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Exporting Christmas items to foreigners, Zhejiang Yiwu merchants sell tens of millions annually
Time：2020-01-10 Clicks：
On December 11, Sergei made Christmas decorations at his home in Moscow. He and his parents put toys, gold threads and bouquets around the fir tree in the living room. His sister, Elina, brought a Christmas hat, Balls, pine cones, and Santa's decorations were placed in the cabinets of Jiugongge.
This year, all of their Christmas supplies were purchased from Chinese websites, and the total cost was less than 10,000 rubles, about 1,100 yuan. At a local mall or website in Moscow, the same item can cost several times more. For example, a 1.8-meter-high artificial Christmas tree costs 1760 rubles on AliExpress and 2,000-10,000 rubles on Russian e-commerce platform OZON.
It is reported that nearly 70% of the world's Christmas supplies come from Yiwu. Cross-border businesses take advantage of local supply chains. By selling Christmas supplies and other decorations, a team of dozens of people can generate sales of hundreds of millions of yuan. There has been no overwhelming impact on such demand.
The pillowcase sewed by the youth in the town is in the hands of Russian buyers
Departing from Yiwu Outer Industrial Park, it took 40 minutes to reach a suburban factory near Dongyang. This building, which occupies less than 100 square meters, is divided into four floors, with a hot stamping machine on the ground floor, a sewing workshop on the second floor and an office on the third floor.
Machines in the factory are printing Christmas patterns on cloth
Three years ago, Jinzehua was a cross-border e-commerce company. It was found that the output of suppliers often could not keep up, and it gave birth to its own idea of production. A small production line supplying fabric products with annual sales of 30 million yuan.
"Most of our customers are online, and orders are gradually expanded from a small amount of supply." Jin Zehua said that the Internet has long been a bridge to facilitate sales relationships. The company named after him was quite well-known on 1688.
At the beginning of December, the peak season for the production of Christmas supplies has passed. Generally foreign merchants place orders in June-July, experience one month of production and two months of shipping, and carry out concentrated sales in their country from October to December. "If you come in the high season, you can see that our Christmas supplies are pulled away by container." Production Management said.
At present, only a small amount of Christmas pillowcases are shipped. There are many trendy young people in the workshop. There are two boys with earphones to block the sound of external machines and focus on sewing the cut pieces together. After the pillowcases are packed, they are delivered directly to the customer's warehouse.
A young worker is turning over the pillowcase
Communication with foreigners mainly depends on translation software
Yiwu MSI Department Store Co., Ltd. is one of Jin Zehua's customers. Its scale is in the middle reaches of Yiwu cross-border merchants. It specializes in decorations. The chairman Xu Defeng is from Jiangsu. He did foreign trade sales in early years. To today's scale.
MSI's B2B and B2C businesses are split in half, with annual sales of around RMB 50 million. The C-end is mainly sold through multiple platforms such as AliExpress and Amazon. November is the peak season for Christmas decorations sales. AliExpress alone has a platform with sales exceeding RMB 3 million.
Customer service Liang Dan introduced that foreign users mainly ask questions about delivery time and product details. The other party sends Arabic, Hindi, and Russian. She will copy and paste it into translation software, and then reply to the other party in English.
MSI Aliexpress Store
Among them, Russia has the most buyers, accounting for nearly 30%, followed by Poland, the United States, Spain and other countries. "It is not particularly different from domestic buyers, but if you want to return or exchange, the cycle will be very long." Liang Dan said.
"Foreigners are willing to wait for ten days and a half months. The main reason is that it is cheap. Even some high-end products, plus shipping costs, are still cheaper than local stores." Rui Dongwang, sales manager, said.
MSI's warehouse covers an area of over 1,000 square meters. With the help of the intelligent picking system, few people can complete multi-platform high-frequency delivery.
Two female workers are picking goods
"Middle Eastern Tyrant Going By Air"
Every spring, Rui Dongwang, warehouse purchaser Liu Sen, and others often go to the third and fourth floors of Area A of the International Trade City for a few laps to see new products.
Zou Wenjuan's "Mandarin Christmas" in the corner of the business city is particularly conspicuous, with elk ornaments, snowy street lights, and headgear all available, which has a great atmosphere. Every autumn and winter, she goes to the short-term rental shop in the Trade City and specializes in selling Christmas items. Among them, baubles such as headdresses and pendants are produced by her own, and other large items are purchased from suppliers.
Zou Wenjuan's shop located on the third floor of Area A of Yiwu International Trade City
"What impressed me most was a Middle Eastern tyrant, who had a particularly strong bargain. He searched and asked him how to get things going. He said he had an airplane and pulled it back." She is a pure businessman who can make a lot of money selling Christmas supplies, New Year pictures and toys all year round. Some foreign customers have translators, some speak a few Chinese, and they can communicate with each other.
Liu Sen took a fancy to the snow music street lamp in her house and thought that she could try to sell it next year. After confirming the price, packaging and other issues, they exchanged WeChat and business cards with each other for future contact. The wholesale price of such a street lamp is about 500 yuan, and the freight can be sold for 200 dollars.
Most shops have their main Christmas items, such as colorful plastic balls, Christmas trees, wrought iron pendants, and large Santa ornaments. In order to prevent new products from being "learned" by their peers, many stores refuse to take pictures and do not support individual purchases.
A Christmas tree store
In a shop that sells plastic balls, there are boxes and boxes of colored balls on the ground. The size and price are written directly on the tiled floor.
Every year, more than 500,000 overseas merchants make purchases in Yiwu. Christmas is one of the important themes.
Product innovation and refinement
In recent years, Yiwu has witnessed the transfer of industries. In order to cut costs, many manufacturers in Guangdong moved to Yiwu, while local factories in Yiwu moved to Dongyang or Jiangxi. Cross-border merchants such as MSI have also set up branches in Wuhan and Xi'an. These universities have many talents, but the costs are relatively low.
Due to the low barriers to entry, competition between factories and businesses is becoming increasingly fierce, and parity is serious. "Our response is to do a good job in service, quality and product innovation." Jin Zehua pointed to the heat transfer machine, which is a customer's photo custom pillowcase, and needs to ship 1,000 units a day. Home can do and are willing to do. In addition, the materials and workmanship of products are constantly improving.
There are over 7 new MSI stores in a week. As major platforms pay more and more attention to copyright, each merchant must pay attention to the originality of pictures and products. In addition, refined operations have become increasingly important, such as adapting to various platforms. Great promotion, make pictures and baby description more exquisite.
"We will also find some ins online red belts, with a promotion cost of about 100-200 US dollars." Rui Dongwang said.
Merchants are looking for the right product
The global economic downturn and the imposition of tariffs have not had a significant impact on Yiwu. On the one hand, the advantages of Yiwu's supply chain have made low-priced products more popular. On the other hand, the increased costs are mainly borne by buyers. As a result, businesses of a certain size have increased their business.
Starting a business in Yiwu, the input cost can be very low. Many young people, with tens of thousands of dollars, rent a room in a residential building, get two computers, and start e-commerce.
People come and go from the station. People come from different cities and different countries. Some wear gold and silver, some are wrapped in big coats, and they are all walking wildly. Their lives constitute "Yiwu", a global economic vane, sensitive to and responding to any major or minor change.
