Back in March we drove up to a regional outdoor gear fair near Nanjing. Nothing huge, mostly camping and fishing brands, but a few of our EU buyers said they'd swing by so it was worth the trip. Ivy and I shared the driving.
We'd booked a corner stand, which sounds good until you realise the corner was right next to a side door that everyone propped open. It rained the first morning and the floor by our table turned into a slick patch. I spent the first hour finding cardboard to put down so people didn't slip while picking up our torches.
The headlamps themselves did fine. We brought the motion-sensor zoom model and a stripped-down running light. What surprised me was how many visitors went straight for the cheapest unit and ignored the better optics. People wave their hand in front of the sensor, the light comes on, they grin, done. That little party trick sells more than lumens charts.
One fishing wholesaler from Shandong stood at the stand for twenty minutes just clicking the switch over and over. I thought he was bored. Turns out he was counting how mushy the button felt after repeated presses, comparing it to a sample he'd brought in his pocket. Fair enough, I'd do the same.
We didn't write a single order at the show. Two of the contacts turned into samples a few weeks later though, which is how these things usually go. Shows are for shaking hands, not signing.
Oh, and the coffee at the venue was terrible. We ended up walking out to a noodle place around the block both lunchtimes. Honestly the noodles might be my fondest memory of the whole trip.
