A Turkish man sells ice cream at the CIIE bazaar in Shanghai. Photo: Yu Xi/Global Times

In Shanghai's packed and bustling iconic Nanjing Road, one of the city's famous shopping street, a Turkish young man is selling traditional Turkish ice cream, calling on customers and attracting them with his performance, at the China International Import Export (CIIE) Commodity Bazaar.

In this 550-squre-meter bazaar, residents can purchase over 5,000 products from over 40 countries and regions such as handmade Turkish accessories, tea from Sri Lanka, beer from Mexico and chocolates from Switzerland.

The venue opened its doors in April as China's first retail bazaar featuring products showcased at the CIIE. Since its opening, average daily revenue has reached over 150,000 yuan ($23,040) with 10,000 visitors every day.

A saleswoman stands in a stand selling Turkish products at the CIIE bazaar in Shanghai. Photo: Yu Xi/Global Times

Great opportunity and clear benefits

Even though the stand was set up in this bazaar just two months ago, "the sales revenue has reached 10,000 yuan per day during peak hours on average," Kuno Gschwend, Deputy General Manager of Swiss Centers China told the Global Times. He was quite satisfied with the performance so far.

This is their fourth time at the CIIE, Gschwend said, adding that the CIIE "presents a great opportunity for Swiss products. It's like a great marketplace from all over the world." He also noted that organizations and companies attending CIIE are getting better and usually focus on food and beverage as well as consumer goods.

Carlos Valera Paulino, Deputy Consul General from Consulate General of Mexico in Shanghai, was present at the bazaar to promote Mexican products including coffee and drinks. 

In the first CIIE in 2018, around 35 companies from Mexico came to the event and in 2019, the number was 55, Paulino told the Global Times. Unfortunately, their scheduled plan to bring over 100 companies could not go ahead due to the impact of COVID-19 in 2020.

As the situation improves, he hopes more companies will come to CIIE with better products. "Everybody here is looking to expand their offer in the Chinese market," Paulino said.

Per Linden, Chairman of the Shanghai Chapter of the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in China echoed this opinion. Linden told the Global Times that this event is a "very efficient way" to meet all the potential distributors in China at one spot. Linden is promoting Nordic food and beverages and lifestyle products. Linden shared his excitement about bringing new products to the CIIE such as plant-based meat to "test the concept and to see how people think about it."

Along with food and drinks, the event also brought good start for dealers of consumer goods and traditional crafts. "We had a good experience from the first CIIE," and hope "we can get a normal business" in China with the coming of CIIE this year, despite the impact of COVID-19, Ramazan Tüzen, General Manager of Shanghai Tuzen Int Trading Co, told the Global Times.

The wool tapestries from Iran were sold so fast that they needed to replenish stock constantly and sales of saffron also exceeded expectations with one bottle of saffron sold every 10 seconds during peak hours, said Bo Hai, the Chief Representative of the Iran International Arts and Crafts center in China.

It's a good opportunity to take advantage of China's huge consumer market through the new sales mode like the bazaar, which combines both online and offline sales, to "rush products showcased at the CIIE into the hands of best sellers," said James Xue, General Manager of Greenland Global Commodity Trading Hub Group.