KITA Held “Exhibition·Video Export Consultation” in Dubai

- 150 buyers and 300 consumers participated ...  the limitations of contactless consultation were supplemented by sample exhibition,  live streaming, etc. -

“Online/Offline Exhibition and Export Consultation on Promising Korean Consumer Products” took place in the Middle East for the first time since the start of the pandemic.

The Korea International Trade Association (Chairman: Kim Young-ju) and the Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced that they co-hosted “Online/Offline Exhibition and Export consultation on Promising Korean Consumer Products” at COEX in Seoul and at Address Dubai Marina Hotel in Dubai simultaneously for four days starting November 10^th. This event was designed to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Korea-UAE diplomatic ties, and 150 buyers from the Middle East and 50 promising Korean exporting companies including “Brand K” companies in beauty, fashion, health supplement, and household products selected by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups participated in the event.

With the recent restrictions on the movement of business people abroad, the Korea International Trade Association said that it reflected the advantages of offline exhibition consultations as much as possible, such as operating large-scale sample exhibition booths locally, live streaming at the event site, and arranging instant meetings between buyers/consumers in the Middle East and Korean companies.

First, booths were set up by pre-shipping 19,000 products of 117 kinds to Dubai for the sample exhibition. These booths were operated by local salespeople (MD) who had been sufficiently trained in advance on behalf of Korean companies. During the event, not only Middle Eastern buyers but also general consumers can visit and experience. Despite the local circumstances that require approval to attend the event, there were 150 pre-registered buyers and 300 general visitors who had applied for B2C events such as makeup shows.

Two-way live broadcasts were also conducted to widely share the atmosphere of the event site as well as the reaction of buyers and consumers to the product. Local reporters relayed the site every day and introduced Korean companies' products. In addition, 20 social network (SNS) influencers in Dubai showed Korean products that were highly responsive locally through live streaming on YouTube and Instagram.

Among the Middle Eastern buyers who participated in the export consultation, many big buyers such as Carrefour, Amazon UAE, and Sharaf DG were also included. In addition to the pre-matched export consultations, buyers were able to explore the exhibition booths on-site and have additional consultations with Korean companies immediately if there was a product of interest. 50 Korean companies were allowed to consult with buyers or customers connected on site at the video conference center in COEX, Samseong-dong along with the pre-matched buyers.

Korean participating companies were highly satisfied. Lee kyung-hee, a manager at Agera Biotech, a cosmetic manufacturing company, said, “The shortcomings of the existing video conference were supplemented by the operation of the local sample exhibition booth,” sand added, “With on-site matching, use of social media influencers, and live broadcasting of the venue atmosphere, I felt like I was on a business trip to Dubai, and it became an opportunity for our products to be advertised in the Middle East market.”

Kim Hyun-chul, head of the Global Marketing Group at KITA, stated, “In order to overcome the limitations of the existing contactless video export consultation meeting, we tried to reflect various offline export marketing factors as much as possible,” and added, “On the occasion of the 40^th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Korea and UAE, we will further contribute to the expansion of Korean Wave and Korean companies into the Middle East.”

Meanwhile, the Korea International Trade Association plans to hold the “Moscow Exhibition and Video Export Consultation to Celebrate the 30^th Anniversary of Korea-Russia Relations” in Moscow in the same format as this event from 24^th to 26^th of November .