3D printing, e-commerce top themes at Global Sources Electronics show conferences

Mike Bellamy, founder of PassageMaker and chairman of the China Sourcing Information Center, discussed best practices in sourcing from China. He distilled 15 years of experience in a presentation, which covered pitfalls as a result of lack of due diligence and detailed investigation. He shared tips on rooting out scams and identifying the right suppliers, and negotiating and building relationships with them.

At a conference on the connected digital life, Invisionate CEO George Stepancich discussed with buyers the crossroads at which analog to digital and physical to digital meets and is now fueling exponential technologies that will link all things. He backtracked to developments decade by decade from the 1970s to chart the advancements, which have brought into the open the Internet of Things, cloud computing, 3D printing, mobility, wearables, and connected homes and cars.

Charles Kirmuss, contributor/volunteer at the China Sourcing Information center, shared his experiences traveling the "Silk Road of Technology." He underscored a diligently prepared purchase order, which is the only area of control of a buyer in China, as the key to finding and building a relationship with the right suppliers, and benefiting from the market, price and other competitive advantages these China partners offer.

Lazada Group CEO Aimone Ripa Di Meana discussed with buyers the great opportunities in the online to offline or O2O market in Southeast Asia and shared his company's success in tapping this third macro trend in today's business. He emphasized the need for localization in order to boost capability to fulfill orders at the shortest possible time by overcoming challenges, including low credit card penetration, inefficient supply chains, inhibitive customs and tax regulations and embryonic Internet penetration in this region.