CE China to bridge global electronics firms, Chinese retailers

Messe Berlin CEO Christian Goke, left, and Shenzhen Vice Mayor Chen Biao demonstrate head-mount virtual reality devices made by Chinese company dlodlo after the opening ceremony of Consumer Electronics (CE) China at the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center in the southern Chinese city, Wednesday. / Courtesy of Joint Press Corp.

By Yoon Sung-won

Messe Berlin, the host of Europe’s largest electronics exhibition IFA, opened the first-ever Consumer Electronics (CE) China in Shenzhen, China, Wednesday.

This first CE China, which is being held at the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center April 20-22, has German electronics makers Bosch and Siemens, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba and the Chinese branch of U.S. online retailer Amazon participating alongside smaller Chinese businesses.

Shenzhen Vice Mayor Chen Biao, Messe Berlin CEO Christian Goke, Alibaba’s retail subsidiary Tmall President Yin Jing and BSH Chairman and President Roland Gerke all attended the opening ceremony.

“As a German brand, we provide premium home appliances here in China,” Gerke said. “We entered the Chinese market in the 1990s and continue to research what Chinese consumers want. Just because we are a European brand doesn’t mean we do not understand Chinese customers.”

Unlike other international consumer electronics fairs such as the IFA in Berlin and the International Consumer Electronics Show (ICES) in Las Vegas, CE China focuses on connecting global electronics makers planning to enter the Chinese market with influential retailers in China to promote new business opportunities. To this end, Messe Berlin successfully invited China’s leading retailers including Alibaba, Suning and Guomei.

Messe Berlin continued to emphasize during this year’s IFA Global Press Conference in Hong Kong that it seeks to expand its presence in the Chinese market through CE China, targeting the country’s rising middle class which accumulates more purchasing power as their incomes keep rising. The expo organizer said its goal is to slake the thirst of Chinese middle-class consumers for globally branded, high-quality home appliances with the desire of global electronics makers to enter the world’s largest consumer market.

Messe Berlin’s hosting of CE China in Shenzhen can be interpreted in the same context with large world electronics expos ― such as Mobile World Congress (MWC) and ICES which have both held their own exhibitions in Shanghai, China.

Besides the large businesses, China’s local startups and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have also established exhibition booths at CE China, seeking opportunities to cooperate with larger electronics brands and retailers.

Meanwhile, global electronics makers such as Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics and Sony, as well as China’s leading home appliance providers Hisense, Haier and Konka did not join the event.