Rooted in Asia, Winning Globally: 40th Asian Int'l Furniture Expo Mobilization Concludes

On the afternoon of April 20, 2026, the ceremony area of Hall 2 of Taizhou International Convention and Exhibition Center in Foshan was fully occupied. The 2026 World Ceramic Merchants Conference and the "Top 100 Ceramic and Bathroom Innovation Service Providers" Award Ceremony were grandly held. As the core concurrent event of the largest and most influential ceramic exhibition in Asia - Taizhou Ceramic Exhibition, this conference, with the theme of "Adaptation and Growth", brought together national and even global ceramic distributors, brand operation service providers, and core forces of the industry chain, to jointly explore the path of industry transformation and jointly celebrate the moment of honor and awarding.

The expert begins: "If the dealers are strong, then the brand will be strong." 

The conference was opened by Li Xinliang, the president of Taicheng Newspaper and the general manager of Foshan Tanzhou Ceramic Exhibition. He delivered the opening speech, stating that the current market has entered a stage of "full competition", and consumers have become more mature. The efficiency of store operations has become the key factor. "Transparent pricing, artistic display, and improvement of professional service capabilities are the issues we must address," he emphasized. The ceramic industry has not yet seen a monopolistic brand, and the market share of the top five brands is only about 15%. There are still huge opportunities in the future, and distributors are the key force to break through the deadlock.

Manufacturers working together, creating a bright future together. 

Mr. Chen Huan, the president of the Guangdong Ceramic Association, stated in his speech: "Strong distributors lead to strong brands; stable channels ensure the stability of the industry." In the context of manufacturing taking the lead, the service industry is also a key engine for high-quality development.

Practical Sharing: The Secret to Becoming the Number One in County Areas - "Juyouyou" Approach 

The key speaker of this conference - Mr. Song Haipeng, the founder of Juyouyou Building Materials, delivered a highly informative and practical sharing session titled "How to Achieve the Top Position in County Towns". With 22 years of experience in the county market, he started from a small family business and now has 8 stores in 7 cities, serving over 100,000 property owners and enjoying a 98% positive rating.

He summarized eight core strategies: scale and model, product strategy, channel and customer group, service system, team building, core values, local promotion, innovation and transformation. He particularly emphasized: 

"Even a single brick is sold at the wholesale price. We display the actual price clearly and honestly, and refuse any inflated prices." 

All categories + all price ranges, providing a one-stop solution for all decoration needs in county towns. 

"Front store, back warehouse + own delivery service, reducing costs and enhancing efficiency." 

Customer first, uphold credibility, build a reputation-based moat. 

He concluded his speech with a touching statement: "This is what I have been doing all my life - manufacturing building materials. It's not a cutting-edge industry, but since I have chosen it, I must do it well."

Roundtable Discussion: Pain Points and Opportunities Coexist; Progression Upward Leads to a Bright Future 

Under the chairmanship of Dai Keli, the chief editor of Taocheng News, representatives of outstanding distributors from Changsha, Yantai, Xi'an, Zhuzhou and other places engaged in a "battle of wits" with Hao Xudong, the general manager of L&D Weimei Ceramics. 

Zhang Liming from Changsha: The industry is waiting for a "turning point", but instead of waiting, it's better to strive to move forward on one's own, improving one's skills and services. 

Yantai Wang Xiao: Second-hand housing, old building renovation, "good houses", and the silver-haired economy are the four major opportunities. One must possess the ability to complete the entire project. 

Xian Zhang Hushan: Daring to expand stores against the trend, with a 2,000-square-meter flagship store and innovative technological products, this is the reason why customers choose us. 

Zhuozhou Li Wei: Exterior wall tiles are a promising market. The delivery process is challenging but the profit is high. By doing a good job in design and construction, a barrier can be established. 

Hao Xudong (L&D): Selling bricks is not the goal. The aim is to sell aesthetics, services, and emotional resonance. From cost-effectiveness to tactile healing, and then to lifestyle, these are the ways for a brand to stand out. 

Honor of Ascension: Top 100 Service Providers, Paying Tribute to the Power of Innovation 

The most exciting part of the conference - the award ceremony for the "Top 100 Ceramic Bathroom Innovation Service Providers" - was grandly held. The awards covered:

Small City Large Business Operation Benchmark▼

New retail model leader▼

Engineering service benchmark▼

Standards for the Complete Service Offering▼

Example of Granite Slab Delivery▼

Over a hundred outstanding distributors and service providers took the stage to receive the awards, receiving thunderous applause and respect from the entire audience. They are the practitioners of industry transformation, the backbone of brand implementation, and the leaders in upgrading terminal services. 

This conference is not only a collision of ideas and a sharing of experiences, but also a gathering of confidence and a clarification of direction. As President Li Xinliang said: "I will convey everyone's grievances and suggestions to every brand owner, because I hope this industry to be better than anyone else does." 

Change is necessary to break through; advancement is the path to the future. Although the 2026 World Ceramics Business Conference has come to an end, the path of transformation for Chinese ceramicists is steadily moving forward.

On August 19th, the "Guangdong Products Travel the World" home appliances and furniture production and sales matchmaking city alliance's August special promotion event was launched at the Qianjinhu Exhibition Center in Longjiang Town, Shunde District, Foshan City. Relevant departments from Guangzhou, Zhuhai, Foshan, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Maoming and Zhanjiang, as well as home appliance and furniture enterprises participated in the event. This event was held concurrently and at the same location as the 50th International Dragon Furniture Exhibition and the 40th Asia International Home Industry Expo; at the same time, the upstream and downstream supply and demand matchmaking activities for home appliances and furniture industries were also held. The event was based on the strong industrial foundation of the Guangdong pan-home furnishing industry, leveraging the local leading professional exhibition platform, and built a dual platform for exhibition, sales promotion and precise matchmaking, helping enterprises expand markets, secure orders and improve their capabilities, and promoting the "Guangdong Products Travel the World" series of actions to continue to deepen and solidify. Party Secretary and Deputy Director of the Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology Chen Jing, Party Secretary of Foshan City and Secretary of Shunde District Chen Xinwen, and President of the World Furniture Federation, President of the Asia-Pacific Furniture Federation and President of the China Furniture Association Xu Xiangnan attended the event.

1. What is the current development trend of the Guangdong home appliance and furniture industry?

In his speech, Chen Jing pointed out that Guangdong has a solid foundation in home appliances. By 2025, the total revenue of the province's规模以上 furniture enterprises will reach 184.365 billion yuan， accounting for 30.1% of the national total； the revenue of the home appliance industry will reach 1443.649 billion yuan. The production of air conditioners， color TVs， kitchen and bathroom appliances， and lighting fixtures ranks first in the country. The national share of color TVs is 57.22%， and that of air conditioners is 34.75%. Every two color TVs and every three air conditioners in the country have one "made in Guangdong". Leading enterprises such as Midea， Gree， TCL， Opei， and MuSiS continue to lead the industry. The Guangdong home appliance and furniture industry has a complete industrial chain. From raw materials， core chips， motor controllers to complete machines， full-house interior decoration， exhibition and logistics， everything is available in Guangdong. Foshan and Dongguan have been approved as the only national Foshan-Dongguan Pan-House National Advanced Manufacturing Cluster， and Guangzhou has been rated as the global custom furniture capital. Zhongshan rosewood and Zhanjiang small appliances each have their own characteristics， and the local supporting radius is short， and the supply chain response is efficient. Foshan Shunde has formed a highly distinctive "front store-back factory， exhibition and trade integrated" model： Longjiang gathers thousands of furniture manufacturing and supporting suppliers， with the raw material procurement radius less than 10 kilometers， enabling "accepting orders in the morning， getting materials in the noon， and assembling and shipping in the afternoon". Lecong is the first in the country to be a "China Furniture Trade Capital"， and has been upgraded to a building-based， exhibition and trade-oriented global furniture procurement center. The characteristics of Guangdong's home appliance and furniture industry are obvious. Only Foshan Shunde has gathered over 3，000 home appliance supporting enterprises and thousands of furniture manufacturing enterprises. Zhongshan， Dongguan， and Huizhou have carried out differentiated development based on their respective strengths， forming a contiguous development pattern of industrial clusters worth hundreds of billions. The industrial agglomeration degree and specialization level are leading nationwide. The Guangdong home appliance and furniture industry is moving forward rapidly towards intelligence， integration， and high-endization. Currently， the industry is transforming towards home appliance + furniture and single products to full-house integrated solutions， promoting cross-brand equipment interconnection， and quickly implementing new products such as AI smart mattresses， integrated complete cabinets， and smart kitchen and bathroom. Whole-house intelligence has become a new growth engine. Midea has collaborated with Huawei and ZTE， focusing on full-house intelligence and terminal interconnection， and has laid out AI home. MuSiS， Gujia， and other furniture enterprises have connected with the HarmonyOS ecosystem， and have implemented products such as smart beds and smart sofas.

As the host city of this event， Foshan's pan-house industry products cover multiple categories such as building materials， doors and windows， bathrooms， cabinets， furniture， accessories， lamps， home appliances， and related services. The industrial output value of the pan-house cluster in the city has exceeded one trillion yuan. The production of home appliances accounts for one-fifth of the national total， and the production of furniture accounts for one-third of the national total. A number of well-known enterprises and brands such as Midea， Hisense， Wanhe， Mona Lisa， Arrow Home， Marco Polo， Weishan， Glan Shi， and Foshan Lighting have emerged. The production of refrigerators， air conditioners， water heaters， and aluminum profiles all rank first in the country. A complete and well-matched industrial system has been formed.

In recent years， Foshan has based itself on the advantages of traditional industries such as home appliances and furniture， and promoted the deep integration of artificial intelligence technology with the pan-house industry， accelerating its transition to the smart home sector. Foshan has been selected as a national pilot city for digital transformation of small and medium-sized enterprises and a manufacturing new technology transformation city pilot. Two national "digital leaders" enterprises and three "lighthouse factories" have been created. 80 digital and intelligent demonstration factories and over a hundred benchmark projects have been established. The industrial output value of the strategic pillar industry of intelligent home appliances exceeds 650 billion yuan. Midea has collaborated with Huawei and ZTE to deepen cooperation on full-house intelligence and terminal interconnection， and MuSiS， Gujia， and other furniture enterprises have connected with the HarmonyOS ecosystem， and smart beds and smart sofas have been implemented more quickly. The integration and development pace of the pan-house industry has continued to accelerate.

II. Focus on practical actions, Guangdong is fully promoting the mutual promotion of industry and trade, production and sales connection, and supply and demand collaboration to activate the domestic and foreign demand markets.

This event is based on the successful exhibition and trading platforms of the 50th International Dragon Furniture Exhibition and the 40th Asian International Home Industry Expo. It fully leverages the platform advantages of Longjiang as the national distribution center for furniture raw materials and a trading and exhibition hub. A total of 1,500 enterprises along the home appliance and furniture industry chain participated in the event. It is expected to attract around 500,000 visitors, promoting efficient circulation of people, logistics, and information.

This joint event of upstream and downstream supply and demand connection activities for the home appliance and furniture industry chain invited technology enterprises such as Huawei, ZTE Communications, Alibaba International Digital Business Group, Pinduoduo, as well as research and testing institutions such as Guangdong South China Home Appliance Research Institute, Guangdong Intelligent Home Appliance Innovation Center, Guangdong Quality Inspection and Testing Institute, and Weike Testing Technology Co., Ltd. They also engaged in face-to-face negotiations and exchanges with home appliance and furniture manufacturing enterprises such as Midea, Wanhe, and Arrow Home. During the event, all parties conducted special sharing and discussions on industry hotspots such as standard testing enabling high-quality development of the diversified home appliance industry chain, the implementation and application of AI voice smart home, and the efficacy evaluation of intelligent soft furnishing. They broke through the connection channels at the manufacturing, technology, testing, and distribution ends, and facilitated a number of cooperation intentions in supply chain support, channel distribution, and technical joint research.

III. Looking to the Future: What Should the Guangdong Home Appliance and Furniture Industry Do?

Chen Jing emphasized that the development of the home appliance and furniture industry is facing dual growth pressures from both domestic and foreign markets, including the continuous contraction of major real estate distribution channels. The key moving forward is to closely monitor the alignment of supply and demand, seize market opportunities, and focus on six potential development tracks to open up new growth spaces. We need to accelerate the development of the integrated home solution track, launch integrated home appliance and furniture packages, and provide spatial overall solutions to home decoration, real estate, and county-level distributors to enhance product value. We should deepen the production and sales linkage track, plan to organize no less than 20 supply-demand matching activities throughout the year, establish manufacturing enterprises to connect with national buyers and regular cross-border platforms, and open up both domestic sales and overseas export channels. We should continue to focus on the intelligent innovation track, promote the establishment of innovation consortia by home appliance, furniture, and AI enterprises, carry out challenge-and-award activities around full-house interconnection and the domestication of home appliance chips, encourage home appliance and furniture enterprises to integrate into the HarmonyOS ecosystem, and fill the gaps in intelligent hardware and system software. We should intensify efforts on the brand export track, integrate the regional public brand resources of "Guangdong Home Appliance" and "There's a Home in Foshan Made", and rely on "Guangdong Trade Travels Worldwide", Canton Fair, and cross-border e-commerce to promote the export of full-house integrated solutions, seize the global mid-to-high-end home furnishing market. We should deepen the expansion of the elderly and children's home furnishing track, develop specialized products such as elderly-friendly smart furniture, barrier-free kitchens and bathrooms, and children's growth-oriented furniture. We should support enterprises to jointly conduct scenario verification with medical institutions and elderly care institutions to activate new blue seas in the silver economy and parent-child consumption. We should accelerate the layout of the lightweight furniture track, accelerate the development of flat packaging, detachable, modular, and lightweight furniture products, and meet the demand for direct shipment to cross-border e-commerce packages and rapid delivery in county-level markets. We should support furniture enterprises in Foshan and Dongguan to research and develop bamboo and fast-growing material furniture that is environmentally friendly and low-carbon, and create a new green furniture brand for Guangdong.

IV. Plan and Act: How should Guangdong develop the home appliances and furniture industry?

Chen Jing emphasized that in the coming period, efforts should be made to tackle difficulties, reduce costs and increase efficiency, expand production capacity and increase output. We must really implement these measures and ensure practical results. The key lies in focusing on six aspects of work. First, we should enhance policy support. Continuously implement all relevant deployments for smart home appliances and domestic chip localization, promote industry empowerment, provide support for equipment renewal, design and research and development, etc., and reduce the transformation costs of enterprises. Support Foshan to be the first to carry out pilot projects for smart home applications, driving the gradual transformation of a large number of small and medium-sized enterprises. Second, we should focus on innovation breakthroughs. Relying on the provincial intelligent home appliance innovation center and various industrial design platforms, concentrate efforts to tackle unified interconnection standards for the entire home, domestic chips for home appliances, and flexible production lines for furniture, and connect the entire chain from research and development to pilot production and mass production. Third, we should focus on cluster collaboration. Coordinate the resources of clusters in Foshan, Zhongshan, and Dongguan, strengthen supply and demand connections, promote the opening of supply chains by leading enterprises, and drive the simultaneous upgrading of small and medium-sized supporting enterprises. Fourth, we should focus on market expansion. Regularly hold "Guangdong Trade Across the World" home appliance and furniture production and sales matchmaking events, carry out "Daily New Products" publicity and promotion, support the holding of China Home Appliance Expo, International Famous Furniture Exhibition, China Home Appliance Trade Fair, Guangzhou Customized Home Furnishings Exhibition, Longjiang Long Family Exhibition, etc., to promote enterprises to expand both domestic and foreign markets. Fifth, we should focus on platform cultivation. Strengthen the development of innovation platforms such as manufacturing innovation centers, create a number of characteristic industrial parks, intelligent factories, and green factories, cultivate manufacturing single champions, specialized and innovative enterprises, and develop a number of provincial-level and above consumption brands. Sixth, we should focus on ecological services. Regularly organize government and enterprise, supply and demand connection services, promote investment promotion and capital increase and expansion, improve public services such as testing and certification, intellectual property rights, logistics and finance, promptly solve problems of enterprise costs, orders, and financing, and create a stable and high-quality development environment.