Tens of thousands of buyers including Coles Group, El Corte Ingles, Kingfisher, Sears, The Home Depot and Tesco registered to attend China Sourcing Fairs

HONG KONG, April 20, 2011 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- Global Sources (NASDAQ: GSOL) opened six sourcing trade shows today at Hong Kong's AsiaWorld-Expo with over 2,200 booths. Scheduled to run through April 23, the events are:

• China Sourcing Fair: Gifts & Premiums
• China Souring Fair: Home Products
• China Sourcing Fair: Baby & Children's Products
• India Sourcing Fair: Home Products

New this spring are:

• China Sourcing Fair: Medical & Health Products
• Korea Sourcing Fair: Gifts & Premiums

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20030303/LNM011LOGO-b )

President of Global Sources Exhibitions, Tommy Wong, said: "Our Fairs are the most specialized in Hong Kong, which help buyers source more efficiently by presenting them with a wide range of suppliers from specific industries.

"This year, we have added new events to provide buyers with very focused business opportunities in two high-demand sourcing categories.

"While China remains the top market for gift and premium items, buyers today are looking for alternative sources offering quality products at a fair price. South Korean suppliers are extremely competitive in the industry. And so we have launched Korea Sourcing Fair: Gifts & Premiums this year to give buyers more options.

"We have also launched the China Sourcing Fair: Medical & Health Products. Aging populations in developed countries prefer in-home care over institutionalized care and, therefore, the homecare products market is growing fast. In the US, sales of homecare products are expected to reach US$10 billion in 2011."

Buyers pre-registered to attend the Fairs include American Greetings, Boots, Carlsberg, City Super, Coles Group, Early Learning Centre, El Corte Ingles, Fossil, Hallmark Cards, Hong Kong Disneyland, Kingfisher, Le Chateau, Macy's, MATTEL, Office Depot, Sears, Swarovski, Tesco, The Children's Place, The Home Depot, ToysRus and UNY.

Private Sourcing Events offer exclusive opportunities for pre-selected exhibitors to meet large global companies in private during the shows. A record breaking of 24 sourcing teams from buyers include AEON, Amway, Hermes-Otto International, IASACORP, E.Leclerc, Eximagen, Groupe Zannier, Kmart Australia, Mothercare Group, Staples and The Home Depot are scheduled to participate in this April's events, with a combined annual sales of over US$170 billion.

To help buyers and exhibitors meet and do business more effectively, Global Sources is organizing a series of special on-site activities at the Fairs. These include:

• Free conference programs to help international buyers source from Asia more effectively. Attendees can gain firsthand market intelligence and valuable advice from industry experts speaking on a variety of trade-related topics.
• Color Trends Areas feature color forecasts for various products, including home products and gifts and premiums in Hall 11.
• Sports & Event Premiums Gallery. A selection of a hundred hot sports and event premiums is featured in this gallery in Hall 6.
• Special Buyers' Lounges at the Fairs provide free Internet access and sourcing information.
• Global Sources Product Galleries. Multiple physical and digital product galleries, featuring innovative products from hundreds of verified suppliers unable to attend the shows, allow buyers to send direct inquiries on the spot -- greatly extending their sourcing reach and efficiency at the shows.
• Global Sources Show Guide Magazines. Fourteen enhanced sourcing magazines that incorporate the Fair show guides -- featuring the exhibitor list and floor map -- and a CD-ROM that contains a copy of all Global Sources' eMagazines, are being distributed to buyers on-site. This one-of-a-kind initiative puts in buyers' hands information on hundreds of additional verified suppliers and their products, boosting the productivity of their show visit.

Opening times for the Fairs are:

• April 20-22 from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
• April 23 from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Buyers can register for free admission and find more information, including details about free transport to the venue and back, at the China Sourcing Fairs website: http://www.chinasourcingfair.com.

About Global Sources

Global Sources is a leading business-to-business media company and a primary facilitator of trade with Greater China. The core business uses English-language media to facilitate trade from Greater China to the world. The other business segment utilizes Chinese-language media to enable companies to sell to, and within Greater China.

The company provides sourcing information to volume buyers and integrated marketing services to suppliers. It helps a community of over 1 million active buyers source more profitably from complex overseas supply markets. With the goal of providing the most effective ways possible to advertise, market and sell, Global Sources enables suppliers to sell to hard-to-reach buyers in over 240 countries.

The company offers the most extensive range of media and export marketing services in the industries it serves. It delivers information on over 5.5 million products and more than 262,000 suppliers annually through 14 online marketplaces, 13 monthly print and 18 digital magazines, over 80 sourcing research reports and 73 specialized trade shows a year across nine cities.

Verified suppliers receive more than 127 million sales leads annually from buyers through Global Sources Online (http://www.globalsources.com) alone.

Global Sources has been facilitating global trade for 40 years. Global Sources' network covers more than 60 cities worldwide. In mainland China, Global Sources has about 2,700 team members in more than 40 locations, and a community of over 2.8 million registered online users and magazine readers for its Chinese-language media.

SOURCE Global Sources