After a Year Doing It Alone, I Am Committing to WCB Expo for the Long Run

*A Chinese version of this letter was first published in July 2026, when exhibitor registration opened.*

WCB Expo 2026, our cleaning appliance industry conference and supply-chain exhibition, takes place from 18 to 20 November at Suzhou Shishan Convention Center. I do not want to write about it like a sales brochure. I want to explain why, after a year of making videos, running forums and organising shows, the anxiety I felt a year ago has turned into certainty that WCB is worth building for the long term.

*The exhibition floor at our Shenzhen show in March 2026.*

Twenty years, and a hard year

I have worked in cleaning appliances for 20 years. I started in vacuum cleaner export sales and sold more than a million units. In 2017 I began writing about the industry, and by 2018 people had started to know my name. In 2019 I raised investment and threw myself into developing cleaning products, some of which became hits, and I organised several industry gatherings in Suzhou and Shenzhen.

Along the way I met many brands, factories, component makers and industry friends, and I often introduced them to one another. I never treated that as a business. If an introduction saved someone a detour, that was enough.

Last year, though, I was very anxious. Product development kept getting more expensive, market prices kept falling, payment terms stretched longer and customer demands kept rising. The industry I had worked in for two decades no longer looked like the one I knew. I started asking myself where the future was if all I did was develop products and write articles.

It used to be that if you made a good product, found customers and shipped on schedule, things moved forward. Not any more. R&D, tooling, certification, inventory and channels all cost more, and customers expect more on price, lead time, features and service. The industry is still growing, but the old way of working no longer gives enough certainty.

Eventually I understood something. Articles can help people understand the industry, but they cannot introduce a factory to a key customer or help a brand find the right supplier. What the industry really lacks is effective connections. So I started making videos, running forums and organising trade shows.

Not alone

I did most of this work myself, but I was never really alone. Senior people at Dreame, Shunzao, Ecovacs, Roborock, Narwal and many other companies gave me support and sponsorship. Friends travelled from across the country to attend, and people I had never met volunteered to help with content, promotion and on-site work.

The hard part of an event is never booking the venue. Whether the speakers come, whether the brands and buyers are the right ones, whether exhibitors leave with something, whether problems get solved on the day: all of that comes down to specific people and specific work. I had to handle much of it one conversation at a time, which is why I value everyone who chose to trust WCB.

That moved me. The help I gave without expecting a return over the years was not wasted. Trust between people comes back at some point.

What a year of events produced

With everyone's help, we held two industry forums and two trade shows in the past year. Afterwards, companies reached customers they had not been able to contact before, others found suppliers, and some friends told me they had won orders worth several million yuan as a result. That convinced me that a show is not just about gathering people. What matters is creating real business between exhibitors, brands, buyers and supply-chain companies.

For every forum and show I ask the same questions. Why should exhibitors come? Why should buyers spend their time on site? Can speakers give people a useful judgement to take away, beyond the excitement of the day? If those questions have no answer, even a large event is just a get-together.

A bigger industry than it looks

Many people say the cleaning industry is brutally competitive. It is, but competition does not mean there is no opportunity. As I see it, the industry covers vacuum cleaners, robot vacuums, floor washers, robotic mowers, pool robots, air purification and commercial cleaning, together with finished-product manufacturing, components, channels, testing and certification, logistics and export services. It is extending from the home into gardens, pools and commercial spaces.

On that broad definition, I estimate the industry is worth less than RMB 300 billion today and could reach RMB 1 trillion within ten years. By industry estimates, Dreame has passed RMB 30 billion in revenue, and Roborock and Ecovacs are each approaching RMB 20 billion. I believe the opportunities will not stop with the leading brands. Manufacturers, component makers, technology companies and service providers will grow too.

The opportunity has never been in a single machine. When a brand grows, it needs stronger manufacturing, core components, software, channels, service and global capability. As garden, pool and commercial categories take off, they create new products and new supply-chain demand. Good companies across the supply chain can grow alongside the brands.

That is what I want to do: connect the people in this industry, help them avoid detours and create more real business. WCB is not just a trade show; it is a platform I intend to build for the long term.

The goal, and this year's show

I have said publicly that I want to make WCB a cleaning-industry show with the influence of IFA. It is a big goal, and I mean it. Within three years I hope to grow WCB Expo to 50,000 m². If the world's most competitive cleaning brands and supply chains are in China, the world's leading cleaning-industry show should be in China too.

Our past events were only a start. The last Shenzhen show covered about 3,500 m². The Suzhou show is planned at about 12,000 m², runs three days instead of two, and its standard booth grows from 6 m² to 9 m². We have also planned an exhibitors' networking dinner, buyer matchmaking, product launches, industry forums and an exhibitor directory, and we continue to invite brands, buyers, speakers and overseas customers.

*Buyer matchmaking at the Shenzhen show in March 2026.*

I care most about the networking dinner and the buyer matchmaking. Many partnerships are not agreed in a few minutes at a booth; they start with a more relaxed, deeper conversation. Many companies do not need another poster. They need a chance to explain their products, technology and capabilities clearly to real customers and partners. Product launches, forums and the exhibitor directory exist to keep those connections going after the show.

I want exhibitors to do more than stand at a booth for three days. I want them to meet the right people and leave with clearer customer leads, product feedback and industry judgement. And I want buyers and brands to use their limited time well: to meet suppliers, see new products and hear something worth hearing.

I cannot promise every company an order. I can promise to keep doing this the slow, sincere way: inviting companies one by one, connecting people one by one, and bringing more of the right people into the room.

If you make components, manufacture finished products, provide supply-chain services, or have a new product, technology or solution you want brands and buyers to see, come and meet us in Suzhou. Details are on the WCB Expo 2026 page, and the story of how WCB began is told in Building the World's No.1 Cleaning Show from Scratch.

Over the next ten years I hope to grow with all of you in what can become a trillion-yuan industry. From now on, we will hold WCB Expo in Suzhou every year, so that this time of year becomes the moment to meet old friends, exchange ideas and do business.

Thank you to everyone who has supported me. See you in Suzhou.