Chinese Tendencies: The Exhibition “Intelligent Signs & LED”, Guangzhou 2015
The beginning of March is a traditional period for the LED sign and technology Exhibition in Guangzhou (South China). It’s interesting to mention that just a few years ago the floor space was almost completely devoted to neon advertising technology, while the LED section was relatively small.
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| Absen LED screens: one of the large Shenzhen companies | Chipshow is a well-known manufacturer of LED screens for shows |
Since then everything has changed. Neon is dying out. Companies still working in the neon advertising area are represented scantily. The exhibition has changed its name removing all mention of neon. It is now proudly promoting “Intelligent Signs & LED Exhibition”. LED screens are sparkling and shining in myriads of colors. This is the 11th Exhibition in Guangzhou and the year 2015 came with some unwelcome surprises.
First, the number of exhibitors has significantly decreased, and foreign visitors are not as numerous as before. In general, the analysts estimate a 40% drop in attendance (from the level of 2014 when the Exhibition attracted 80 thousand visitors). In fact, some Chinese exhibitors started pulling out of the exhibition right before it started. Those who bravely stayed, are complaining that there are few visitors, buyers and potential importers.
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| Truck-based LED screen with P5 pixel pitch | |
Apparently this changed the attitude of exhibitors to clients. The remaining participants are rather aggressive in their attempts to attract people to their stand, sometimes even grabbing hands and pulling you towards their show place. Whatever the case, the 2015 Exhibition makes a pleasant impression. People come here to view the LED screens, and there are plenty of those around.
Consider the surprising Chinese tradition: everywhere you see richly decorated stands of companies that nobody ever heard about. At every such stand you receive a thick well-printed booklet with details of hundreds of installations, numerous models that have been in production “for years”. But the seasoned travelers wonder: where were you hiding last year?
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| CreateLED with its very creative LED screens | Liantronics, an old-timer in the LED screen market |
At the same time there are plenty of companies who have been attending Guangzhou exhibition for years, trying to establish market leader reputation and brand recognition. Some of them are quite well-known: Liantronics, Chipshow, Absen, Ledman, Unilumin. They are all trying to show off portfolios of their foreign and domestic orders though domestic still prevail.
For example, Absen won a huge contract on installing LED screens to a whole network of new railway terminals for high-speed trains. Each terminal houses nearly a dozen large indoor and outdoor screens, and there are plenty of those new monster terminals around China.
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| Slim aluminum LED cabinets (modules) | Inside an LED screen: neat and nice to look at |
Or take Liantronics. This company completed a huge contract for the supply of medium-sized LED screens (around 6 sq. meters) for filling stations around China. Certainly, these screens are not as large than those for railway terminals. But there are so many more filling stations than terminals.
To buy LED screens from a well-known and reputable company is more expensive but probably more reliable. At least people tend to think so. Though there are many examples of bad quality installations by good companies. The trouble is that the customer will only find out about the problems with a LED screen a year into its operation. Apparently, soon enough a new expression will appear describing the process of buying LED screens in China – “Chinese roulette”.
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| Ledman at Guangzhou exhibition | Ledman show case |
A few words about LED screens. There are so many! The screens from cabinets, curtain screens (for media façade), screens with tight pitch, screens with even tighter pitch. Today practically all companies are capable of manufacturing pitch 4 mm and even 2.5 mm, and are now trying to promote screens that are worse than large LCD (if they are not large in size), or that are too expensive if they are large in size.
One positive development though occurred. Tight pitch led to a revolution in small signs that are now capable to display not just a simplified graphics as before but relatively good video messages. As a result, more and more small businesses (services, shops and restaurants) started to buy LED signs.
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| MrLED with its LED screen | Unilumin and its charming sales team |
A novelty in China is an unusual concept. When something new appears in the market, practically all potential competitors start manufacturing this new item claiming that they hold exclusive certificates and patents giving them the right for worldwide manufacture and distribution. This is exactly what happened with the new model of an economical LED screen with 13.33 mm pitch. The previous economical model with 20 mm pitch gave way to a more advanced model of 13.33. The funny thing though is that almost everyone is offering this type of screens today.
As a result, to choose screens is difficult. The image quality on all displays at the Exhibition is excellent. The prices are very similar. So, customers must make a decision based only on what type of video he or she likes best: cartoons, films about nature or attractive blondes.
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| Outdoor LED digital signage with 5 mm pitch | “TaxiTop” LED screens |
What should the poor manufacturers – who look same as all the others - do to promote sales? They have to come up with some new invention every year to attract attention of customers. At first experiments centered around cabinets which were becoming progressively lighter, thinner, made of different metals etc. Then came the time for LED curtains. Then the focus shifted to convex and curved shapes or LED steps and floors. But all this is old news. Or rather, everyone has it.
This year the creative potential of designers moved to 3D shapes. The result is worth seeing. The LED balls hanging over the show stands of many companies grew in size. The LED columns are getting fancier. And more and more companies started offering LED cubes, LED prisms – a new breakthrough in LED-based entertainment and lighting design. All these 3D shapes are attractive and pleasant to look at.
To sum up, attending exhibitions in China is interesting and mind-blowing. There are many new things to see that in a short while will enter the global market and change it. The LED industry is developing fast.
