By Rui Hu, EDITOR

The three-day 19th Asia-Pacific Retailers Convention & Exhibition (APRCE) & International Consumer Goods Fair is held at Chongqing International Expo Center (CIEC). The Fair kicked off on September 5 and APRCE opened today on September 6.

As one of the world’s three major retail events, APRCE is influential in the Asia-Pacific region. Members of the Federation of Asia-Pacific Retailers Associations (FAPRA) will host the biennial event in turn. Having been held for 18 times, it contributes greatly to consumption promotion, investment introduction, export/import expansion, powers exchange and cooperation within and booming development of retail industry.

Asia-Pacific Retailers Convention & Exhibitionin Chongqing.

Technological products for smart retail

17 Shandian, Bangma Technology and Dalian Fushishan exhibit their vending machines that solve the last-mile problem, attracting visitors’ attention. First-time customers click the facial-recognition icon on the screen to register first, which will take about a minute; old customers can complete facial-recognition payment within seconds and get the ordered product.

In the conference

GOME Electrical Appliances launches Top Made-in-China Products program and exhibits some robots, which can dance, sing, do chores, send gifts to and answer questions of customers. Wumart brings its self-service shopping solution to APRCE. Other exhibitors include Chongqing Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation (Group) Co., Ltd. and countries along the Belt and Road, which introduce local superior products, such as ceramics, hand-made carpets and woodwork, to the exhibition.

The Chongqing Foreign Trade pavilion.

The exhibition area covers 20,000 m2

Themed on New Retail, New Consumption, New Dynamics—Cooperation and Sharing, APRCE sets 1 main forum and 13 parallel sessions. 20,000-square-meter exhibition area involving N1 Hall and N2 Hall of CIEC.

This is the second time for China to hold APRCE in 14 years, proving its retail industry is playing a more and more vital role in the world, and confirming the country has achieved rich fruits in deepening reform and opening up and developing the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

Chongqing, as a BRI hub in Southwest China, has become a frontline of opening up and an attractive place for retail industry of Asia-Pacific region. Exhibits of APRCE include food, clothes, ornaments and housewares. Domestic exhibitors come with specialties, such as Jingdezhen porcelain, coconut juice from Hainan and yak meat from Tibet. Foreign goods consist of wine from France, cosmetics from South Korea and local products from Malaysia.

There are also retail-related products, such as vending machines, automatic food-making machines, payment solutions, cloud sale software, control terminals and sale solutions.

Introduce more Chongqing’s local products to global market

Yumaotong Foreign Trade Service Platform signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Shanghai Jiuye E-commerce Co., Ltd. yesterday, to accelerate the promotion of featured products made by Chongqing micro, small and medium enterprises with their resources.

These enterprises have great agricultural products and other elements required for export. What they are lack of are channels, experience and capital. Therefore, APRCE is expected to offer a platform for exhibitors to promote their products, get orders, and then attract more opportunities to go global.