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| A STUDY ON PURCHASE STYLE OF TERMINAL CLIENTS IN MEGA EXHIBITION BUYING ACCOMMODATION PRODUCTS——A Case study of Canton Fair |
| LUO Qiu-ju1, YANG Juan2 |
1. School of Tourism Management, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China;
2. School of Tourism Management, Guangzhou City Polytechnic, Guangzhou 510405, China |
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Abstract Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province in China, is host to the biannual Canton Fair, which has been a comprehensive trade fair for importers and exporters since 1957. As a large-scale business activity, Canton Fair is held regularly in Guangzhou. It has a profound and lasting impact on the host city in the hotel industry. The purchase style of the terminal clients (exhibitors and buyers) buying accommodation products is different from the general business travelers and tourists, but the relative research is still rare. This study shows that:1) there are three purchase styles including self-purchase, bulk purchase leading by agency and paid by exhibitors. Among them, the exhibitors' purchase style is mainly bulk purchase leading by trade groups. The buyers' purchase style is mainly self-purchase. Paid by exhibitors is the special style that the buyers purchase accommodation products themselves. 2) agencies act as a notable feature in the bulk purchase. In this style, agencies and terminal clients form a buying center. Terminal clients play the role as users, influencers and decision makers, while agencies act as the implementation of bulk procurement on behalf of buying center. The bulk purchase style between exhibitors and buyers also has significant differences. There are significant differences of exhibitors and buyers lying in two aspects of the bulk purchase style. Firstly, the bulk purchase of the exhibitors is either compellent or half-compellent, while that of the buyers is absolutely voluntary. Secondly, there are circumstances when multi-agents exist during the bulk purchase of the exhibitors, which means that the overseas agency entrusts the relevant matters to another agency.
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Received: 18 November 2010
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2011, Vol. 26 
