During the eight days of the holidays, I sold about two months’ worth
“During the Spring Festival this year, due to the epidemic, many people were unable to go out for shopping. I buy clothes through online shopping. After holding it in for more than half a year, everyone is really frustrated. No, people have gone out to buy during the National Day holiday.” In a foreign trade clothing store in Taitung with an area of less than 30 square meters, the owner Sun Xiao is helping Customers were choosing new winter clothes. To her surprise, the sales of clothing during the National Day holiday this year were no less than last year.
In the first half of the year, the business in Sun Xiaomen’s store can be described as “bleak”, and it can only develop through online stores. “In July, I felt that consumers’ offline purchasing power was gradually returning. I had a premonition that the National Day holiday would definitely usher in the peak shopping season like in previous years, so I started to buy autumn and winter clothing in advance.” Sun Xiao told reporters, since Since October 1st, her store has been crowded with customers during business hours. She originally closed the store at 9 pm, but extended the business hours by half an hour. “Judging from the sales volume of offline stores, one day’s sales during the holiday is equivalent to one week’s sales in August and September. I made a rough estimate. During the eight days of the holiday, I sold about two months’ worth.” Sun Xiao said, as As a self-employed merchant, she hopes that after the long holiday, the purchasing power of citizens will steadily increase compared to previous years.
As foreigners celebrate the holidays, export orders from Guangdong garment factories, which have been deserted for half a year, surge.
Deng Richao runs a foreign trade garment factory in Panyu, Guangzhou. In July, he Finally breathed a sigh of relief. “Orders have begun to come back, and the turnover for two consecutive months has doubled that of the same period last year. The production capacity in August was close to 300,000 pieces, reaching 15% of last year’s annual production capacity.” As the domestic epidemic gradually stabilizes, Deng Richao’s factory Not only has the previous operation been restored, but the “retaliatory” increase in orders has even made the workers a little busy.
The reason why foreign trade clothing orders are “hot”, Deng Richao analyzed, is that on the one hand, it is due to the gradual stabilization of the epidemic in China. After June, many factory supply chains resumed operation, which means that they can resume operations. On the other hand, there is demand from overseas markets. Despite the severe epidemic, overseas consumer markets are still operating. As September is the traditional peak season for European and American markets, the purchase of Thanksgiving and Christmas supplies brings a large number of orders, especially online. Demand surged.
As a supplier of foreign fast fashion and e-commerce brands, Deng Richao’s customers include ASOS, QUIZ, Showpo, Missguided, etc., mainly for the European, American and Australian markets, and its products include dresses, evening gowns, etc. Last year Sales reached $14 million.
Like most garment factories, Deng Richao also stocked up at the beginning of the year, but the sudden epidemic disrupted all rhythms, causing the factory to The period from February to May was almost at a standstill. “Last year’s orders were cancelled, and the goods we made were not allowed to go. During that period, the turnover dropped by 95%, and we don’t know the future direction.” Deng Richao explain.
Clearing the overstock has become their first step to save themselves
For this reason, during the epidemic, clearing out as much overstock as possible has become Their first step to save themselves.
In order to clear inventory, most export merchants will switch to domestic sales and sell goods at low prices. The cost of a lifestyle dress is about 60-100 yuan, and the factory reduces the price by half and sells it at a loss. Deng Richao said that this was a helpless move. For the sake of capital chain and surviving the epidemic, “cash is king”. However, this approach once led to a price war within the industry, and the digestion capacity of the domestic market is relatively limited, so it is not easy to clear positions in a short period of time.
While working hard to clear inventory, they will also rely more on online channels. Deng Richao observed that some peers who still use traditional models such as offline delivery have been eliminated during this epidemic. However, judging from the response from online channels including Alibaba and other e-commerce platforms during the epidemic, the demand for foreign trade procurement still exists.
Adjusting the proportion of offline and online sales
Deng Richao’s factory began to adjust the proportion of offline and offline sales from the year before last. By the end of last year, online channels had Contributed 90% of its revenue. The earlier transformation of online channels gave Deng Richao added confidence. In the past few months, the company has increased its efforts to find customers online and increased investment in online channels, including increasing promotion on the Alibaba platform. At no cost, we also hired some professional teams to help optimize the company’s website to facilitate placing orders on Google search engines.
In early September, Deng Richao’s factory participated in the Alibaba International Station Procurement Festival, trying to showcase original design products to overseas markets through live broadcast catwalks and other methods. We also hope to acquire new customers. Live broadcast catwalks have attracted a lot of attention. Data from Alibaba International Station shows that the number of live broadcast viewers during the peak period was as high as 20,000, and the number of inquiries and click-through rates increased by 300%, with an increase of about 70% in September.
Deng Richao told Jiemian News that the company’s inquiries have increased by at least 50% to 200% compared to before. Although no orders have been completed, he believes that it will provide some help for subsequent development. ��Because the epidemic has permanently changed the purchasing model, it may take a long time for the offline market to recover, and after the epidemic, the share of online purchasing and sales will continue to increase. “Deng Richao said.
Improving the ability of “small orders and quick response”
However, more “Connecting” to the Internet in many places also means higher requirements for the supply chain.
In recent years, consumption upgrades have brought about fragmented and personalized market demand, gradually changing the structure of the clothing supply chain. “Bulk supply” model. Deng Richao revealed that in the post-epidemic era, this model will gradually become history, and orders will become more and more fragmented, which will have a huge impact on the supply chain, as shown in the following The order size is smaller, the purchase unit price is lower, and the delivery speed is faster, but manufacturers have to control costs. This means that if the factory does not optimize its supply chain, it will not be able to find a balance in such contradictions.
For ultra-fast fashion brands, they generally have stricter fast response requirements for the supply chain. The process from proofing to production is usually shortened to 7 days at the fastest, which is 7 days shorter than Zara’s fastest time. The products of e-commerce brands also perform faster and have lower costs. As a brand OEM and wholesale enterprise, Deng Richao admitted that the pressure they face is not small. In addition, orders will become more fragmented, so they can only Constantly find ways to improve the ability to “quickly respond to small orders.”
On the one hand, factories need to back-predict and predict market demand trends based on real-time sales data to help quickly adjust production strategies; on the other hand, they also need to rely on real-time Based on the feedback on the product sell-out rate, we can accurately calculate the “slow-moving” models, quickly cut off the slow-selling items, and quickly pursue orders for best-selling items to ensure supply. For categories that are popular in the market in the current season, the next wave of development can be added. Improve the hit rate of popular products.
In addition, Deng Richao also mentioned that currently, in order to shorten the path of goods from the supply chain to consumers, they have strengthened the relationship between fabric manufacturers, designers and logistics Contact us to quickly organize flexible production.</p
