair, free from constraints and open to visitors at any time, can guarantee important figures; the 13 live presentations of new collections that recorded over 10,000 views each, as well as over 100,000 hits on the first day proved it.

There are also many collaborations between CIFF and external entities, among which the one with the National Real Estate Alliance, for the organization of special events with commercial purposes and for the promotion of over 20 brands of exhibitors interested in cooperation with the main real estate companies. Furthermore, the collaboration with foreign trade associations to promote new export agreements has greatly facilitated foreign buyers; to date, five brands have received orders worth over one million US dollars. Moreover, during the 4 days of the fair, exhibitors and visitors were supported by the matchmaking services activated and provided free of charge for a total of 1057 requests received online.

Not wanting to give up anything and motivated by the desire to offer the best, the organizers of CIFF Shanghai have decided to keep all the planned exhibitions as well. And so DDS, Tea Ceremony, Super Fun Design, Meta Point Design Award and Material Aesthetics Pavilion animated the 48th CIFF Shanghai, interpreting the curators’ ideas online. Famous people in the world of Chinese design such as: Xiaojie, Dai Xiangdong, Zhang Jian, Zhang Fei, Zhao Zihan, Lin Shuan, Liang Chen, Hai Lan, Su Su, Hu Yanli, Liu Lang, Wang Jing, Huang Xiaorong as well as senior lecturers including Zhao Long, Zhou Yang, Zhao Meng and Pan Te, were invited to interpret sector trends and inspire creative ideas.