The most important thing is to live.
Editor’s note: This article comes from the WeChat public account “financial graffiti” (ID: caijingtuya) .
Author: step shake
Edit: tuya
Qi Liangliang passed the most memorable Spring Festival in his experience.
In Yiwu, where he was in the clothing stock business, it seemed that the world was divided into two worlds before and after the outbreak. Before the Spring Festival, the bustling trade city, until now, the trade city has almost become an empty city. “From March, there has been no business, almost all cut off.” He told “Financial Graffiti”.
He went on to say, “Yiwu Port basically has no cars, and it used to be lined up, but now the gates of all cars are closed.
And the foreign trade business is not only affecting foreign traders like Qi Liang, freight forwarders, international freight forwarders, surrounding factories, workers, temporary workers, e-commerce support staff, etc. have all been hit by the decline of foreign trade. “At least 30% -40% of Yiwu eat foreign trade business, foreign trade can not work, the entire industry chain is affected.” Qi Liang said.
Yiwu, a “world supermarket” connected to 2 million SMEs, is now almost isolated from the “world”.
On March 23, according to the “Value Table of Import and Export Commodities Chapters from January to February 2020” released by the General Administration of Customs, the total value of foreign trade exports from January to February was US $ 292.4 billion, compared with the same period last year , A decrease of 17.2%, of which the total value of foreign trade in textile raw materials and textile products was 29.4 billion US dollars, a year-on-year decrease of 20.2%. This macroscopic data is refracted into an image, which is an empty shopping mall.
“Now the foreign trade situation is that everyone is eating soil.”
“In the same period in previous years, it was when we had a good business during the year, but now we have no business.” Qi Liang said that his tail clothing is mainly exported to Africa, the Middle East and other regions. Many foreign traders who do not have business are already doing anti-epidemic materials, because from the current situation, only anti-epidemic materials can be exported, and other items are difficult to ship out. “The entire transportation and transportation are cut off, foreign ports Not open. “Qi Liang said, even if the order is placed, the goods that have paid the deposit can’t get out.
Another Xiao Kun, who is in the power supply business in Yiwu, said, “Now the foreign trade situation is that everyone is eating soil.” Because of the serious foreign epidemic situation, customers cannot do business, foreigners are restricted in entry, and merchants cannot enter .
Business is not good, the most direct pressure is rent. “There is no source of income, and expenses are a problem. The key is that the rent is paid annually. The rent of 360,000 a year is kept at the empty shop every day and is losing money.” Xiao Kun said.
Compared with previous years, how much worse is the business? “At this time last year, we could doThe sales of 2 million, the business was good years ago, but now from the New Year, to now less than 200,000. “Xiao Kun smiled bitterly.
The fifth brother is a foreign trade business of straw handicrafts. The products are mainly exported to Europe, America and the Middle East. The unit price of the products is between 2-15 yuan. And now it is about 300,000 to 400,000, but almost no money. “Wu Ge said.
The fifth brother ’s shop also has an annual rent of 300,000. “The rent must have been lost. Now the shops are losing money.”
“There are stalls, there are live broadcasts”
Foreign trade business plummeted. Under the influence of foreign epidemics, there is no timetable for the recovery of foreign trade. As a result, foreign trade orders have also been cancelled frequently. How to deal with the cancelled order becomes a problem.
Some companies have turned to domestic sales. Qi Liang said that I have already transferred to domestic sales, and the apparel is mainly sold domestically. “Everyone doing domestic sales is trying to do it in various ways. There are stalls, live broadcasts, and clothing stores to pick up the goods. These are probably these channels.”
However, some products cannot be sold domestically. “The key to domestic sales is that this foreign trade product should be suitable for domestic use.” Wu Ge said.
Some products cannot be sold domestically due to attributes, prices, etc., such as some custom-made product gifts abroad, or low-priced products exclusively for Africa, and there may not necessarily be a market for domestic products.
“If you let me go to the Tmall store now, I won’t be able to open it. The product is not right, like the Christmas and Easter stuff I made, no one in China will want it,” said Wu Ge.
In addition to the product itself, there is a lack of channels for foreign trade to domestic sales.
Since the past has been mainly engaged in foreign trade, there are no domestic sales channels simultaneously in the country. “Like domestic sales companies have cooperative wholesalers or have previously done on various e-commerce platforms Tmall.com, but like us. Factory has no channels. “Wu Ge said.
Another way ahead is to do live broadcasts. On Taobao Douyin, many Yiwu live broadcasts are on the rise. There is even a live broadcast village in the north of Zhuhai. In 2018, live broadcasts have already blossomed in Yiwu.
When the foreign trade failed, many bosses also went live, Qi Liang also did his own live broadcast on Douyin, and also went live to his friends. As long as he could bring the goods, he tried it.
But there is a very real problem with live streaming, that is, the problem of product category. Some products are suitable for live broadcasting, while some are completely unsuitable, even if they are on live broadcasting. During the epidemic, home stuff is very suitable for live broadcast, such as a hair clipper, which is needed by itself. Doing live broadcasts drives purchases. Like home stuff or good-looking things, consumers can use daily live products to live broadcast Bringing goods, the sales volume is also very impressive, and the typical goods in special regions areSuch as Arab robes or pure industrial supplies, foreign gift items, these are not suitable for live broadcast.
“The attributes of the product are very important. Some categories are suitable for live broadcasting, and some are not suitable. Whether live broadcasting can be done is closely related to the industry category.” Wu Ge said.
There is also a supply chain issue related to live streaming. The live broadcast supply chain itself can do some stocking in advance, and many goods are also universal. The factory can produce tens of thousands of 100,000 pieces of the same goods. This supply chain is very fast, such as clothes and daily necessities. However, foreign trade is order-based. Only when orders are made will the factory start to do it. The supply chain speed of foreign trade cannot be compared with the live broadcast supply chain.
Most live commodities are also daily necessities. Even if there is temporary inventory, they can be quickly digested and stocked quickly, so the factory can produce as much as the anchor can be reached, but many products in foreign trade are special needs, produced this year. If you ca n’t sell it, you may not be able to sell it again next year. For example, a popular Christmas hat this year, similar to this more non-standard product than live broadcast products, the pressure on stocking and inventory will be greater.
“In the end, it is actually related to the product itself, the difference between foreign trade products and domestic products.” Wu Ge said.
E-commerce will spend money to buy traffic
E-commerce platforms lend a helping hand when foreign trade encounters difficulties. In March, Pinduoduo teamed up with Ningbo, Zhejiang to promote the export of 15,000 local enterprises to domestic sales. Soon, Pinduoduo and Zhejiang Cixi Ronglai 7.8 billion helped Chinese enterprises export to domestic sales.
On April 14, the Taobao Special Edition announced ten measures to support the transfer of foreign trade factories to domestic sales. Specifically, the Taobao Special Edition will be launched in the foreign trade factory sales area, and a special promotion will be organized for industrial belt factories every month.
Qi Liang also tried a lot of spelling. The mode of Pinduoduo is similar to that of low-price group buying. As he just went to Pinduoduo to try to sell goods, the situation is not good. “
As a novice merchant, just opening a store on the platform and putting pictures, without spending money to buy traffic, is not appealing to users. The fifth brother also said that the more to fight mode is to fight the price, there are many goods and many merchants, but many do not make money on the platform.
And like Yiwu, the commodities are socks, shoes, hats and clothes. These department stores do not have big brands and are not high-end, so they will not attract injection into e-commerce platforms such as Vipshop.
For more people, Taobao or 1688 wholesale websites are preferred, which is more suitable for their original wholesale model. “We do wholesale ourselves, and the retail volume is too small to do well. Let’s go to 1688 first. After all, this is a wholesale website. I have tried this model before.” Wu Ge said.
In addition to wholesale, you may also try to do retail in some Tmall stores.