Lin Ying, who was in the UK, just moved 1,000 hot water bottles home from the customs, and sent messages to friends around him one by one: The hot water bottles have arrived, hurry up to pick up the goods.
Since settling in the UK in 2017, Lin Ying has been a purchasing agent in her spare time, helping domestic friends to buy local products.
She has been very busy recently.
The news of local customers placing orders, urging orders, and temporarily adding orders constantly came from the mobile phone. "In the past, it was sent back to China from overseas shopping, but now it has been reversed. The cold winter in Europe has come, and many local Europeans have begun to frantically buy hot water bags. , electric blankets and other domestic products.”
"Heating artifact" became popular, and for a while, orders flocked to Yiwu, Zhejiang from overseas.
"This year's business is really good. Although there is no 'explosive growth' as rumored by the outside world, it has indeed improved compared to previous years." When a reporter from Shell Finance and Economics of the Beijing News visited recently, a hot water bottle merchant just hung up in Yiwu International Trade City. We called off the trading company, and the other party hoped to order 3,000 hot water bottles.
Hot water bottle "cross the ocean"
The North Stream natural gas pipeline was blown up, and the energy crisis has not eased. This winter is particularly cold in Europe.
In order to survive the cold winter, more and more European families have turned to the east, far across the ocean, and began to seek "solutions" from Chinese manufacturing.
Wang Han, who is studying in Germany, also told reporters that hot water bottles and electric blankets have become the most "trend" commodities in the school, and many students even expressed their willingness to pay high prices to buy them.
"After hearing the news of the rise in electricity bills, I entrusted my family to send a few hot water bottles from China. I didn't expect that my friends in Europe would 'plant grass' after seeing it (an internet buzzword, meaning recommending good things to others). Help me to buy." Lin Ying told Shell Finance reporter that after inquiring, he found that there is a huge demand for hot water bottles in the local area, which made him think of purchasing on behalf of himself, and contacted domestic purchasing agents who have cooperated for a long time.
After receiving the order from Lin Ying, Liu Wei, who was in charge of selecting goods in Yiwu, quickly contacted the local manufacturer to order and deliver the goods.
Recently, he has received several incoming calls from overseas purchasing agents.
The amount of each purchase is almost thousands. "A total of tens of thousands have been sold. I am still a small-scale one. It is said that larger merchants have already shipped hundreds of thousands of related products."
On October 25, Shell Finance reporters searched on Amazon’s overseas platform and saw that the hot water bags on sale are priced at £7 to £15 (about 60 to 129 yuan).
The reporter noticed that the hot water bottle with the highest sales price was 22 pounds (about RMB 182.5), and it received more than 60 positive reviews in a short period of time.
At the same time, there are many hot water bottle products that have been hung with "sold out" signs.
On social platforms, many foreign netizens who have experienced hot water bottles and electric blankets have also begun to use Amway as a good thing.
Foreign trade orders reached 800,000
10 to 20 yuan is the most popular
This business opportunity in Europe has already been keenly sensed by Yiwu merchants.
Shell Finance reporters visited Yiwu and saw that in addition to a number of shops specializing in selling hot water bottles, some small household electrical appliances stores also specially display hot water bottles in their stores.
"This year's orders are earlier than in previous years, and the order volume has increased relatively." Ms. Chen, who runs a hot water bottle business in the International Trade City, told Shell Finance reporter that her family has sold hot water bottles in Yiwu for nearly 30 years.
In previous years, foreign trade orders were received only after April, but this year, we have received calls from overseas orders since March.
Hundreds of hot water bottles with different sizes, patterns and materials and suede jackets with various patterns are hung around Ms. Chen's store. In addition to the rubber hot water bottles that are directly filled with water, there are also many rechargeable hot water bottles.
And sizes from 750ml to 2000ml everything.
"European customers usually choose PVC-filled rubber hot water bags. In their opinion, this type of hot water bag is more economical and practical than the charging model." Ms. Chen introduced that overseas customers prefer large 2000 ml hot water bags when placing orders, and the price is selected. Also concentrated in between 10 to 20 yuan.
"Foreign trade orders are indeed on the rise compared to the past, and the overall order has increased by almost 30% year-on-year." Ms. Chen recalled that the number of foreign trade orders in the past few years has basically remained at 600,000, and this year, it is roughly estimated that it has reached almost 800,000. " In the past, there were many orders from Southeast Asia and other countries, but this year, most of them were ordered by customers from Spain, Italy and other countries.”
Xiaoyi, a staff member of a daily necessities manufacturing company in Yiwu, also told Shell Finance reporters that the electric hot water bags, warm babies and other thermal products sold by the factory were mainly sold domestically in previous years, and there were few export orders.
But since April, many new customers have come to the door to seek purchases.
Shell Finance reporter learned that orders for thermal products show a clear trend of differentiation.
Foreign trade orders are usually concentrated from April to August, while domestic orders start to explode after September.
In the communication with the other party, Xiaoyi learned that some orders were actually placed for European customers.
"I took about 50,000 yuan of goods, basically traditional hot water bottles, and a small amount of charging models. Although the order volume is not large, I can feel the increase in heating demand in Europe."
When interviewed by Shell Finance reporters, many merchants said that the reason why traditional hot water bottles are favored in Europe is very simple.
In addition to the more expensive electricity bills in Europe, individual styles of hot water bottles need to comply with different national and regional standards such as CE (European Standard) and BS (British Standard), and there are no similar requirements for traditional hot water bottles.
In addition, when exporting, the rechargeable hot water bottle also needs a plug inspection report, which must be reported in the name of "small home appliances", while the traditional hot water bottle only needs to be reported for "daily necessities".
In order to send and receive goods as quickly as possible, both trading companies and European customers naturally tend to the latter.
Bare leg artifact is also popular
Long johns export "custom" plus size
"Not only are hot water bags, electric blankets and other items popular in Europe, but now there are customers who entrust them to buy bare-leg artifacts, turtleneck sweaters and other thermal products." Lin Ying told Shell Finance and Economics reporters that when she was helping purchasing agents, she often received Orders for other cold-proof items, "I jokingly introduced them to the 'cold-proof suit' before, but I didn't expect that it would lead to enthusiasm for purchase."
A reporter from Shell Finance learned that items such as sweaters and long johns, which had been laughed at by many Chinese young people before as "physical warmth", have now become "winter artifact" in the eyes of Europeans, and even appeared out of stock for a time.
Recently, French Minister of Economy Bruno Le Maire said in an interview that "you will not see me wearing a tie again, (but will be) wearing a crew-neck sweater." And posted on his official social account that he worked in a turtleneck sweater. Photo.
The high-level French government "brought goods", so that the turtleneck sweater quickly set off a craze in the local area, and it has also become a warm and cold choice for many French and even European residents.
"The company's products are sold domestically and rarely contact overseas customers, but I did hear from other colleagues that it received a lot of foreign trade orders this year." A sweater factory owner told Shell Finance reporter that since the energy crisis in Europe, many trading companies quickly I came to Zhejiang for consultation to learn about sweaters, long pants and other related conditions, and ordered and stocked up in advance, "I heard that some colleagues have sold hundreds of thousands of pieces in two or three months, and many companies also took the opportunity to double their production and sales. ."
Shell Finance reporter found during the visit that in addition to turtleneck sweaters, long johns have also become a favorite.
Zhao Shuai, a businessman who sells thermal underwear in Zhejiang, told Shell Finance reporters that he did receive frequent purchase orders from trading companies a few months ago, but it has only gradually decreased in recent times.
"I used to focus on the domestic market and basically had no contact with overseas customers." Zhao Shuai still remembers that he received an order from Italy in May this year, which surprised the factory and made it difficult.
There is a big difference between Asians and Europeans, which means that it is difficult for European customers to accept products that were previously sold in China.
"Actually, the order was not large, and the payment was about 100,000 yuan. It was originally planned to be rejected. But later, I still hope to reach a cooperation and try to develop more customers for foreign trade business in the future."
After thinking for a long time, Zhao Shuai decided to adjust the size of the product, not only increased the size, but also redesigned the version according to the body characteristics of European women, "The largest size can reach XXXXL, I believe it can meet the needs of most local customers. "
In fact, similar sales booms have also appeared on items such as electric blankets and small heaters.
Many merchants said that although few manufacturers in Yiwu produce and sell such products, there are still many customers who come to consult and buy.
According to statistics from Yiwu Customs, from January to August 2022, Yiwu exported thermal products, including air conditioners, heat pumps, water heaters, and electric blankets, for a total of 190 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 41.6%.
"Although hot water bags and thermal underwear have set off a boom in Europe this year, Yiwu businessmen have benefited. But it is worth noting whether this trend can be maintained for many years. If manufacturers or new entrants rashly expand their scale because of this year's success, once the next year When demand shrinks, it is easy to suffer heavy losses," said the sweater factory owner.