Wholesale Hello from China - Ancient Wisdom - Giftware and Aromatherapy Supplier

Greetings from Yiwu, China

Gosh I seem to be running from place to place these days, it's like a mad catch up. I realised that I haven't spent more than 6 or 7 days in one place in months.. Last week I was in Bali (on a flying visit), telling you how everything was absolutely buzzing.. it's all happening at once.. If you missed it you can catch up here.

On Tuesday night I left Bali on a China Southern flight to Guangzhou arriving at 6am. There I cleared immigration after a long wait.. the foreigner queue seemed to have very few westerners in it (apart from me). I was a little confused and thought maybe I was in the wrong line. But then I realised by spying on the passports folk were clutching that these were mostly Chinese Americans or Chinese Australians etc going to China for family reunions ahead of the Mid-autumn festival. Which happens shortly and means I'm going to have to eat copious quantities of Mooncakes.. especially since most of our old suppliers will give them as gifts.

I had a few hours in Guangzhou and then a short flight upto Yiwu, as we landed the crew instructed us to (strangely) close the window blinds. Two Danish ladies close to me got into a small argument, insisting that the shades should be up, and being told quite firmly that they should be down. Turns out (Coco told me later) that some top secret military aircraft are stationed at Yiwu and paranoid officials are worried that foreign buyers arriving in Yiwu might actually be spies.

Yiwu is only a small airport, not so many flights these days, and my luggage arrived on the belt quickly, I headed out and Coco was there hopping from foot to foot, happy to see me. We headed home to the apartment chatting and catching up.. the next morning after catching up with the family and distributing the many gifts I had accumulated along the way.. we headed to Yiwu market to see some suppliers.

I discovered that Yiwu market is 30 years old this year and celebrating the milestone. But not a glorious celebration by any means.

Bali might be Buzzing as I told you last week, but Yiwu is distinctly placid. Coco tells me that many traders have closed, the pandemic was actually busy with re-orders but no visitors. Now there are only a few western buyers arriving and business generally is bad. The expected rebound never came. The only other buyers I saw were Russians, and a few Africans. One of our suppliers told me they don't buy the volumes the Europeans or Americans buy and want everything at rock bottom prices. We have a warehouse and candle factory in Yiwu, and Coco this week was able to renegotiate the rent at a substantial discount, it's the first time ever that rents have reduced.

The main entrance is virtually empty, and traders wait for days to meet an international buyer.. It's a little sad.

There are 88,000 showrooms in Yiwu market, it's a massive place and used to be a hive of activity.. and actually in some places it still is.. not strictly in the market but a neighborhood nearby is the gemstone trading area.. this area is my favourite place - full of interesting traders, lovely passionate creative people and exotic, esoteric products. perfect for AW.. Coco and I can spend happy days there discovering all manner of exotic jewellery, artifacts and the like.

Last time I was here, raw crystals were taking off.. we developed and bought the Gemstone Crystal Lights.. (which are selling very well), and now lots of products including candles and jewellery are been made with "Raw Crystals" it's the next big craft trend.. and we have bulk raw crystals on the way to your shop.. soon..

Back in the UK and Europe.. so many new and (in my humble opinion) brilliant exciting products are arriving.. and in these days when trade might not as vibrant as it should be - the importance of NEW and EXCITING products in your store has never been so important.. and I believe we are on the button with trends that are selling.. New incense trends, Indian and Indonesian products.. Gemstone, exoteric items and essential oils are always great sellers in difficult times.

I was just chatting with our webmaster wizard Rodrigo in the UK.. he tells me he has a massive 10 new product families to add today.. see below.. if he (and team) manages all of them that will have been a magnificent marathon of an achievement. And Rodrigo, always up for a marathon, is running one on Sunday.. for charity.. Details here if you want to support him.

We have Halloween aplenty for you.. approaching fast.. and less than 100 days to Christmas..

Time to get organised and secure the best stock for a successful season.

Take care and have a wonderful weekend.

More news next week from China. Coco says Hi!

David