China News Service, June 1st, according to the "European Times" report, the UK's epidemic situation has entered a downward trend since May, and the ban has been gradually lifted. The British anti-epidemic has come all the way, and the Chinese industry has gone through "cold winter" and has made every effort to adjust and fight back: the catering industry and the tourism industry hide their glory, online clothing and logistics are counter-current in a small range; Life is half the sky; the construction industry abides by the epidemic prevention regulations and insists on working; Chinese media work overtime and work to give full play to the role of information bridge; Chinese people are gradually adapting to work from home. From the stories of ordinary people, you can get a glimpse of the Chinese industry under the British epidemic.
The Chinese catering industry is striving for innovation in the epidemic
Speaking of eating and drinking, Chinese food always occupies an unshakable position on the British food list, but during the closure of the city, the Chinese food industry was hit hard. Mr. Chen, the owner of a rice noodle shop near Liverpool Street in London, also shared with reporters the operation of the restaurant during the epidemic.
Mr. Chen founded this rice noodle shop in early 2019. What makes him proud is that after continuous research and development of recipes and improving food quality, this young shop has become a word of mouth among nearby international students in a short time. "Internet Red Shop". "When the first death case occurred in our shop in the UK, the number of Chinese customers plummeted, and the number was directly reduced by half the next day," Mr. Chen said. The epidemic directly affected the core customer source of this shop.
In the face of the status quo, Mr. Chen is still calm: "There may still be business during the epidemic. Once a large number of international students are unblocked, they will return to China immediately. It may be difficult for international students in the country to come to the UK in a short period of time. A big problem. Coupled with the summer vacation itself is the off-season ... "He also revealed to reporters that a familiar Chinese restaurant owner is also facing the dilemma of going bankrupt due to the epidemic.
But when it comes to the future development after the epidemic, Mr. Chen is optimistic that as an entrepreneur in the 80s and 90s, he believes that through his sharp insight into the market, timely adjustments can quickly recover. Due to the sudden decrease in the number of international student groups before, he plans to start from the taste to be more localized, attracting a diversified customer base that mainly focuses on local customers. At the same time, the "Bounce Back Loans" provided by the British government and wage subsidies for corporate employees The aid plan also provided some help to overcome the difficulties.
Although Mr. Chen was forced to halt dine-in and delivery during the epidemic, the takeaway as a whole became the backbone of the catering industry during the epidemic. Not only fried rice and dishes have been moved online, but hot pot also launched a large-scale delivery business during this period.
Although Haidilao has not opened for business in the UK for less than a year, since the epidemic began to spread, it quickly adjusted to the situation and launched delivery services. The person in charge of Haidilao told reporters that on January 23, the group set up a prevention and control team, invited expert consultants in China and Singapore, and established an expert advisory group on epidemic prevention to help establish an epidemic prevention organizational structure and take care of store employees in accordance with protection standards.
Haidilao Headquarters formulated the corresponding precautionary requirements with the help of anti-epidemic experts. For example, customers need to take temperature measurements and spray medical alcohol for disinfection, all employees need to take body temperature every day, and environmental equipment needs to be strictly disinfected. Employees wear masks Go to work.
On March 20, the early period of the closure of the city, Haidilao's British stores stopped the supply of dine-in food according to the British government's prevention and control deployment. However, in early March, Haidilao gradually “delivered” the hot pot to the guests ’homes in need—through“ contactless distribution ”, consumers could make reservations through the Haidilao WeChat applet and delivery software.
Based on the customer's home cooking needs, Haidilao's British store has also introduced convenient dishes, which are made up of the main ingredients, auxiliary ingredients and sauce packages of a dish into semi-finished products, which can be used by consumers after simple processing.
The tourism industry meets the "cold winter" and "dormant" while increasing knowledge
The tourism industry is one of the mainstream industries of the British and Chinese, and it was hit harder in this epidemic. Zhang Yu, deputy general manager of Hainuo Travel, told reporters that Hainuo is mainly engaged in B2B (business-to-business) local agency services for British destinations and B2C (business-to-consumer consumer) group agency services in the UK market, respectively serving domestic group agency customers And Chinese and international students in the UK.
The tourism industry needs a very stable social environment to maintain its operations. On the one hand, it is due to safety concerns, and on the other hand, it is the concerns of the group ’s guests and the reduction in the willingness to travel. Hainuo stopped all the group business in the British market.
Tourism is the hardest hit area in the industry affected by the epidemic, and tourism companies such as Hainuo, which is a British ground connection and a British group, are the hardest hit areas in the hardest hit area. The customer and supplier communicate and take measures such as cancellation, extension, and refund. At the same time, during the period of arranging employees to work at home and rest, they also arranged online training, and strive to find sideline opportunities to try to make up for the loss of income. In addition, the company adjusts the planning arrangement once a month according to the development of the epidemic situation.
Zhang Yu believes that before the New Coronary Pneumonia epidemic is "cleared" within the UK, it is difficult for the company to resume normal business. In view of the uncertainty of the current epidemic, it cannot be ruled out that it will continue to be a "winter winter" in the foreseeable future.
Zhang Yu said, "As soon as the epidemic has passed, we can immediately reinvigorate the team to work and resume normal operations in the past. During the epidemic, we will also maintain targeted training for the team and continue to dig deeper into destination resources and develop new Products, and strive to bring better service and travel experience to customers after returning to normal. "
Zhang Yu said that the prevention and control of the UK epidemic is a protracted war, and it has a considerable and very lasting impact on Chinese companies in the UK, especially tourism. He hopes that the British government will continue to pay attention to these companies and continue to provide help.
Chinese logistics industry seeks transformation and seeks breakthrough
During the epidemic, Chinese industries were generally hit by a tremendous impact. The only thing that "reversed the way" seems to be the logistics industry. When a large number of international students hope to send luggage back to China or store it, the logistics industry seems to become the "sweet and sour" in the eyes of everyone overnight, but Andy, the head of Hailong International Logistics and Transportation Group who has been engaged in the logistics industry for many years, told reporters since 3 The bitter story of the Chinese logistics industry that began in the middle of the month.
Like Boss Chen ’s restaurant, 90% of Hailong ’s customers are international students, so when a large number of orders come in, they also face two major challenges—customs clearance and understaffing. First of all, a large number of temporarily added baggage lists need to be communicated with the customs. In addition, due to objective factors such as flight restrictions, the price of air freight rises, and it is common to double or triple the price. The timeliness of the entire logistics industry has also dropped significantly.
Secondly, "This year's situation is special. International students in previous years are relatively stable. The peak season is from April to July, but this year from mid-March, especially before the closure of the UK and two weeks before the peak of the epidemic. Many international students need to be shipped back home. Baggage, there is no enough manpower, "Andy said," Many employees and children need to bring their children at home when they are closed. There are also many customers who constantly contact customer service due to flight changes. At that time, I woke up every morning from 9 to 12 o’clock. WeChat There are more than a thousand unread messages every day, which is very stressful. "
Since the main source of tourists is international students, Andy said that the situation of enrollment in and after the fall is not optimistic. Compared with local logistics in the UK, Chinese logistics is inevitably affected and affected more. From a macro perspective, the logistics industry has indeed developed rapidly during the epidemic. According to Andy's observation, the business of local logistics companies in the UK has surged, and the delivery services of shopping sites such as Amazon and fresh food and grocery stores are very popular. "Many British people were not very original. Passionate about online shopping, and now they are all on the line. "
Therefore, the Chinese logistics industry, which focuses on baggage delivery, also had to think about the transformation after the epidemic. Andy told reporters that he currently plans to expand business diversity and consider cooperating with local Chinese supermarkets to carry out distribution business. Although the British government ’s aid funds have played a role Certainly help, but hope to develop more diverse customer groups in the future.
Online clothing brands that do n’t want to fight the price war
Wang Yajing, the founder of Miss Patina, a British vintage clothing company founded in the UK for 11 years, also showed reporters the dilemma faced by the clothing industry during the epidemic. In particular, Miss Patina mainly focuses on e-commerce sales. Instead, it went upstream during the epidemic and won relatively more living space.
Wang Yajing said that the entire fashion retail industry has been hit hard, a large amount of clothing is backlogged in warehouses, many brands cancel orders, and there are also arrears or even refused to pay the final payment of the order. Fortunately, as the main online sales brand, although sales in physical stores cannot be carried out, it has been maintained online. Coupled with the new and old models and the main promotion of classic styles suitable for working at home, Miss Patina can be flexible Respond to the impact of the epidemic.
However, because fashion has seasonal restrictions, the backlog of spring styles cannot be delivered in summer, which is a common dilemma for everyone. Wang Yajing admitted that she also canceled about 10% of orders in order to reduce pressure.
During the epidemic, the Internet has become the main battlefield for various industries to unfold at the same time. Wang Yajing, who is well versed in online operations, has also achieved unexpected gains by interacting with customers on social media. She said, "Originally, e-commerce needs to interact with everyone on social media, which is even more so at this time. In my opinion, the brand is not only as simple as selling things, but also taking social responsibility is something we must do."
Cats are the most representative features of Miss Patina. The kittens written by Wang Yajing also become ambassadors. The tips of the British National Medical Service System (NHS) appear on Miss Patina ’s social platforms and websites as kittens. At the same time, in order to encourage everyone to stay at home, Miss Patina also selected some customers who showed their "home home" activities to provide them with discounts. Many participating users said that wearing a cute cat felt very cured.
Emphasizing customer stickiness is an important business philosophy Wang Yajing has always upheld. Although the epidemic has brought huge opportunities for digital marketing, she does not want to fight a "price war." She said: "I know that my market and target customer base are in Which, as an independent designer niche brand of non-mass commercial street, I do n’t want to be the first, but I want to be the only one. ”
Therefore, even after worrying that most apparel companies will "return blood" through price reductions, discounts and other promotional measures after the epidemic, squeezing the survival space of other brands with strong prices, Wang Yajing still always wants to give design culture connotation and let every story behind design give clothing Life connects with the wearer to gain the heartfelt love of clothes.
Chinese supermarkets increase online business for the convenience of Chinese
UKCNSHOP (UKCNSHOP) is a large-scale online mall established for more than ten years. The company's sources of goods come from all over the world, and the goods are mainly sold to all parts of the UK and some European countries. The main products include popular snacks from China and traditional Chinese food. .
Since the implementation of the "closing the city" measures in the UK at the end of March, the orders of U-Shop have increased significantly and the frequency of delivery has increased, which has slowed down the delivery speed. Originally, it only took 2-3 days for delivery time, and 4-5 days for delivery during the epidemic.
In addition, the return of a large number of international students, the increase in supplier prices and the increase in transportation costs have caused some commodity prices in the mall to rise reasonably. However, since the closure of the UK, the company ’s employees have not been reduced, and even new employees have joined. In response to this, the customer service of Youxi Mall explained: "During the epidemic, the company opened up new businesses in Germany, France and other European countries, and has a larger market, so it needs more people to join."
At the beginning of May, after the relaxation of anti-epidemic measures in the United Kingdom, the order volume of Youxi Mall has decreased, but the delivery efficiency has been greatly improved, and the goods can reach all parts of the UK within two days. Regarding the recovery plan in the later stage of the epidemic, "Jumping Sugar" stated that the company has recently set up a marketing department in an effort to do more promotion and publicity work for the company on major media platforms. "During the epidemic, we saw the potential of the UK and European markets, and we intend to work hard on the popularity to let more customers understand us," he added. The official account of Youxi Mall has been launched on WeChat and Weibo, and it is currently planning to expand to platforms such as Xiaohongshu and Douyin.
Regarding the advantages of the mall brand, "Jiaotiaotang" said that Youxi has a wide selection of products, and it is aimed at groups not only international students and Chinese in the UK, but also local British people who come to shop, which will help the company to recover Period of development. However, "Jumping Sugar" also mentioned some shortcomings that need to be overcome in the future: "The company's warehouse is in Southampton. In addition to the city that can be transported on the same day, other regions need to send logistics, and delivery efficiency is not as good as some local China Supermarket or local supermarket in the UK. "
Boss He has lived in the UK since 1994 and currently runs a Chinese supermarket called Deyixing in Sheffield. During the epidemic, Deyixing, like most Chinese Super League players, turned to order delivery. Sometimes, some customers who order will also recommend boss He to open the store with confidence, saying that in the Chinese store, everyone is doing a good job of protection, so there is no problem. "(Customers say) I'm going to pick and choose something slowly. After thinking about it, I opened the door two days ago." Boss He said.
Boss He shared a hoarding story that made him cry and laugh: "When I first heard of (Fengcheng), people came to buy. After a period of time, one person asked too much after returning too much. "Although the returned goods cannot be sold again, Boss He replied," Well, then return a little. "
"Later, there are fewer students, and they are returning to China one after another. At present, there is a lot of cargo pressure, and it will expire after half a year of unsellable, and the loss is very large, so it starts to make a 20% discount. Let ’s sell it all. ”For the outbreak of the British epidemic, Mr. He said that the source of Chinese supermarkets is mainly foreign students, and there are few local customers in the UK. Therefore, it has a great impact on the British Premier League in Germany.
Fortunately, the British government has also promulgated some policies to support small shops like Deyixing. "Originally, there was 10,000 pounds of land tax, which is now exempted. In addition, because the land tax was usually paid, the British government now sent me 25,000 pounds to support me unconditionally and continue to open the store."
In addition, during the epidemic, Deyixing applied for the "work security plan" launched by the United Kingdom, which was reduced from four employees to two. The wages of the two employees temporarily suspended are paid 80% by the British government, and the employer is responsible for 20%. "This treatment is really good. These two (temporarily suspended) girls, I will still hire them after the epidemic." He said this.
Regarding future plans, boss He said: "If the epidemic is stable or the vaccine is developed and the students come back slowly, the store will continue to open, and the big deal will not be re-stocked. If the epidemic is still not optimistic and the students have returned home, I will take things It ’s all sold, it ’s closed, and it ’s okay to rest for two years. ”He added:“ Just follow the British government ’s policies. ”
For 2020, Boss He originally had many visions. He had set up a new store in the neighborhood street for a long time, and planned to open a multi-functional store specifically for Chinese students. In addition to the rich variety of Chinese food, hand-made stalls such as snacks and milk tea will also be opened. Now, this new store, which has been renovated to 70%, can only be forced to suspend.
"Games" between the Chinese community in Britain and the epidemic
The New Coronary Pneumonia epidemic has a great impact in the UK and even the world. Feng Zhaoxiong, the center manager of the "Easlington Chinese Association" in London, said that under the government ’s restrictive order, not only all community centers in the UK need to be temporarily closed. Restaurants and Chinese supermarkets must also be closed. Can not eat in restaurants, Chinese supermarkets can only provide limited delivery service, which has a lot of impact on Chinese life.
As a 34-year-old Chinese community center and charity volunteer service organization, when the new crown virus has not spread, the "Eslington Chinese Association" center has carried out a series of cleaning and anti-epidemic work, including providing all visitors can enjoy The free disinfectant hand sanitizer and paper towels will also be sent to visitors ’face masks for free if needed; news and notices about the UK epidemic will be announced and updated every lunchtime to remind everyone to avoid community infections.
Under the New Coronary Pneumonia epidemic, the elderly are the most severely affected. As an organization serving the Chinese, Qiu Yuyun, chairman of the London Chinese Community Center, and Feng Zhaoxiong, the center manager of the "Easlington Chinese Association" in London, both told reporters that the center has special Arrange employees who are responsible for calling and communicating with the elderly regularly, and do their best to meet the psychological and material needs of the elderly. If an elder reflects the need for materials, the center will send people to help as soon as possible.
Feng Zhaoxiong said that even though the center was temporarily closed two months ago, all employees of the center office continue to "work from home" and have a mobile phone hotline, so that members, the public and the outside world can closely contact the association and provide timely help. The staff of the association do their duties and provide the information shared by the staff of the center every week, a bilingual newsletter called "One Note", so that members can understand the current status of the center and have close contact with the center.
In addition, although offline activities have been cancelled or postponed, the Chinese Community Center and the "Eslington Chinese Association" have continued to organize online teaching classes on culture, arts, physical fitness, language, etc. during the outbreak to continue their services The needs of the community enrich the home life of members. The case of racial discrimination against the Chinese was intensified by the epidemic. Qiu Yuyun said that the community center also communicates with the London Police Department. Both sides are very concerned about the Chinese in the UK and attach great importance to this incident.
"Easlington Chinese Association" also produced a piece of information, feelings and shared information provided by the association's staff and members, and produced a video called "Tomorrow will be better", on the one hand, praise the people working on the front line, including NHS medical staff, delivery drivers, garbage collection workers ... and other heroes behind the scenes, on the other hand, also expressed the determination of the Islington Chinese Association to fight against the epidemic and remind them how to make good anti-epidemic facilities.
After the epidemic, Feng Zhaoxiong said that he would pay more attention to the center's public health and hygiene and continue to cooperate with government guidelines to avoid the resurgence of immunization. The epidemic will bring changes to society. "The association's future planning must also be based on the current trend of the epidemic in order to plan well." Feng Zhaoxiong said that when necessary, he may seek funding from the government and relevant funding agencies to let the association's The development is more in place, more realistic and more perfect.
Chinese employees: "The epidemic may make home work the mainstream of the future"
Mr. Lu, who has worked in the UK automotive industry for many years, also shared his views with reporters. He said that the British auto industry as a whole was hit hard during the epidemic, and sales in April decreased by 90% year-on-year. Mr. Lu is responsible for automotive product development. He believes that although scientific research and development are subject to objective restrictions and slow down, if they can maintain maximum mechanization and fully automated operations, they can steadily carry out their current work on the basis of keeping everyone safe.
Mr. Lu mentioned that since the epidemic began to spread, everyone has communicated through online meetings, working from home, time and working methods are new models, and need to adapt to find the best rhythm. How to re-manage and plan is very important so that the work can be completed efficiently and with quality and quantity.
At the same time, it also made him start thinking about whether many jobs can be done at home. "This epidemic has forced us to practice homework on a large scale in an invisible way. In addition to the negative impact, what positive signals and feedback can we get from the epidemic," Mr. Lu said, even if the epidemic passed, there may be a lot of work. Can continue the current form.
Online car selection is an important part of the synchronous adjustment between enterprises and individuals. Mr. Lu told reporters that now customers do not have to go to the store to choose in person. Online car selection not only facilitates customers during special periods, but also reduces the impact on sales, so that everyone can maintain In the case of social distance to meet customer needs.
Talking about how the industry rebounded and recovered after the epidemic, Mr. Lu believes that as one of the main transportation modes of residents ’lives, its demand is highly consistent with the law of supply and demand, so even if there is a short-term adjustment to promote consumption, it will still need to be considered in the long run. After improving production and consumption, it has more potential and power to recover.
Mr. Lu said that he is very grateful to the embassy and various Chinese organizations for their help, so that everyone can continue to live more steadily during the epidemic. The guidelines and opinions of the British government also provide important directions for individuals to adapt to the status quo and the company's future rebound.
Chinese Construction Industry: "We are still fighting to protect ourselves"
Mr. Chen, who has been in the UK for more than 15 years, owns a Chinese construction team, and Chinese customers account for a large proportion. The projects undertaken include commercial and residential, long-term teams stationed in London, and the business scope often extends to Wales, hundreds of kilometers away, central England and even north.
Master Chen told reporters that for the Chinese construction industry, the overall impact of the epidemic is not particularly great because most of the projects under construction are uninhabited. In addition, when the epidemic in China began, many construction teams have also closed work ahead of time, isolated for a period of time, and reduced the acceptance of some new projects. "We still pay attention to it. Projects with owners on the construction site have basically been shut down. Most of the empty construction sites have workers working at a distance. However, we still hope that the epidemic will pass as soon as possible, because many customers have canceled the second half of this year. Some construction contracts. "
The impact after the closure of the city is more due to the delay in the supply of various building materials, resulting in delays in the construction period. The owner, Ms. Li, told reporters that the expansion project of her home had just started in February, and she had found a Chinese construction team. It was originally planned to be completed within 8 weeks, but by the end of May, the entire expansion project was only half completed.
In the English-Chinese media: "Give full play to the role of media information bridge in the epidemic"
Li Qiang, the head of the British branch of the local Chinese-language media "European Times", introduced that the English-Chinese media includes paper and online media. Due to the closure of the city, Chinese people generally seldom go out, and the frequency of reading newspapers is reduced, so the paper media is seriously affected by the epidemic. In addition, in the UK, tourism, catering and other Chinese pillar industries have been greatly affected. For online media, advertising revenue has shrunk.
Although the city was closed in the UK, all the work of the branch is still proceeding step by step, including paper media, online media, and online activities. Li Qiang said, "In fact, we started to make adjustments before the epidemic, and transform from offline to online." The British branch is very active in various social and media platforms at home and abroad, including traditional online platforms such as WeChat, Weibo, Facebook, Twitter, as well as the popular short video platforms Douyin and Tiktok in recent years.
The British government has recently begun to relax the closure of the city. When it comes to resuming the operation of the company, Li Qiang believes that it is divided into short-term and long-term. In the short term, as the British government gradually relaxes the control of the epidemic, people gradually start to resume work, and the original business of the British branch can operate more freely. In the long run, as a media industry, it should still be more actively faced. The economic impact caused by the epidemic is difficult to recover in a short period of time. The operation mode of each industry needs to be adjusted accordingly to actively face changes.
"As a media industry, it acts as an information bridge, and we need to play such a role even more in an epidemic situation" to help you through the difficulties together, Li Qiang said. The British branch is oriented towards both Chinese and Western markets, so compared with other media, the advantage is that it is not restricted by a single market. "How to do a good media in the context of the epidemic" is an "exam question" for the British branch of the epidemic. During the epidemic, the British branch comprehensively reported the anti-epidemic stories of overseas Chinese in the UK, promoted home online activities on overseas media platforms, and encouraged overseas people to actively face the epidemic. (Yu Liangyi, Chen Srui, Tian Hao Xuezi, Cai Rui, Li Yuexin)