Changes and implications of China's trade show industry in the pandemic era - focusing on the digital transformation of the trade show industry

It has been over a year since the outbreak of COVID-19, but we are still living in the ‘Corona Pandemic’. This pandemic has had a severe impact on all parts of society and the trade show industry has not been immune from it. In particular, as the trade show industry relies on people meeting, concerns over the spread of infectious diseases are making people avoid trade shows. Against this backdrop, China, which leads the Asian trade show industry, is wisely coping with this crisis despite being the first country to have the coronavirus by holding trade shows in various offline and online forms. Therefore, this study tried to understand the implications of the Korean trade show industry through China’s response to and change in dealing with such a pandemic. As a result of this study, it was confirmed that digital innovation exists at the center of the changes to China's trade show industry, and the key to the digital transformation of China’s trade show industry can be expressed as ‘the combination of exhibition and digital technology’. In other words, regardless of the form of the trade show, the focus is on the use of digital technology to achieve the essence of the trade show. ‘Cloud Fair’ and ‘Live Commerce’ are representative examples of the digital transformation of China’s trade show industry. The digital transformation of the trade show industry does not mean simply holding trade shows online. Instead, it means that digital technology plays a significant role as a platform for facilitating transactions and complementing the limitations and shortcomings of the existing trade shows through the convergence of online and offline characteristics. Collaboration with digital platform operators is also essential for the convergence of these digital technologies and trade shows. Thus, for the continuous development of the trade show industry in the pandemic era, it is necessary to utilize various digital technologies that activate transactions between sellers and buyers. It should be kept in mind that this is the true meaning of the digital transformation of the trade show industry.