With the spread of overseas epidemic and the sharp drop of international trade scale, foreign trade enterprises are facing unprecedented challenges. Faced with the problems of goods stranded in Hong Kong, cancellation of orders, and warehouse backlog, some enterprises try to dig the domestic market and seek the way of domestic sales. Recently, the General Office of the State Council issued the "Implementation Opinions on Supporting Export Products to Domestic Sales" (hereinafter referred to as "Implementation Opinions"), clearly promoting the docking of domestic and foreign export market standards and systems, and helping enterprises to accurately dock production and sales. "Inside and outside", how can Soviet enterprises turn inward and expand the market?
Exports were blocked and orders fell.
In foreign trade business, because of the time difference, I often go to bed late and get up early. Recently, Dai Shengcai, the general manager of Suzhou Xingying Clothing Co., Ltd., was gradually able to get to work on time. "The newly developed customers in South Africa and Brazil were basically out of touch, and even the old customers in Egypt and Spain canceled the order contract years ago because of the epidemic. At present, they still have contact with customers in the Korean market. In the first half of the year, they signed 100,000 pairs of pants and sent the samples in the past two days."
Although the work and rest time tends to be normal, Dai Shengcai said frankly: "For our small business, as long as there is an order to sleep for a few hours, no order is the most urgent." The company’s trousers and other products have been exported to Europe, America, Australia, Southeast Asia and other markets for 10 years. Faced with the sluggish overseas demand, Dai Shengcai got in touch with the domestic customers accumulated in the past. "This domestic sales has never stopped, and it has a high reputation in the hearts of old customers. At present, it has contacted a number of old customers with a total of 300 to 400 stores, filling the shortage of foreign trade." Not only that, the company also bought a more mature Taobao shop and started online sales.
There is more than one experience. Established in 1976, Yangzhou Shuguang Toothbrush Factory, the first toothbrush factory in Asia, has an annual output of nearly 200 million toothbrushes. Since March this year, affected by the epidemic, overseas orders have dropped by more than 30%. Tu Xinye, the general manager of the company, introduced that the large-scale supermarket chain sales model was adopted in the American market, in which a large number of orders only paid the deposit and the products were not made for the time being. At present, more than 10 million orders for toothbrushes have been put on hold, resulting in huge losses. "Can you transfer the surplus foreign trade capacity of the factory to the domestic trade market?" Faced with the status quo, Tu Xinye chose online sales. "During the Tmall 618 promotion, we sold more than 160,000 toothbrushes a day. Recently, orders in the domestic market rebounded by 30%, basically smoothing the’ trauma’ of overseas markets."
"Jiangsu’s manufacturing industry is developed and its industrial clusters are obvious. Nantong stacked stone Home Textiles, Changshu Clothing, Yangzhou Plush Toys and Hotel Supplies are all important businesses in our export-to-domestic channel." Yi Xuan, head of Alibaba Taobao special edition foreign trade channel, said.
In order to help foreign trade enterprises expand the domestic market, Kunshan Customs launched a centralized declaration mode. According to the relevant person in charge of Kunshan Customs, the centralized declaration for domestic sales means that qualified processing trade enterprises can declare goods for domestic sales after being approved and filed by the customs in advance, and then go through the tax payment procedures for domestic sales with the competent customs. This can break the time limit, simplify the domestic sales procedures and gain more time for enterprises. According to reports, from January to May alone, Kunshan Customs approved 105 applications for centralized declaration of domestic sales of foreign trade enterprises, and the domestic sales of centralized declaration enterprises accounted for 78% of the total domestic sales of processing trade enterprises, hitting a new high.
Although domestic demand is good, it is not easy to turn around.
Export to domestic sales is not achieved overnight, and it needs to go through several thresholds. The first threshold is the sales channel.
"As a foreign trade-oriented enterprise, the biggest problem in the process of transferring to domestic sales is the lack of sales channels. Because this market has not been cultivated. " Tu Xinye feels that thanks to the e-commerce platform, it is easy to build sales channels. Tang Song, general manager of Taobao C2M (User Direct Manufacturing) Industrial Belt, told the reporter that since the horn of "Spring Thunder Action" was sounded at the beginning of the year, more than 1,000 factories in Jiangsu have applied to settle in the platform within a week, and the sales volume has gradually increased since they came in.
Zhou Peng, who works in Wuxi Ruimi Information Technology Co., Ltd., has a deep understanding of the differences between domestic and foreign sales channels. In 2015, the company tried to push the products of an independent brand to the domestic and foreign markets simultaneously, and found the difference between the sales ends. "Taking vacuum cleaners as an example, the domestic online and offline sales ratio is 9: 1, and the overseas online and offline sales ratio is 2: 8. This is not only a change in sales channels, but also the whole idea." He said that at present, overseas market revenue accounts for 60%-70% of the company’s total revenue, mainly because in overseas markets, vacuum cleaners have a longer use history and a higher penetration rate, and China has just emerged, but the growth rate is very fast. In the past three years, the annual growth rate has exceeded 30%, and the competition has gradually increased.
In addition to the differences in sales channels, the lack of information such as product standards and consumer preferences is also a major obstacle for foreign trade enterprises to "turn inward". Tu Xinye said that a small toothbrush, the European and American markets prefer a larger brush head and harder bristles, while domestic consumers prefer soft and delicate toothbrushes. "In fact, what kind of products, shapes and prices are produced after domestic sales, and foreign trade enterprises are seriously lacking these data."
Dai Shengcai also found this problem. "It is difficult for clothes exported to European and American markets to directly transfer their sizes and styles to domestic sales. After all, there are differences in body shape and body shape. We have to readjust the production line according to the needs of domestic customers. " In addition, domestic and foreign settlement modes are different. After signing a contract, foreign countries pay a 20% deposit first and receive the final payment after shipment. However, in China, factories need to pay in advance, reconcile accounts at the end of each month and settle accounts once every six months, which will put pressure on some enterprises to turn over funds.
What is more noteworthy is that for foreign trade enterprises engaged in OEM and OEM production, turning to domestic sales means changing from the original supplier to the seller, from a certain link of overseas production chain to the whole industrial chain, including design, research and development, production and sales. In addition, it also involves intellectual property rights.
In this regard, the "Implementation Opinions" clearly supports foreign trade enterprises to negotiate with brand owners about the authorization of intellectual property rights involved in exporting products for domestic sale, and do a good job in patent application, trademark registration and copyright registration. Relevant experts reminded that foreign trade enterprises can "export to domestic market" by directly removing trademarks and outer packaging, which can not avoid the risk of intellectual property rights, but need to obtain authorization from the foreign party first. In addition, it is necessary to consider whether there is any right dispute about the intellectual property rights involved in the commodity in China.
Walking on two legs, internal and external circulation
After the domestic production was frustrated in early February and the overseas consumption was blocked after March, enterprises also had different understandings of the domestic and foreign markets.
"Before, foreign trade enterprises made production plans based on the order information of foreign customers, and there was almost no communication with market terminals, but the domestic trade market was a completely opposite process. We had to find ways to develop goods and then push them to the market. If the developed goods are not welcomed by the market, it will be fatal to the factory. " Tu Xinye said that at present, using the data of e-commerce platform, adopting the direct manufacturing mode of users and adjusting production in time can cater to the market.
Jiangsu Sulbon Petrochemical Co., Ltd. is the largest acrylonitrile production and export enterprise in China. In recent years, the company has actively deployed overseas markets, and its export volume has been continuously improved. However, due to overseas local epidemic control and other reasons, it is difficult for customers to pick up the goods, and the order can only be delayed or cancelled. "We immediately adjusted the plan and sent the products to downstream customers in China, which eased the inventory pressure." Zhou Yingying, the company’s marketing manager, said that this year, while expanding the domestic market, we will continue to explore overseas markets and strive to achieve an annual export volume of 100,000 tons. "Considering both internal and external markets, we can adjust the ratio of product export and domestic sales according to market conditions."
"This is an opportunity to force the transformation and upgrading of foreign trade enterprises. Because for a long time, under the favorable international trade environment, enterprises have made high income from processing and OEM, and naturally invested less in technology research and development and independent intellectual property rights. Now, after turning to domestic sales, enterprises need to consider intellectual property rights, technology patents and brand building, which requires enterprises to cultivate their internal strength. " Zhou Peng said. In addition, if an enterprise wants to sell domestically, it should consider the development stage of the domestic market in its industry and effectively position itself according to the current market situation and its own situation.
"In the short term, after the export of enterprises turns to domestic sales, the competition effect will be greater than the cooperation effect, which requires the government to introduce supporting policies to ease it; In the long run, it will not only bring diversified choices to domestic consumers, but also promote the transformation and upgrading of domestic industries, create superior products with international competitiveness, and form new growth drivers. " Yang Jijun, deputy dean of the School of International Business and Economics of Nanjing University of Finance and Economics, believes that government departments need to exert their efforts at both ends of supply and consumption. On the one hand, they should adjust the supply structure, on the other hand, they should boost consumption by issuing consumer vouchers.
Previously, the Provincial Department of Commerce issued the "Several Measures on Further Improving the Current Work of Stabilizing Foreign Trade", which explicitly encouraged foreign trade enterprises to actively participate in the "Consumption Promotion Month" activities in the province and supported local organizations to organize domestic sales docking of export products. In addition, two online exhibitions will be held in the near future.
"It is not contradictory for enterprises to participate in the two markets of domestic and foreign division of labor, but they complement each other. Both of these models have promoted domestic economic growth. We need to co-ordinate the domestic and foreign markets to promote domestic and international double circulation and mutual promotion. " Yang Jijun said that after the epidemic, globalization is still a general trend, and foreign trade enterprises should pay attention to new trends in foreign markets while enhancing their own strength. (Ding Qianqian, Zhao Weili)
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