While stabilize overseas order, foreign trade enterprises actively explore that domestic market-
Export to domestic sales "turns" out new opportunities.
Since the beginning of this year, in response to the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic, with the support of a series of policies and measures to help foreign trade enterprises expand the domestic market, some foreign trade enterprises began to focus on exporting to domestic sales and tried to "walk on two legs". Judging from the data recently released by various places, the effect of exporting to domestic sales is emerging. However, there are still some enterprises that "dare to turn around" and "can’t turn around", and the reasons behind it come from many aspects. In addition to relying on government assistance, enterprises should also practice their "internal strength" and actively adapt to the new environment.
Since the beginning of this year, in response to the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic, with the support of a series of policies and measures from the central government to local governments to help foreign trade enterprises expand the domestic market, some foreign trade enterprises have begun to focus on exporting to domestic sales while actively expanding the international market and stabilizing overseas orders, trying to "walk on two legs".
Judging from the data released recently in various places, the effect of exporting to domestic sales is emerging, which not only helps foreign trade enterprises to open up a new situation, but also enriches the domestic market supply and effectively promotes the domestic and international double cycle.
There is a large domestic market space.
The latest data from all over the world show that the potential of exporting to domestic sales is being released. In the third quarter of this year, the sales value of processing trade in Guangzhou customs clearance area increased by 30.74% compared with the first quarter. In the first seven months, the total domestic sales of processing trade goods in Guangxi reached 1.42 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 24.2%. As of the beginning of September, the value of domestic sales of Xiamen Customs processing trade reached 14.385 billion yuan, accounting for 10.43% of the value of imported taxable goods in the same period, accounting for an increase of 0.4 percentage point compared with the same period of last year.
Some foreign trade enterprises are able to embrace new opportunities because they turn to domestic sales in time. "If there is no domestic market, it will be difficult for us to survive this year." Li Jingfeng, general manager of Guangdong Dongguan Langtian Clothing Co., Ltd. said that as a clothing enterprise that has been deeply involved in the foreign trade market for many years, the sudden epidemic this year has caused Langtian Clothing to experience an unprecedented crisis, and the volume of foreign trade orders has dropped by nearly 90%.
Foreign markets are depressed, and enterprises turn their attention to the domestic market. Li Jingfeng found that during the epidemic, domestic consumers formed the habit of staying at home and watching the live broadcast of "Buy in buy buy", which created opportunities for foreign trade enterprises to turn to the domestic market. Langtian clothing seized the opportunity, adjusted its business strategy, and moved to domestic sales with live broadcast.
To Li Jingfeng’s surprise, the clothes originally designed for foreign consumers are also selling well in the domestic market, and the profits are considerable. "Because of the reduction of intermediate channels, the profits have gone up. The profits from selling 500,000 pieces of clothes in the past are as much as those from selling 100,000 pieces now."
Similar to Langtian Clothing, in the face of the dilemma of declining demand and reduced orders in the international market, some foreign trade enterprises have begun to look for new ways out, and exporting to domestic market is one of the good strategies, which can not only help foreign trade enterprises tide over the immediate difficulties, but also enrich the domestic market supply.
In order to help foreign trade enterprises smooth sales channels, local support policies are also constantly increasing. For example, Zhejiang has implemented the action of "Zhejiang goods are the best in the world", "going north", "going south", "going east" and "expanding west", and actively promoting foreign trade enterprises to enter communities, shopping malls and platforms. Guangdong has introduced some measures to support export to domestic sales, including building an online platform for export products to domestic sales, and encouraging Guangdong foreign trade enterprises to expand sales channels. Fujian and Ningxia jointly held the "2020 Fujian-Ningxia Export Commodities Tour Exhibition" to promote the export enterprises of the two places to expand the domestic market. Only Yinchuan, Ningxia, had 184 enterprises participating in the exhibition, with on-site sales of more than 3 million yuan and intentional turnover of nearly 10 million yuan.
Experts said that China has a large market with a population of 1.4 billion, with strong consumer demand and accelerating consumption upgrading. Foreign trade enterprises turn to domestic sales, which can not only help enterprises to relieve pressure and tide over difficulties, but also help enterprises to optimize their business structure and open up new growth space, and there is still sufficient market space and potential to be tapped in the future.
There are many opportunities in online channels.
"The 6-piece tool set we mainly promoted was sought after as soon as it went on the market, and the sales exceeded 200,000 yuan." Zhong Jialiang, deputy general manager of Guangdong Jin Hui Knife and Scissors Co., Ltd., has a lot of experience in turning enterprises into domestic sales. At the beginning of this year, he opened the store online and achieved immediate results with the help of platform big data precision marketing.
Zhong Jialiang said that his company has been doing foreign trade business for many years, has been OEM for internationally renowned brands, has stable orders and sales channels, and its annual sales volume has increased by 10% to 15%. However, during the epidemic, the company’s orders fell off a cliff, and domestic sales became the choice for survival. It is not easy to open up the domestic market. Foreign trade enterprises neither understand the market demand nor lack marketing experience, and many enterprises have made difficulties.
In April this year, Alibaba 1688, a domestic wholesale platform, launched a digital "foreign trade zone" to help small and medium-sized foreign trade enterprises rapidly expand the domestic wholesale market. Enterprises like Jin Hui Knife and Scissors, which have no experience in e-commerce sales at all, can choose "full-care" service from category selection, product pricing to store operation. With the help of the platform, Jin Hui Knives and Scissors quickly opened an online store and achieved a substantial increase in sales, which also strengthened the determination of Jin Hui Knives and Scissors to sell domestically. "We have launched the’ Kitchen Cube’ domestic trade brand, and the annual sales are expected to reach several million yuan." Zhong Jialiang said.
Luo Xuan, general manager of Alibaba 1688 operation, said that China’s super-large-scale market advantage provides a broad space for foreign trade enterprises to export to domestic sales. The e-commerce platform has the advantages of big data, supply chain and marketing, which can strengthen the two-way contact between enterprises and consumers, help foreign trade enterprises quickly understand the market demand, and let high-quality export goods quickly open the domestic market.
Major e-commerce platforms have also tried their best to promote the docking of supply and demand and set up special zones for export products. For example, Suning bought the "Helping Export Enterprises Transform" zone online, and Taobao Special Edition launched the foreign trade channel, opening up exclusive sales channels for 300,000 foreign trade factories on the platform. More and more high-quality export products are enriching the domestic market supply and further stimulating the vitality and effective demand of the domestic market.
Transformation must cross many hurdles.
The reporter’s investigation found that the foreign trade enterprises that have successfully turned to domestic sales at present mainly present two characteristics. Judging from the types of enterprises, most of them are leading enterprises, which often start to "walk on two legs" in the international and domestic markets earlier, and can make up for the current loss of export decline through more mature domestic sales channels. From the industry point of view, textile and garment, light industry and agricultural products enterprises are more feasible to switch to domestic sales. These three types of enterprises are close to the terminal market and the cost of entering domestic sales channels is lower.
At the same time, there are still some enterprises that "dare to turn around" and "can’t turn around", and the reasons behind it come from many aspects.
The market is not ripe enough. Many business people told reporters that because the domestic market environment is different from that of foreign countries, many international best-selling goods are not acclimatized after being sold domestically, and it is difficult to obtain orders because of the lack of sales market. For example, Hubei Xiangyang Hengde Auto Parts Co., Ltd. mainly exports modified car wheels, but because the domestic modified car market is small, it is difficult for enterprises to adjust their market strategy in the short term.
The brand is not loud enough. Turning to domestic sales can open the domestic market with the help of e-commerce platform in the short term, and it needs to take the road of brand development in the long term to gain a firm foothold. After years of hard work, some export enterprises have established their brand image overseas, but domestic users are not familiar with their products, and the domestic market is not well known, so it takes time to cultivate customers.
Lack of experience. Some enterprises said that there are differences between domestic and foreign trade business operation modes, and most foreign trade products are in large quantities and few batches, with simple business mode and relatively short process. The domestic market is generally small batch and multi-batch, and there are many links in R&D, advertising and marketing, channel expansion, etc., and foreign trade enterprises are often inexperienced in exporting to domestic sales. A person in charge of a machinery manufacturing company in Hubei Province told the reporter that the company is a small and medium-sized micro-foreign trade enterprise. Compared with large enterprises, it has insufficient ability to open up the domestic market and faces greater risks. Therefore, it lacks confidence and has stopped moving to domestic sales.
In view of various obstacles to the "transformation", the State Council issued the "Implementation Opinions on Supporting Export Products to Domestic Sales" in June, and the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Finance and other relevant departments have also taken many measures to help enterprises solve difficulties and reduce their concerns from various aspects such as fiscal, taxation and financial support.
Experts said that the international market situation is ever-changing, and the environment for export and domestic sales is very different, so foreign trade enterprises should make rational choices according to the actual situation. For enterprises that want to "walk on two legs" in the international and domestic markets, besides relying on government assistance, they should also practice their "internal strength", strengthen domestic market research, actively adapt to the new environment, create a reputation and build a brand, and truly realize endogenous "hematopoiesis". (Reporter Li Hualin)
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