Text/Hong Xiaochun
一
On April 21, the China Ceramics Network platform released "In 2020, foreign trade companies will encounter the most brutal survival challenges" One article. At the end of the article, the author puts forward the view that "Foreign trade enterprises have reached an urgent moment when they must adapt to the general trend and make changes and transformations". Unexpectedly, it turned out to be a prophecy.
On August 7, the General Administration of Customs released foreign trade data for the first seven months. Data show that from January to July, my country's total foreign trade import and export value17.16 trillion yuan, of which the total export value in July< span style="color:#2980b9">1.69 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 10.4%.
The overall situation of the country's foreign trade seems to be stable and improving. Unfortunately, the export situation of ceramic tiles is not so optimistic.
According to statistics, my country's ceramic tile exports from January to June 2020 wereUS$1.646 billion, a decrease compared with the same period last year21.05%; Guangdong, as a major ceramic tile export province, has experienced a decline in export volume of 38.30%.
二
Pure statistical data is of little significance, because its real value lies inMake people think. The significant growth in national foreign trade data from January to July was mainly due to the results achieved by my country's coordinated epidemic prevention and control, and also reflected the strong resilience of my country's economy. It is precisely because of the continuous adoption of positive measures to support the development of foreign trade that the foreign trade industry has been effectively stabilized. Looking back at the "falling behind" phenomenon in ceramic tile export data, is the epidemic really the culprit? The author believes that this issue should be viewed in terms of subjective factors and objective factors.
Objective factors This is the downward trend that my country's ceramic tile products have continued for many years in most countries (regions). Among them, the U.S. market is even more “horrible.” China's ceramic tile exports to the United States are subject to the dilemma of "anti-dumping and countervailing". Despite this, the data that China's total ceramic tile exports to the United States fell by 86.18% from January to June 2020 is still staggering.
In the ceramic tile export data in the first half of the year, in sharp contrast with the United States falling out of the top 20 exporting countries (regions), Vietnam, the Philippines, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Myanmar and other Southeast Asian countries have ranked among the top. Ten. This trend was foreseen in the 2019 industry import and export analysis released by the China Building and Sanitary Ceramics Association: "The proportion of my country's ceramic tile exports to developed countries such as Europe, the United States, and Japan has been decreasing year by year, while ASEAN, Africa The number of countries along the Belt and Road is increasing year by year. Facts have also proved that the main overseas battlefield of ceramic tiles has shifted from the United States to ASEAN.
The subjective reason is that the company itself is not strong enough to adapt to the special market environment. As mentioned above, Guangdong's ceramic tile exports declined by as much as 38.3%. However, during the same period, the ceramic tile exports of Fujian, Shandong, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hebei and other provinces increased.This fact no longer allows foreign trade companies to comfort themselves that they are affected by the epidemic. Impacts. Therefore, the industrial transformation, model innovation and channel upgrading of foreign trade companies are urgent.
三
At present, the global economy has been affected to a certain extent, and external demand has shrunk. How to digest foreign trade production capacity? How can foreign trade companies help themselves? Here again I have to mention “Export to domestic sales" topic.
Most foreign trade companies are well aware that there are many barriers to converting exports into domestic sales, and it is not something that can be accomplished overnight. It is reported that due to the different market environments of domestic and foreign trade, foreign trade companies face difficulties such as difficulty in expanding sales channels, difficulty in switching production lines, and difficulty in brand building when expanding the domestic market. The first stumbling block is the issue of sales channels. As a company that focuses on foreign trade, it has rarely explored the domestic market before and is seriously lacking in sales channels. Various reasons lead to foreign trade companies not knowing where to use their strength when they have to relocate. Instead of being confused, try. Let's take a look at some foreign trade companies that have already taken action and what experiences they have learned after trying it.
1. Choose a reliable platform
On April 16, at an online press conference held by the Ministry of Commerce, spokesperson Gao Feng proposed specific measures on how to open up domestic and foreign trade and help export companies switch to domestic sales. Gao Feng said that in order for export enterprises to switch to domestic sales, they should make good use of production and sales docking platforms, hold professional exhibitions such as the China Processing Trade Products Expo, build domestic sales display and exchange platforms, and organize foreign trade enterprises to strengthen docking and negotiate deals with domestic buyers.
As the person in charge of a foreign trade company that mainly exports antique bricks, Mr. Zhang said that not all exhibitions are suitable for foreign trade companies to participate. He believes that there are certain differences between domestic and foreign aesthetics, and it is very difficult for domestic consumers who are accustomed to popular trends to recognize the styles of foreign trade products. "Design exhibitions will be more useful to us. After all, the vision and appreciation level of designers are relatively in line with international standards. For example, in August we participated in the Shanghai International Hotel Engineering Design Exhibition." p>
2. Live streaming is actually using the platform to attract traffic
After foreign trade companies enter the domestic market, they need to go through long-term promotion from establishing a new brand to gaining user recognition, which is undoubtedly a huge challenge for companies that want to switch to domestic sales. Live streaming, as an online interactive marketing method that has become popular after the epidemic, uses real-time images to shorten the cognitive distance between products and consumers and shorten sales. At the same time, there is another hidden benefit from live streaming, which is the channel resources and information resources provided by the e-commerce platform itself.
Mr. Cai Xiangbi, who has been exporting specialty small tiles since 2009The reporter revealed, "For small and medium-sized foreign trade companies like us to participate in offline exhibitions, the input-output ratio is not very impressive." The current practice of Mr. Cai's company is to use live streaming to bring goods, including Do some promotion through short video platforms such as Douyin, and use online platforms as an important channel to develop internal sales.
3. Cultivate internal skills and enhance the core competitiveness of products
The most useful way to withstand pressure is to "take the initiative" to strengthen research and development, improve products, ensure quality, and expand the market. This means that the first task of foreign trade companies is to "cultivate internal strength." In this way, integrated marketing of domestic and foreign products can be achieved, and domestic and foreign products can be "same line, same standard and same quality". If you want to lock in customers, improving the core competitiveness of your products is key; most people understand this, but not many can do it.
Mr. Ding, another bricklayer engaged in the foreign trade industry, has his own unique insights into "cultivating internal strength". He believes that converting foreign trade to domestic sales does not mean following popular products in the domestic market, but that we should start from the perspective of mass consumers and produce more safe, reliable and practical products. At the same time, as the leader of an enterprise, he should have the awareness to seize the opportunity to promote intelligent production, carry out technological transformation, add automatic lines, improve production efficiency, and improve product quality.
Exporting to domestic sales does not mean withdrawing from overseas markets, nor does it mean that the construction and ceramics industry will enter a "closed-door" self-circulating economic form and development model. It means taking timely and effective survival measures in response to sudden changes in the market environment. .
All in all, the domestic consumer market has huge potential. In the past, the "walking on one leg" development model of foreign trade enterprises will inevitably have limitations and risks. If you want to develop stably, you need to let < strong>Foreign trade and domestic sales achieve dual circulation.
Author: Hong Xiaochun
