China News Service, November 23 (Zuo Yukun, Zhongxin Finance reporter) The whistle of the World Cup has just blown, and the wholesalers in Yiwu, China have basically completed the "task" of this World Cup; many teams have not had time to compete in the group stage. The "Yiwu Representative Team" has taken the lead in "qualifying" in front of fans all over the world.
This is a small county under the jurisdiction of Jinhua City, Zhejiang Province, and it is also the "world's largest small commodity wholesale market" certified by the United Nations.
In this World Cup, China's Yiwu's small commodities shine, and it can be said that the "play rate" is higher than that of any team.
How should I put it, no matter who wins the Hercules Cup in the end, the "Yiwu team" will not be considered a loser.
On November 20, local time, the opening ceremony of the 2022 Qatar World Cup was held at the Gulf Stadium.
The picture shows the appearance of the mascot "Raib".
World Cup? "Started" half a year ago
"Messi who can't be pulled down, the World Cup logistics line, can't be stopped!" "Faster than Mbappe, the World Cup logistics line, directly to Qatar!" Just like earlier, these logistics advertisements on Yiwu Street are full of World Cup atmosphere , Yiwu's "World Cup time" started earlier than the fans.
As early as March, Chen Xianchun, a businessman in Yiwu, has received orders for the World Cup one after another.
The Yiwu Jinzun stationery and sports goods company run by Chen Xianchun mainly produces World Cup commemorative prizes, fans medals, key chains and other peripheral products.
Since the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, the products have been exported overseas.
The poor international logistics caused by the epidemic has brought some challenges.
Chen Xianchun said that the previous World Cup factories were already preparing goods a year in advance, but this year everyone is waiting and watching.
At the end of August this year, the World Cup orders in Chen Xianchun's hands have basically been shipped, but customers are still returning orders.
Chen Xianchun recalled that for the first batch of orders in March, the customer tentatively ordered a little.
As a result, before the goods arrived, his customers began to order one after another. Only then did he feel that the related orders driven by the World Cup were going to be popular, so he added "a cabinet".
A container refers to a standard container container with a single volume of 68 cubic meters.
Chen Xianchun said that during the busiest period, several cabinets of goods were sent out every week, and one cabinet could hold nearly 4,000 trophies.
As for Chen Xianchun's company, which has about 50 employees, it can produce three to four thousand trophies, or tens of thousands of medals at full capacity in a day.
The "pressure" of the World Cup order can be imagined.
According to Ma Xiang, the person in charge of the AliExpress World Cup, some merchants have already started preparing for the World Cup since June this year, while preparations on the cross-border platform side began in August and peaked in early October to November.
He said that due to the inconsistent pace of the World Cup sales peak season in the domestic and international markets, compared with the domestic sales peak during the World Cup, because of factors such as logistics involved, the World Cup sales peak in the cross-border field often occurs in the month before and during the game.
On November 20, 2022, in Doha, Qatar, fans from all over the world gathered together to enjoy a football feast.
The picture shows the fans in the Fans Festival.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Cui Nan
Predict the champion? see my stock
Also busy because of the World Cup is Zhan Deliang from Yiwu Sucheng Trading Co., Ltd., a flag merchant.
From large flags of 2 meters by 3 meters, to hand-waving flags waving in the hands of fans, to mini flags the size of cards, Zhan Deliang's small studio is full of national flags of the top 32 teams.
From the 2018 World Cup in Russia, I began to receive orders from the World Cup. According to Zhan Deliang’s past experience, B-end customers with large demand will generally order 3 to 4 months before the start of the World Cup, and individual sellers with relatively small volumes will usually order one month in advance. order.
This year's orders also came intensively in July and August, and there will be some supplementary orders as the event progresses.
"The usual customers are mainly European and American countries, and countries like Brazil and Argentina that are located in South America and have higher shipping costs have less shipments. But the World Cup will change this pattern, and orders from Brazil and Argentina will generally increase by 50% Around." Zhan Deliang said that more orders for this year's World Cup come from Brazil, Argentina, and the United Kingdom.
"It also drove the sales of the national flag of Qatar, the host country. Compared with previous years, dozens of pieces can be shipped every month this year. Of course, compared with other countries, the shipment volume is still much less." Zhan Deliang said.
For banner merchants, the timeliness is far stronger than other small commodity counterparts, because as the game progresses and the team is eliminated, the popular banners will change in real time.
"For example, the last World Cup didn't start selling French flags until the semi-finals. If you couldn't deliver the flags to buyers within 10 days, then you wouldn't have any orders." Zhan Deliang said. Rapid stocking response and logistics delivery capabilities are both tests.
This also brought about the legend that "Yiwu can predict the World Cup champion".
Zhan Deliang said that at present, more stocks have been prepared, especially for favorites such as Brazil, Argentina, France, and Germany, and the stocking volume is double the usual amount.
"Football is round, and everything is possible. Whether it's the result of the game or the big sales in the store, this is the case." He said.
On the eve of the opening of the World Cup, the flags of various countries fly on a square in Doha, Qatar.
Why can Yiwu "qualify"?
With the World Cup in full swing, popular commodities such as footballs, jerseys, "Hercules Cup", whistles, trumpets, star cards, and hand clappers are all within the "range" of Yiwu merchants.
Yiwu, which has good service, even took into account the preferences of fans from different countries: the Middle East likes rich gold, Europe likes champagne gold, and fine-tuned the color of the Hercules Cup model.
According to estimates by the Yiwu Sporting Goods Association, Yiwu manufacturing accounts for almost 70% of the market share of the entire World Cup peripheral products.
Qatar, which is located near the equator, is still hot in November.
As the first World Cup held in winter in the northern hemisphere, "a fire in winter" also warmed up Yiwu, where the third quarter is usually the off-season for business.
Despite being once disturbed by the epidemic, under the support of factors such as the "World Cup concept", Yiwu achieved a regional GDP of 133.159 billion yuan in the first three quarters, a year-on-year increase of 5.4%, ranking first among the top 17 counties and cities in Zhejiang. Rapid growth.
"This year's GMV (gross turnover) has surpassed the sum of last year and the previous year." "Currently most of the orders have been sent out, and the overall sales volume has increased by 30% compared with last year." Merchants in Yiwu also expressed.
These seemingly simple products with no technical content, why do foreign merchants "must have Yiwu"?
This is because in Yiwu, an industrial chain model that forms a complete cluster centered on "one plate of goods" has long been formed.
According to the data from Tianyancha, there are currently more than 155,000 sporting goods-related companies in Yiwu, of which 51,000 were newly registered from January to October this year, with an average monthly growth rate of 42.6%, which is 5 percentage points higher than the national growth rate over the same period.
In the recruitment advertisements for small commodity stores in Yiwu shared by netizens, the first requirement is to be able to speak foreign languages; most of the hot water bottles and electric blankets that have been sold out in Europe this year come from Yiwu; The momentum is even used by young people to play tricks - whenever they see something novel and interesting, they want to say "now the pressure is on Yiwu".
Today's Yiwu "trades to the world, goods to the world."
There are 212 countries and regions in the world that have economic and trade relations with Yiwu. The annual direct or indirect order transaction volume in Yiwu is about 30 billion U.S. dollars, and the market's export-oriented degree has reached more than 60%, which is due to its long-term development and accumulation.
At present, Yiwu's World Cup peripherals are no longer just simple, low-value-added production. Many merchants are striving to design original designs and lead the trend.
Just like a saying in Yiwu area - "Even if gold falls from the sky, you have to go out and pick it up yourself." (End)