Baigou is known as the "Luggage Capital of China".
This small town, which belongs to Baoding City, Hebei Province, covers an area of only 54 square kilometers. It has developed into the largest luggage production and sales base in the country, with an annual output of 800 million luggage and its products sell well in 174 countries and regions.
After more than 40 years of development, Baigou Luggage has formed a regional characteristic industrial cluster with more than 1 million employees, and has built a complete industrial chain from raw material supply, product design, processing and manufacturing, product display and sales services.
There are more than 1,200 production enterprises and tens of thousands of individual processing households, and the output of luggage accounts for 28% of the country's total.
The explosive growth has brought popularity to Baigou luggage, but quality problems have also occurred frequently.
According to the statistics of the local market supervision department, in 2019, there were more than 300 complaints and reports involving Baigou luggage, and the problems mainly focused on color fastness, wear resistance, shock and impact performance, and tie rod fatigue resistance.
From the extensive development of winning by quantity to the connotative development of winning by quality, it is a transformation issue that Baigou bags must answer.
Standard system fills the gap
Zhang Wenjun, the head of Shimano Trading Co., Ltd., who has been operating luggage in Baigou for many years, has personal experience of the transformation and upgrading of the luggage industry.
"In recent years, while retaining offline sales, we have also expanded to online transactions such as online stores, micro-businesses, and live broadcast delivery." Zhang Wenjun said that due to uneven product quality, the return rate of online sales once reached 20% %.
The establishment of the Baigou luggage standard system makes Zhang Wenjun see hope.
In July 2019, Baigou New Town Management Committee decided to start with standards to break the quality dilemma.
Baigou New Town takes "standard guidance, design support, and quality improvement" as its main content, establishes a Baigou luggage industry standard system, successively instructs 8 local enterprises to establish enterprise standards that meet the characteristics of their products, and guides the establishment of Baigou New Town E-Commerce Association Backpack and travel luggage are two group standards, and the main performance indicators are higher than the existing standards.
"In the past, the quality of bags was all based on feeling, and I didn't know the product standards. Although I always wanted to make the product well, I couldn't find the key point." Li Zhixin, factory director of Baijiawei Leather Manufacturing Co., Ltd. located in Baigou New City Said that in the past, every batch of goods they produced would have 10% to 20% of the returned goods. "Since the production and inspection according to the enterprise standard, the problem of returning goods has rarely occurred, and the sales volume has increased by 30%."
In a national quality sampling inspection, the Bobo bags produced by Shimano Trading Co., Ltd. met or exceeded the industry standard in various tests such as shock shock performance, drop performance, and tie rod fatigue resistance.
Zhang Wenjun showed the authoritative test report in the live broadcast, and 1,000 bags were sold out quickly.
"We're really enjoying the benefits of standardization," she said.
Baigou luggage industry standard system covers 279 standard items in the production sequence structure of luggage raw material procurement, design and development, production management, inspection and testing, warehousing and logistics, sales and after-sales, including 3 levels, 6 sub-systems, 15 categories, 40 subclass.
Li Jun, Secretary of the Party Group of Baigou New Town Branch of Baoding Market Supervision Administration, introduced that the standard system completed at this stage fills the gap in the standard system of the luggage industry in Hebei Province and even the whole country, and provides strong support for the high-quality development of the Baigou luggage industry in Hebei.
Live broadcast with goods to help solve difficulties
Pengjie Leather Co., Ltd. is a trolley case manufacturer that has been engaged in foreign trade for decades. In 2020, affected by the new crown pneumonia epidemic, foreign trade exports have encountered great difficulties.
Wang Peng, the person in charge of the company, first thought of exporting to domestic sales, but because he has been doing foreign trade, the styles and versions of existing products are far from the domestic market, and it is not easy to really turn them around.
Under the guidance of the local industry and information, commerce and other departments, Pengjie Leather Goods has built a full production and sales link, added a production line of domestic products on the basis of the original production line of foreign trade products, and started "general manager live broadcast of goods".
There is no middleman, and the product price is low and the quality is good. The sales of trolley cases in Wang Peng’s live broadcast room are very good, and the daily sales exceed 200,000 yuan during the peak season.
"The epidemic has accelerated the development of the live-broadcasting and delivery-delivery trading model, but the ability of the enterprise's live-broadcasting delivery practitioners has not kept pace with this development." said Si Xu, president of Baigou New Town E-commerce Association. In the past two years, Baigou e-commerce has The association organizes public welfare training to help companies master the background operation process, fan operation methods, and live broadcast operation skills, and finally achieve live broadcast and sell goods.
Like Wang Peng, more and more Baigou luggage manufacturers have opened up sales channels through factory live broadcasts and "general manager's live broadcast of goods", and switched from foreign trade to domestic sales.
The Economic Daily-China Economic Net reporter learned from the Baigou business department that the export of Baigou enterprises to domestic sales has turned the crisis into an opportunity for industrial upgrading. Support efforts, accelerate the realization of support policies, help turn crises into opportunities, and improve quality and efficiency.
From 2019 to 2021, the e-commerce turnover of Baigou luggage will be 12 billion yuan, 15 billion yuan, and 16.5 billion yuan respectively.
After the deep integration of the luggage industry and e-commerce, Baigou luggage sales has entered a new e-commerce era dominated by short videos and live broadcasts.
Industrial design empowers brands
Although Baigou luggage is famous, it lacks its own brand, the industrial design penetration is not enough, and the added value of the product is low.
In recent years, with brand cultivation as a breakthrough, Baigou luggage has entered a broader market.
Walking into the Baigou Fashion Design Center, a variety of fashionable and elegant original design bags are neatly displayed in the exhibition hall.
"Transforming and upgrading to be original and cultivating our own brand is the road we have to take sooner or later, but it is actually very difficult to take the first step." said Yang Ming, founder of C.LI brand and general manager of Hebei Chunli Leather Goods Co., Ltd. A few years ago, he took over his own luggage business from his parents and was determined to be original and create his own brand.
Yang Ming looks for a breakthrough in industrial design. From hiring well-known designers in the industry to connecting with high-quality supply chain companies, Chunli Leather Goods has established design companies in Shenzhen and Baigou respectively, and integrates industrial design into luggage manufacturing.
Today, Yang Ming's bags have gotten rid of the low-quality and cheap image, and their recognition in the market is getting higher and higher. The number of franchise stores has grown to 120, and the brand repurchase rate has reached 60%.
Recently, the brand’s online transaction orders reached 1,500 orders in one hour, with a turnover of nearly 400,000 yuan.
Guangshun Luggage Industry Co., Ltd. is a production enterprise focusing on photography, outdoor multi-function and instrument packaging. In 2015, the company established a brand operation company focusing on design and development, providing personalized services for well-known photographic equipment manufacturers at home and abroad. , professional design, and carry out professional customized cooperation business with more than 60 domestic and foreign companies such as Canon.
In September 2019, Guangshun Luggage became the first licensed manufacturer of "outdoor products" for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics in Hebei Province.
"During the Winter Olympics, we developed more than 100 new products, and the industrial design greatly improved the image and product quality of luggage," said Yu Ze, head of Guangshun Luggage.
"In recent years, we have set up special funds, built design platforms, organized business training, established industry benchmarks, developed international markets, promoted the deep integration of industrial design and luggage industry, and let Baigou luggage 'speak' by design." Baigou New Urban Management Ma Junchao, director of the Industry and Information Office of the Economic Development Bureau of the Commission, said that a series of measures have promoted the continuous innovation of Baigou luggage industrial design, and the novel and fashionable Baigou luggage has frequently appeared on top domestic and foreign T-stages. cycle, and constantly promote the transformation and upgrading of luggage companies.”
(Economic Daily-China Economic Net reporter Wang Shengqiang)