When June 1 crashed into 618, perhaps the festival of toy merchants really started.
Editor’s note: This article comes from the WeChat public account “e-commerce online” (ID:dianshangmj)
Text/Yang Niwa
Editor/Question
Chen Chaoting did not expect that the container could actually become a “blind box.”
After the epidemic, Shantou Port was filled with containers waiting for export, most of which were toys. Chen Chaoting and her partners packaged a container at a low price in the port. Although they did not know the specific toys inside, they did not prevent them from going to the e-commerce platform to unpack these toys and sell them.
“As long as you leave the factory, new toys also mean used goods.”
It happened that the epidemic has promoted the sales of toys sold online to a certain extent, and Chen Chaoting’s dream of earning 20,000 yuan per month was realized.
These “blind boxes” come from Chenghai District, Shantou City, and have always been said that “the world’s toys are in China, and China’s toys are in Chenghai”. Relying on the toy business, the annual output value here is nearly 50 billion yuan, and the export is 70% or more.
Complete industrial chain makes this place not only a processing plant, but Chenghai has also emerged listed companies including Aofei Entertainment, Qunxing Toys, Xinghui Entertainment, Huawei Culture and Qi Shida, and has driven the industrial chain. A group of SMEs. At present, there are more than 6,000 local toy companies with 120,000 employees.
For toy manufacturers, June 1 Children’s Day is their most important holiday, but the impact of the epidemic is somewhat different for this Children’s Day. Some toy manufacturers see this day as an important turning point for this year, and some toy manufacturers can’t wait for this day at all.
The dominoes that have knocked down the toy industry chain in the epidemic have also given this “lazy-used” industry a new direction. Turning to domestic sales has become the biggest choice. Whether it is customized production or online wholesale, e-commerce platforms are building channels to bring manufacturers closer to the market and allow dealers to see more diverse toys.
On the eve of June 1st, the turnover of Tmall toys increased by 40% year-on-year. At 1:04 on June 1, the turnover of the toy industry exceeded 100 million yuan.
When June 1st hit the 618 shopping festival, perhaps the festival of toy merchants really started.
01 How a toy floats across the ocean
After all, “cheap” dealers like Chen Chaoting are a few, and Zhang Huaan’s experience may be more representative.
One month ago, he came to Hangzhou from Yiwu. Because his toy stalls were difficult to keep running, he chose to become a membership consultant for a newly opened gym in Hangzhou to earn “quick money.”
“At the end of last year, 2 million of the goods were shipped, and the payment has not been recovered. Normally, it is time to start selling children’s day toys in March, but the business is not improving.” Zhang Huaan admitted to the “seller”.
Yiwu International Trade City, 1000 kilometers away from Chenghai, is the “window” for Chinese toys to go abroad. Chenghai is produced from the rear, and Yiwu is sold from the front. The physical distance is smoothed by thousands of toy stalls here, forming a seamlessly connected industrial chain.
According to Zhang Huaan, the vast majority of toy merchants in Yiwu have no production capacity, but are only “intermediaries”. Samples from the Chenghai factory are sent here, and foreign merchants come to the stall to place orders based on the samples.
“Whoever is cheap can sell well. Foreigners come here just for the price.” Zhang Huaan said.
Actually, a toy stall does not need design ability. The so-called product selection ability is nothing more than a icing on the cake. Trying to get the most samples and giving the lowest price is the fundamental to maintaining profitability.
The low price of the stall means that the relationship between the dealer and the toy factory can only get the best price from the manufacturer if the bargaining power is strong enough.
“If you really want the price to be low, you can’t just make the difference between the ex-factory price and the sales, but sell it directly at the ex-factory price, and finally take the commission from the factory.” Zhang Huaan admitted.
Toy merchants who open up the market with price wars are actually both sides. Some people sell tens of millions a month, and some people fail to reach this goal in a year. But for the same 10 square meter stall, the annual rent is also paid 400,000, plus the cost of sales staff. The suspension of foreign trade business, Yiwu toy merchants became the first wave of people.
However, after the completion of a single toy foreign trade business, the toy factory is the most downstream of the “injured”. The foreign merchants will suppress the payment of the Yiwu merchants, and then pass it on to the manufacturers. Represents the pressure of toy manufacturers.
02 Toy manufacturers under epidemic situation
“Thirty percent of foreign trade orders have been cancelled, and there are still a lot of goods waiting to be sent. I don’t know when they will be sent out.” Gao Chen, a person in charge of a toy manufacturer in Chenghai, told the seller.
When the popular conversion masks are getting more and more serious, Gao Chen can only helpless, because toy manufacturers mostly produce plastic and silicone products, and have no textile foundation. They can only watch the profit of others.
In the face of a sharp decline in orders, the digestive capabilities of manufacturers of different sizes also vary.