China News Client, Beijing, July 10 (Reporter Wu Tao) How difficult is it for foreign trade companies? Many companies had zero orders in the first quarter, but in the second quarter they faced the dilemma of not receiving new orders.
In the context of supporting export products to enter the domestic market, recently, many e-commerce platforms have launched foreign trade zones or channels. A batch of inexpensive foreign trade goods such as clothing, toys, shoes and bags have been launched. Are you interested?
The export of an e-commerce platform is transferred to the domestic sales area. Screenshot
Orders from foreign trade companies have fallen sharply, and some have been forced to stop work
The reporter learned in the interview that the foreign trade enterprises had been struggling in the first half of the year. Many companies had zero orders in the first quarter, and some enterprises were in a new dilemma in the second quarter because there were some 2019 final orders in the first quarter, but after March With the changes in the overseas epidemic situation, new orders cannot be received, facing the dilemma of resuming work and stopping work.
Guangdong Kaidi Apparel Co., Ltd., which originally had a foreign trade export value of 50 million yuan a year, told a reporter from Zhongxin.com that due to the company's misjudgment of the overseas epidemic situation, the production was not suspended in time, resulting in a large inventory backlog and the failure to fulfill orders. Almost zero.
Since March this year, Yangzhou Shuguang Toothbrush Factory, which focuses on overseas markets, has seen its foreign trade orders drop by more than 30%. "Raw materials are piled up in warehouses, tens of millions of orders and millions of sales are frozen in an instant, and more than 400 workers are worried."
Chen Yujian, the principal of Quanzhou Haokai Trading Co., Ltd., which mainly deals in sports apparel, said in an interview with a reporter from China News that all the company’s major foreign orders were suspended in the first quarter. This is not the most fatal problem. At the factory, then cash flow problems.
Ordos City is "China's Top 100 Foreign Trade City", there are many foreign trade enterprises in the local area. On June 30, Bai Yun, chairman of Erdos Keerqi Cashmere Clothing Co., Ltd., said that this sudden epidemic caused the company to suspend production and work for more than two months, the order volume fell sharply, and the company faced serious challenges.
Foreign trade is transferred to domestic sales, and workers are at work. For image
Multiple e-commerce online trade channels or special zones! did you buy it?
In order to help foreign trade enterprises overcome difficulties and promote the basic stability of foreign trade, on June 22, the "Implementation Opinions of the General Office of the State Council on Supporting the Transfer of Exported Products to Domestic Sales" was released to support export products to enter the domestic market, and support domestic sales through multiple channels. Encourage foreign trade companies to connect to e-commerce platforms and set up special zones for foreign trade products based on various online shopping festivals.
Recently, several e-commerce platforms have launched foreign trade channels or special zones. On the 2nd, Taobao Special Edition launched its foreign trade channel. According to reports, this is the first channel-level foreign trade zone in the entire network.
The above channels gather 145 industrial belts and 2,000 foreign trade factories across the country, and most of these factories are produced by world-famous OEMs. For example, watches manufactured for Disney, knives for Zwilling, apparel for Uniqlo, and so on.
Since April 2020, Beijing and Tokyo Xize has planned a number of large-scale marketing activities, including Chenghai, Quanzhou, Shenzhen, Dongguan and other foreign trade-oriented industrial belts, covering toys, apparel and underwear, sports shoes and bags, 3C home appliances, and home life. Large categories, and this year's "18.18" online trade zone.
Pinduoduo has also signed strategic cooperation with Ningbo, Qingdao, Dongguan, Quanzhou and other coastal foreign trade cities to help local foreign trade companies switch to the domestic e-commerce market, and recently signed a contract with Ordos.
Data map. Photo courtesy of interviewed companies
Do consumers accept it? It’s cheap, but the quality is too bad
Are domestic consumers interested in the conversion of e-commerce platform's foreign trade to domestic products? A consumer told a reporter from Chinanews.com that it does not matter whether the foreign trade is transferred to domestic sales. It mainly depends on the quality and price of the goods, and will not be entangled with whether the enterprise did foreign trade.
There are also consumers saying that the brands that focus on the domestic market are very mature and have a variety of commodities. "I prefer to buy familiar ones.
Foreign trade enterprises also encountered some problems reflected by consumers. Zheng Guibin, general manager of Kaidi Apparel Business Department, said in an interview with a reporter from China News that the standards and style of products exported abroad, such as toys, are still different from the domestic market, and it is still very difficult to integrate into the domestic market.
"Originally, if you go to the Middle East market, your clothes may cost a few dollars a piece. If you transfer to the domestic market, very cheap and inferior products will not be able to go at all, and it is difficult to sell them. ". Some foreign trade companies said.
The reporter noticed that many foreign trade channels or special zones are opened on the e-commerce platform "special edition" or the main cost-effective projects, such as Taobao special edition. Jingxi is also a major commodity price-performance project of Jingdong. On the above two platforms, many commodities come from C2M (direct user manufacturing).
In addition, in terms of commodities, in the first half of the year, many foreign trade companies mainly cleared their inventories, that is, they sold whatever they had. Many companies said that "the inventory has been almost cleared." Therefore, foreign trade enterprises that are truly suitable for the Chinese market may not see it until the second half of the year.
Kaidi factory. Photo courtesy of interviewed companies
The second half is the home of clothing? Online transformation is very important!
As mentioned above, the conversion of foreign trade to domestic sales is not just about selling the original products. Foreign trade enterprises are inevitably facing transformation in many aspects such as marketing objects, logistics, and marketing methods.
"We made some attempts to take community group purchases, and the results were average at the time. Later, we found that the e-commerce platform had an inventory clearing section, which was not suitable for domestic sales, so we sold them by clearing inventory." Zheng Guibin said.
Zheng Guibin said, "In addition to clearing inventory, our design concept is also changing for the domestic market. For example, for foreign trade home apparel, the original exported pajamas are mainly solid colors, and now match some national tide elements in it, it looks younger. At one point, prices have also dropped, which is more in line with the younger group."
In addition, the sales methods have to change. Chen Yu insisted, "The change in foreign trade to domestic sales, especially the change in sales methods. Originally customers placed orders as a whole batch of production, wholesale goods, and now customers place an order one by one, and we are slowly adapting to the change in form. "
"The platform will guide foreign trade companies on how to operate the domestic market." Relevant person in charge of Jingxi said that through analysis of user big data, user portraits, user consumption habits, etc., they learned that the market demand for parent-child household clothing in emerging markets is greater. With parent-child home apparel as a cut-in entrance, create a popular celebrity parent-child model.
The reporter learned in the interview that after many foreign trade enterprises switched to domestic sales, the situation improved a little bit. Haokai Trade's foreign trade export value was 8 million yuan last year, and this year it has been transferred to domestic sales so far, with sales of 3 million yuan. As the first new merchant participating in the e-commerce "6.18", Kaidi Clothing sold over 400,000 orders during the "6.18" period, with sales exceeding 8 million yuan.
"The second half is the home of apparel. According to the current online development trend, online sales this year can completely exceed last year's exports." Zheng Guibin said. (Finish)