Simplifying the Search for International Suppliers
nce barricaded by political rifts and inaccessible regions, the world’s economic drawbridge has been lowered and the globe homogenized to the extent that you can buy a Camero in Croatia and speak on a cellphone from a fishing pirogue in Madagascar. Hand in hand with that burgeoning globalization are trade shows, some 30,000 of them by Global Association of the Exhibition Industry (UFI) estimates, where companies from all corners of the planet hawk their wares to an ever-growing audience of buyers.The growing accessibility of the international marketplace has created nothing short of a gold rush for U.S. companies that want to get their products on that global dais. Given that there are tens of thousands of exhibit-support providers working with the 4.4 million or so companies currently exhibiting, finding the right partners to take your program abroad can feel like looking for a needle in a haystack. What you need is sage advice from people who have been there and done that, but even that guidance can sound a bit dizzying.
Ask a group of seasoned exhibit managers for the best way to select international vendors and you might not hear the same answer twice. While there’s a lack of consensus on which method of selecting international vendors is the easiest or most successful, veterans are also quick to point out that no one avenue is the best all of the time. Rather, each has a unique set of caveats that, if ignored, can make what would otherwise have been the right path the wrong one. So to help you navigate the international vendor-selection process, here are seven of their recommended approaches for finding quality international suppliers, along with some wisdom from the trenches on why each technique is good – and when it can be bad.
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