Affected by the severe and complex macroeconomic situation at home and abroad as well as multiple unexpected factors, the supply and demand ends of my country’s garment industry have been seriously under pressure, and the economic operation has continued to slow down.
1. Summary of the overall status of the apparel industry
However, my country’s garment exports have shown resilience and maintained their export advantage, and the production chain has recovered quickly after being temporarily affected.
After the epidemic prevention policy was relaxed, the effects of consumption-promoting policies gradually emerged. Production, logistics and sales links were restored to normal operations. The industry operating environment became stable. Enterprises actively carried out marketing, market activity gradually improved, and the domestic clothing market continued to recover. good.
In 2022, the business model of the clothing wholesale industry is also undergoing changes: wholesale and retail, direct operation, joint operation, franchising, distribution, and online and offline integration. Some bosses have successfully transformed, while others are still waiting and watching.
Live selling and private domain operations are the two online marketing paths that clothing industry bosses have tried the most this year. What are the results? Is there any experience that can be replicated? Let’s see the details below.
Looking forward to 2023, Internet + clothing is expected to become one of the future development trends of my country’s clothing industry. The popularity of online and offline integrated business models has increased, and the deep integration of the clothing industry and the Internet may increase the profitability of clothing companies to a certain extent.
The epidemic that everyone is most worried about is also expected to reach its bottom in March 2023. By then, huge market demand and revived consumer desire are waiting for garment industry practitioners to grasp it.
2. Clothing production sector
Before the epidemic, although the production growth rate of my country’s garment industry had slowed down, it still showed a stable and strengthening trend. According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, from 2000 to 2019, my country’s clothing products increased from 7.159 billion pieces to 24.472 billion pieces, with an average annual compound growth rate of approximately 6.68%.
During the epidemic, production in my country’s garment industry was temporarily affected, but the supply chain was quickly repaired. In 2020, affected by the epidemic, the output of yarn, cloth and clothing of enterprises above designated size in my country decreased by 8.4%, 15.7% and 7.65% respectively year-on-year. In 2021, supported by the overall stable domestic epidemic prevention and control situation and the recovery of domestic and foreign markets, my country’s yarn, cloth, and clothing output increased by 8.4%, 7.5%, and 8.38% respectively year-on-year.
In 2022, affected by factors such as the rebound of the domestic epidemic and the more complex international political and economic environment, my country’s garment industry has faced risk challenges such as phased shutdowns and production shutdowns in some areas, poor logistics operations, and high raw material prices, and production and operation conditions have fluctuated. One of the largest textile distribution centers in China, Guangzhou Zhongda Textile Circle has also been shut down for a period of time.
However, as the epidemic prevention and control situation gradually stabilizes, corporate production and sales gradually resume, and the industry’s prosperity is expected to gradually rebound. In addition, the cost pressure on clothing companies is also expected to be alleviated.
Judging from the price trend of the main raw materials in the clothing industry, the prices of some raw materials have fallen recently. In terms of cotton, domestic and foreign cotton prices have continued to decline since June 2022. On the one hand, they were affected by the previous dry weather, which pushed cotton prices higher; on the other hand, under the global economic recession, residents’ demand and purchase volume for clothing have increased. The decline, coupled with the continuation of the aggressive process of the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes, increased selling pressure on commodities, and cotton prices were under pressure to fall.
At the same time, considering that domestic cotton is currently in the peak consumption season, but demand improvement due to weak consumption is relatively limited and overall weaker than in previous years. At the same time, old cotton carryover stocks are high, and it is expected that it will take some time for cotton consumption to see a significant marginal recovery. In addition to cotton, the market prices of TDI, pure MDI, and rayon yarn have also declined to varying degrees since July 2022, and the cost pressure on clothing companies may have eased.
3. Clothing Domestic Sales Segment
In terms of domestic sales, due to the frequent outbreaks of domestic epidemics, the growth of domestic sales in the apparel industry has slowed down. In the future, as the national epidemic prevention and control situation improves and the effects of consumption-promoting policies appear, my country’s domestic sales growth is expected to improve.
First of all, the domestic sales market of my country’s clothing industry is huge.
As my country’s economy maintains rapid growth, national income steadily increases, and the trend of consumption upgrading steadily advances, the scale of my country’s domestic clothing market is generally showing a growth trend. According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, before the epidemic, from 2000 to 2019, my country’s retail sales of clothing, shoes, hats, needles, and textiles above designated size increased from 95.92 billion yuan to 1.35 trillion yuan, with an average annual compound growth rate of approximately 14.94%; above designated size Clothing retail sales increased from 58.79 billion yuan to 977.81 billion yuan, with an average annual compound growth rate of approximately 15.95%.
Secondly, the epidemic has brought about a rebound in online consumer demand, and online consumer demand for clothing has accelerated.
In 2020, my country’s online retail sales of clothing products increased by 5.8% year-on-year, and the growth rate rebounded by 23.9 percentage points from the beginning of the year. In 2021, the domestic sales market will steadily pick up. The retail sales of clothing, shoes, hats, needles, and textiles above designated size in my country increased by 12.7% year-on-year. The growth rate rebounded by 19.3 percentage points year-on-year. The two-year average growth was 2.6%. It is gradually approaching the growth level before the epidemic. .
Online channel retail sales are growing steadily. In 2021, online retail sales of clothing products will increase by 8.3% year-on-year, and the growth rate will rebound by 2.5% year-on-year.The boss is excited and follows suit.
It is recommended that before entering the field of live broadcasting and private domain operations, clothing merchants should first identify their own positioning and advantages, combine the characteristics of offline stores and the characteristics of existing customers, and lay a good foundation first.
Use data analysis to consolidate theoretical knowledge, and then use the traffic of the basic market to expand outward. The basic market is the private domain. Only by doing well in the private domain and then expanding into the public domain can we have an effective operation strategy to support the expansion of the business territory.
6. Future Development of Clothing Industry
At present, with the precise implementation of epidemic prevention policies and gradual relaxation, people’s scientific understanding of the epidemic is constantly updated, market activity is gradually recovering, new models are gradually emerging, and the domestic clothing market is expected to rebound.
1. The consumption atmosphere is active and the market vitality is gradually recovering.
With the implementation of optimized prevention and control measures, the garment industry, which has been severely weakened, has ushered in a “warm spring” in the cold winter.
Take Guangzhou as an example. Freight platform data shows that since Guangzhou adjusted and optimized epidemic prevention measures on November 30, the volume of freight orders increased by about 50% month-on-month in the ten days from December 1 to 10.
“For the development of the apparel industry, we feel that the most important thing is confidence.” Chen Shaotong, secretary-general of the Guangdong Garment and Apparel Industry Association, said bluntly. He pointed out that the industry as a whole will slowly return to order, and there will be a qualitative improvement both at the production and sales levels.
In addition, New Year’s Day, Spring Festival and other holidays are about to “get together”, and consumer demand will be intensively driven and fully exerted.
In order to welcome the last sales season of this year, clothing retail companies will actively increase marketing efforts, explore the market through multiple channels, and seize the last window of opportunity to impact annual performance.
Clothing retail companies’ attempts to use various promotions and discounts to boost their performance in the last quarter will further stimulate consumer demand and form a virtuous cycle of consumption, which is conducive to the steady recovery of market confidence.
2. “Internet + Clothing” is expected to become one of the future development trends of my country’s clothing industry
Catalyzed by factors such as big data and e-commerce platforms, the impact of the epidemic has been superimposed to promote the rapid development of online consumption in my country.
In recent years, “Internet +” has achieved rapid development, and businesses such as big data, cloud platforms, e-commerce and cross-border e-commerce have flourished.
In this process, the market has successively produced new business development models. The integrated online and offline business model continues to be recognized, and live streaming and private domain operations have become marketing and promotion paths that ordinary clothing merchants will also choose.
In addition, after the outbreak of the new crown epidemic, residents’ consumption habits and consumption structure have also undergone certain changes. According to relevant survey data from the China Consumers Association, due to the impact of the epidemic, online consumption has become increasingly popular among consumers. Among them, nearly 60% of consumers surveyed said that online consumption exceeded offline consumption, and 70.6% of consumers said that the proportion of online consumption has increased year-on-year after the epidemic.
In this context, Internet + clothing is expected to become one of the future development trends of my country’s clothing industry.
Taking the 2022 “Double 11 Shopping Festival” as an example, the total transaction volume of the entire network was 557.1 billion yuan (as of 8 a.m. on the 11th). Compared with 2021 (the total transaction volume of Tmall Double 11 is 540.3 billion yuan), the year-on-year increase 8.45%. Among them, the clothing, shoes and bags category is still the core consumer category with the most intense competition and the highest proportion of sales.
Even in the autumn and winter of 2022, when the general environment is declining, disposable income is decreasing, and shopping desire is declining, the transaction volume of the e-commerce shopping festival has set a new historical record, which shows the consumption potential and huge value of Internet + clothing.
As online consumption of products in the apparel industry increases, apparel companies are also actively integrating and applying Internet information technology in product design and production to optimize product structure.
Therefore, the deep integration of the apparel industry and the Internet may increase the profitability of apparel companies to a certain extent. Actively using software to manage the purchase, sale and inventory process, exploring private domain traffic methods, and selling goods online are the general trends in the clothing industry.
3. Prediction of epidemic situation in 2023
Taking data from Singapore as an example, the case fatality rate of the COVID-19 epidemic is 0.06%, which is much lower than that of influenza. However, after Singapore relaxed its policies on January 1, case-related data did not reach a low point until April 15, a period of up to 4 months. or so time.
Therefore, after the epidemic prevention measures are fully optimized and relaxed in December, it is expected that my country’s new crown epidemic will shift to a low-level epidemic by March next year.
By then, the flow of people in the national clothing market is expected to resume prosperity, and consumer demand is also expected to reach a new peak. Clothing wholesale and retail merchants need to prepare in advance:
1. Don’t rush for quick success and lose your original intention of quality.
2. Create a recognizable and competitive offline shopping experience.
3. In terms of sales channels, both online and offline channels should be operated together.
Whether it is clothing wholesale or retail merchants, from now on, they must actively explore the upgrading and transformation of their business models and reduce costs and increase efficiency, so that they can better seize the opportunities of market recovery.
Spring will eventually arrive. Are you ready to see the costumers here?
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