World’s Biggest Buyers Placing Larger Orders with Quality Suppliers

HONG KONG — /Xinhua-PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — The economic
slowdown in the West is not necessarily bad news for China suppliers, as
some discovered when attending the June 17 Private Sourcing Event: Digital
Personal Electronics hosted in Shenzhen by Global Sources (Nasdaq: GSOL) (
http://www.globalsources.com ).

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20030303/LNM011LOGO-b )

The Private Sourcing Event brought together 10 of the world’s largest
electronics buyers with combined annual sales of $190 billion.
Participating buyers met individually with 27 suppliers pre-screened by
Global Sources.

“Most buyers at the event seek to counter cost pressures by
consolidating their supply base and forming closer partnerships with the
suppliers they retain — while making their orders larger to gain a pricing
advantage,” said Global Sources COO, Craig Pepples. “The suppliers they
choose to work with are able to reap huge benefits.”

“As the economic outlook dims in some regions, Private Sourcing Events
are becoming increasingly popular with buyers. Some participants even told
us their China purchasing for North America is increasing tenfold this
year,” said Pepples.

This huge increase in purchasing for the U.S. was accomplished by
increasing purchases of private label products and by consolidating larger
orders with fewer suppliers.

Circuit City Vice President and General Manager, Jeric Ma, who
participated in the Private Sourcing Event, confirmed his company has been
increasing its orders from top suppliers in China. “Our imports to both the
U.S. and Canada operations increased very substantially in the first 5
months this year.

“Because of the pre-screening process that takes place beforehand, we
have more confidence in the suppliers we meet at Private Sourcing Events.
These events have been a great help to our China sourcing program –
helping us find more of the quality suppliers we need in far less time than
otherwise possible.”

China Remains Key Sourcing Base

Despite rising costs, electronics buyers remain bullish on China.

“Buyers in China face a host of problems including higher raw material
and shipping costs, a stronger Yuan, new labor laws, and continuing
concerns about quality, but none of our participating buyers is yet
considering a move to new areas, at least for electronics products,”
Pepples said. “In fact, one buyer told me only one of the products in his
portfolio is available elsewhere in Asia. The China electronics industry is
still extremely competitive because of quality and availability, despite
rising prices.”

To meet increased buyer demand, Pepples said Global Sources will double
the number of Private Sourcing Events to be held this year.

Buyers participating at the complimentary Private Sourcing Event:
Digital Personal Electronics were:

— Casino — France’s largest convenience store operator
— Circuit City — the second largest electronics retailer in the U.S.
— IPA — one of Spain and Portugal’s largest purchasing consortiums
— Kesa Electricals — Europe’s third-largest electronics retailing
group
— Markant — one of Europe’s largest trading cooperatives
— Office Depot — one of the world’s largest office product retailers
— RadioShack — the third-largest US electronics chain
— Staples — the world’s largest office products retailer
— Target (Australia) — one of Australia’s largest retailers
— Woolworths (Australia) — the largest retailer in Australia
Eighty Global Sources Private Sourcing Events have been scheduled for
2008, with dozens of buyers including Best Buy, Carrefour, Circuit City and
Lowe’s confirmed to participate. A list of upcoming Private Sourcing Events
is available at http://www.PrivateSourcingEvents.com .

Suppliers wishing to participate should contact csm@globalsources.com .

Specialized Global Sources Websites, Face-to-Face Events and Trade
Magazines

Private Sourcing Events are part of the company’s portfolio of brands
for sourcing and product information services, which include Global Sources
Online ( http://www.globalsources.com ), China Sourcing Fairs (
http://www.chinasourcingfair.com ), Global Sources monthly magazines and
Global Sources Direct ( http://www.GlobalSourcesDirect.com ).

For more information about Global Sources’ products and services to
connect quality buyers and quality suppliers, visit
http://corporate.globalsources.com .

About Global Sources

Global Sources is a leading business-to-business media company and a
primary facilitator of trade with Greater China. The core business is
facilitating trade from Greater China to the world, using a wide range of
English-language media. The other business segments facilitate trade from
the world to Greater China, and trade within China, using Chinese-language
media.

The company provides sourcing information to volume buyers and
integrated marketing services to suppliers. It helps a community of over
700,000 active buyers source more profitably from complex overseas supply
markets. With the goal of providing the most effective ways possible to
advertise, market and sell, Global Sources enables suppliers to sell to
hard-to-reach buyers in over 230 countries.

The company offers the most extensive range of media and export
marketing services in the industries it serves. It delivers information on
2.6 million products and more than 195,000 suppliers annually through 14
online marketplaces, 13 monthly magazines, over 100 sourcing research
reports and 9 specialized trade shows which run 27 times a year across
eight cities.

Suppliers receive more than 32 million sales leads annually from buyers
through Global Sources Online ( http://www.globalsources.com ) alone.

Global Sources has been facilitating global trade for 37 years. Global
Sources’ network covers more than 69 cities worldwide. In mainland China,
Global Sources has over 2,100 team members in more than 44 locations, and a
community of over 1 million registered online users and magazine readers
for Chinese-language media.

Global Sources Press Contact in Asia:
Camellia So
Tel: +852-2555-5021
Email: cso@globalsources.com

Global Sources Investor Contact in Asia:
Investor Relations Department
Tel: +852-2555-4777
Email: investor@globalsources.com

Global Sources Press Contact in U.S.:
James W.W. Strachan
Tel: +1-480-664-8309
Email: strachan@globalsources.com

Global Sources Investor Contact in U.S.:
Christiane Pelz & Kirsten Chapman
Lippert/Heilshorn & Associates, Inc.
Tel: +1-415-433-3777
Email: investor@globalsources.com

SOURCE Global Sources