On the 5th and 6th of November, importers, distributors, retailers, buyers, and other industry professionals from China and across the globe gathered at the first edition of the International Bulk Wine and Spirits Show (IBWSS) in China.

The event occurred at The Place in Shanghai and featured an exhibition floor and a conference on both days

Day 1 of the International Bulk Wine & Spirits show kicked off on the morning of 5th November, with a welcome keynote by Sid Patel, CEO of Beverage Trade Network, organizers of IBWSS China, London, and San Francisco.

Sid started the morning by sharing insights on the Chinese wine market. He delved into the details of:

• How factors like culture play a major role in the Chinese wine market.
• How the Chinese wine market relies more on communication and connections other than regular processes.
• How consumers in China are evolving and are now open to trying new wines.

Who attended?

IBWSS China provided an impeccable platform for visitors and buyers in search of bulk wine and bulk spirits, private labels, and other solutions and ideas within the Chinese wine industry.

Amidst a plethora of visitors ranging from buyers, investors, and other industry professionals - Day 1 of IBWSS China saw 600 buyers from across the bulk wine and bulk spirits industry. Buyers came in search of bulk wine and bulk spirits, in search to build their own private label brands, and to purchase bulk wines and bulk spirits for already existing private label brands.

Attendees included wineries, breweries, distilleries, importers, distributors, retailers, national and regional chains, negociánts, brokerage firms, and press members.

The Exhibition Floor

The first edition of IBWSS China saw 35 exhibitors at the exhibition floor. IBWSS China offered exhibitors a widespread platform to showcase their bulk wines and bulk spirits to a plethora of buyers from across the Chinese alcohol-beverage industry. Exhibitors at IBWSS China also had the opportunity to network and potentially crack deals with national Chain buyers of China, Private Label owners, and other industry professionals.

IBWSS Day 1 Conference

Along with the very busy exhibition floor, IBWSS China also held a conference that highlighted the growth of business in the Chinese wine market.

Day 1 of the IBWSS China conference saw a number of speakers from across the industry, who took the stage and discussed the ins and outs of conducting a wine business in China based on their global and Chinese experience.

The morning session of the conference started off Rodrigo Jackson, Managing Director VCT China, Concha Y Toro, who took the stage and delved into the world of building a global brand and shared his experience on how he built his brand from Chile to the world.

Following Jackson, Thorsten Beer - Managing Director at Hillebrand Greater China, took the stage and touched on the logistical side of bulk wine and bulk spirits. Beer shared his expertise and spoke on the 5 guidelines for navigating bulk wine logistics.

The afternoon session of the IBWSS China conference started off with Cassidy Dart, MW, who brought his world of experience as a Global Wine Consultant to the stage as he spoke about a vast range of issues and solutions for the bulk wine and bulk spirits industry.

The conference came to a close by Juan Antonio Mompo Gimeno, who is Asia Promotion Manager, Wines of Argentina (WOFA). Juan’s talk circled around how one can build partnerships in China, which is a very important aspect in the Chinese wine market – as the Chinese wine market does work on connections.

Argentinian Wines in China

Sid Patel welcomed Mario Lázaro, Director of Pro Mendoza and Martín Kerchner, Ministry of Economy of Mendoza (the largest wine-producing region in Argentina).

Lazaro and Kerchner attended IBWSS to understand the wine market of China. Although Argentina is the 5th largest wine producer in the world, annually exporting 2.5 million hectoliters, penetrating the Chinese wine industry for Argentinian wine has stayed limited to a 1% market share and hence has enough potential to grow.

IBWSS Day 2 Conference

Day 2 of the IBWSS Conference kicked off with the morning session where Simone George took the stage. George, who is the Global Wine & Grape Broker at Ciatti gave an overview of the global bulk wine market and the opportunities in the existing market.

Alexandre Souzy, Consultant at Clovitis (Oenology Consulting Firm) took the next spot on stage and discussed insights and methods on how to place your wines into retail chains. Following Souzy, Claudia Masueger, Founder & CEO at Cheers Wines closed the morning session by diving into the world of merchandising growing retail OEM wine labels.

Post lunch, Sarah Zhang took the stage and began the afternoon session of the conference. Zhang, who is a lifestyle show producer and host at House Films, shared her knowledge on how to build a wine brand in China.

The last two speakers before the end of the conference were Matteo Cecchetto – Fine Wine Brand Manager at Summergate, and Lynne Xu – National E-Marketing Manager at Bacardi. Matteo took the stage and talked about the luxury side of wine, expanding on how to market luxury wines in China and grow distribution.

Lynne Xu closed the conference with her take on building a brand via e-commerce in China, sharing tips and tricks on how to build your brand through the highly respected and used online presence in today’s day and age.

The closing remarks of both the days concluded that the quality of the buyers was excellent with grapevine (pun intended) talks of sources speaking of deal closings spreading throughout the day.

ABOUT Beverage Trade Network

Beverage Trade Network is a leading platform helping beverage professionals connect with peers and better understand the global business landscape will lead to overall long term growth of the independent adult beverage industry. Along with IBWSS China, BTN has also organized other successful tradeshows such as IBWSS London, IBWSS San Francisco, USA Trade Tasting, Cannabis Drinks Expo, and they are also the organizers of the upcoming Future Wine Expo and Cannabis Food Show.