Guzhen Town in Zhongshan, a small town covering less than 50 square kilometers, is a critical hub of the global lighting industry—70% of China’s lighting products and 50% of the world’s lighting products originate here, with an annual output value exceeding 100 billion yuan. For global lighting professionals, Zhongshan is not just a “manufacturing base” but also a core platform for efficiently connecting with supply chains and accessing innovative products.
I. Core Industrial Zones: Locate the “Source Production Areas” by Lighting Category
Zhongshan’s lighting industry has formed clear category-based zones, allowing global procurement to be precisely targeted:
★ Guzhen Core Area (Central Guzhen Town): A gathering place for high-end custom lighting, focusing on non-standard lighting for hotels and villas, and intelligent artistic chandeliers. Representative enterprises include Huayi Lighting and Opple Lighting (Guzhen Base). Products integrate materials such as crystal, metal, and fabric, supporting customization based on spatial needs, with unit prices ranging from $1,000 to $50,000.
★ Caosan Village – Haizhou Village (Guzhen Town): A core zone for LED commercial lighting, concentrating on the production of track lights, ceiling spotlights, and panel lights, suitable for supermarkets, shopping malls, and office buildings. Most enterprises provide ODM services, with bulk procurement unit prices ranging from $5 to $50 per unit, supporting CE and UL certification customization.
★ Henglan Town (Adjacent to Guzhen): An outdoor lighting industrial zone, mainly engaging in courtyard lights, street lights, and landscape floodlights. The waterproof rating generally reaches IP65 or above, suitable for municipal engineering and real estate projects. A representative enterprise is Mingyang Circuits (Outdoor Lighting Branch), which can undertake bulk orders starting from 1,000 units.
★ Xiaolan Town: A key town for lighting components, producing LED drivers, heat sinks, and optical lenses. Its supporting capacity covers 90% of lighting enterprises. The procurement cost of components is 15%-20% lower than that of other global bases, with a delivery cycle of 3-7 days.
★ Dongfeng Town: An affordable zone for household lighting, focusing on ceiling lights, downlights, and night lights, targeting the mass consumer market. Bulk procurement unit prices range from $2 to $20 per unit, suitable for cross-border e-commerce and chain home furnishing stores, supporting FBA first-mile delivery cooperation.
II. Innovation & Exhibitions: “Windows” for Efficiently Accessing the Latest Products
Smart Lighting Innovation: Leading enterprises focus on “lighting + IoT”. For example, the smart lighting products co-developed by Hongyan Lighting and Xiaomi support voice control via Alexa and Google Home, and can automatically adjust brightness by linking with temperature and humidity sensors. An intelligent experience showroom is set up in Guzhen Lighting Capital Building, where global buyers can make appointments for on-site testing.
Guzhen Lighting Fair: The world’s largest professional lighting exhibition, held in March and October every year. The 31st session in 2024 set up three main exhibition areas: Smart Lighting, Outdoor Lighting, and Components, attracting over 900 exhibitors and providing “exhibitor-buyer” precise matching services. Overseas buyers can pre-book factory visits through the official website (www.gdfair.com), and free shuttle buses from Guzhen to Guangzhou Baiyun Airport and Shenzhen Bao’an Airport are available during the exhibition.
III. Cross-Border Procurement: 3 Core Channels & Supporting Services
1. Cross-Border In-Stock Alliance
Initiated by Zhongshan Municipal Bureau of Commerce, it integrates over 200 high-quality factories and has overseas warehouses in Los Angeles (USA) and Duisburg (Germany). The stocked categories cover LED household lights, commercial lighting, and outdoor lights, supporting bulk orders starting from 100 units. The delivery time from overseas warehouses is 3-5 days. The procurement process can be completed online through the alliance platform (www.zs-lighting.org), supporting L/C and PayPal payments.
2. Cross-Border E-Commerce Platform Cooperation
★ Made-in-China.com: Over 1,200 Zhongshan lighting enterprises have settled here, with a dedicated “Zhongshan Lighting Zone”. It provides services such as product certification inquiry and factory inspection report download. Buyers can initiate online inquiries, and the platform guarantees transaction security.
★ Amazon Global Selling (Zhongshan Incubation Base): Targeting the North American and European markets, it provides FBA preparation guidance and VAT tax agency services to help factories quickly deploy cross-border retail. The base is located in Guzhen Cross-Border E-Commerce Industrial Park and can assist in handling product UL and CE certifications.
3. Offline Procurement Centers
Guzhen Lighting Capital International Procurement Center: A year-round physical procurement platform with over 500 settled suppliers. It has English service windows, providing translation, logistics connection, and customs declaration assistance. It supports on-site sample viewing and small-batch trial orders (minimum 10 units). A customs-supervised warehouse is set up within the center, enabling direct handling of export customs declarations.
Supply Chain Support: Zhongshan Port has launched “lighting dedicated trains”, with 3 departures per week directly to Yantian Port (Shenzhen) and Nansha Port (Guangzhou). The shipping time to major European and American ports is 25-35 days, and the logistics cost is 10% lower than that of bulk cargo transportation. There are over 10 professional lighting customs declaration companies locally, familiar with EU ERP energy efficiency directives and US DOE certification requirements, which can assist in handling customs clearance documents.
IV. Procurement Advice: 3 Keys to Reducing Risks
1. Factory Inspection & Sample Confirmation:
For initial cooperation, it is recommended to conduct factory inspections through third-party institutions such as SGS and Intertek, or entrust local procurement agents in Zhongshan (e.g., Zhongshan Foreign Trade Service Center) for on-site inspections. Samples should be checked for materials, light source parameters, and certification documents to avoid deviations in mass production.
2. Bulk Order Terms:
Clarify the delivery cycle (15-20 days for conventional products, 30-45 days for customized products), quality deposit (it is recommended to reserve 5%-10%, paid after acceptance), and after-sales terms (e.g., 2-year warranty for light sources, 3-year warranty for drivers).
3. Exchange Rate & Payment:
For long-term cooperation, a fixed exchange rate settlement cycle can be agreed upon (e.g., locking the exchange rate on the 1st of each month). For large-value orders, it is recommended to adopt the payment method of 30% advance payment + 70% payment against B/L copy to reduce capital risks.
Conclusion: Zhongshan – The “Supply Chain Partner” for Global Lighting Professionals
From precise category-based zones to mature cross-border services, Zhongshan provides a “one-stop solution” for global lighting procurement. Whether seeking high-end custom lighting or bulk purchasing cost-effective products, Zhongshan can meet the needs. With the upgrading of smart lighting and green lighting, Zhongshan continues to be a core hub for innovation and cooperation in the global lighting industry.