The 2012 Shanghai Private Label Fair opens its doors today. From today through Friday at the Shanghai Mart, visitors will browse nearly 350 exhibit stands displaying private brand products, an increase of about 50 percent compared with last year’s event. More than 1,500 retailers, wholesalers, importers and exporters are expected to attend the event.   

The Shanghai Private Label Fair is co-sponsored by PLMA (Private Label Manufacturers Association) and ISPC (Shanghai International Sourcing Promotion Centre).    

“While exhibitors come from more than 20 countries in Asia, Europe and the United States, much of the growth at this year’s Private Label Fair comes from Chinese exhibitors,” PLMA President Brian Sharoff said in a news release. “This increase confirms the growing importance and awareness of private brands in China.”  

The show is devoted entirely to products sold under the retailer’s or wholesaler’s name.  On the exhibit floor, visitors will see food and beverages, household products, health and beauty, and many other categories found in retail stores. Overall, 230 companies are exhibiting their products at this year’s Private Label Fair.  

Compared with foreign countries, private brand is in short supply in China, but consumers are increasingly aware of private brand products. In Europe and the United States, private brand accounts for more than 25 percent of consumer goods sold in supermarkets and hypermarkets. In Great Britain, Germany, France and Spain, private brand market share is higher than 40 percent.

 In China, private label products account for less than 5 percent of retailers' total stock, Shanghai Daily newspaper reported on its website.

"It is not because of Chinese people not knowing private label, but a proper mechanism is yet to be established," Sharoff told Shanghai Daily at the Private Label Fair.

To help inspire China, the latest developments in private brands from around the world will be on display at PLMA’s Idea Supermarket. Visitors also will have the opportunity to view private brand products and packaging from 25 leading supermarkets from 13 countries.

For new market players, private labels can save marketing and distribution costs, ShanghaI Dailyreports. It can also help suppliers to bypass tedious procedures for selling brand-less products at big retailers.

"But it usually takes more than six months for a retailer in China to select a private label manufacturer due to quality control considerations," Sharoff told Shanghai Daily. "This is really too long for a producer to wait, especially in the fast-moving consumer goods industry."

Sharoff told Shanghai Daily that people need to be more patient for the nurturing of private labels in China.

Started in 2010, the Shanghai Fair is one part of PLMA’s program to build private brands in China. In April, PLMA conducts a special executive education and training program in conjunction with Shanghai Jiao Tong University. It helps manufacturers and retailers to learn private brand strategy, as well as buying and selling best practices.