During this period, what I heard most was “at all costs.” It is certainly right to use the most important principles in troubled times. However, “at all costs” is not essentially a scientific decision-making and lacks foresight, system and overall coordination. What enlightenment has the “black swan” crisis of the COVID-19 epidemic brought to us? What areas will be affected? What opportunities will it bring?
1 Functional textiles
The 2020 new coronavirus pneumonia epidemic continues to spread around the world. During the prevention and control of this epidemic, more and more people are aware of antibacterial disinfection and healthy development. the necessity of living habits. In the field of textiles, whether in clothes, home fabrics, decorations or outdoor textiles, consumers are looking for special products with built-in antibacterial, anti-mildew, odor removal, disinfection and other functions.
Textile antibacterial finishing includes healthy fibers, such as hemp and flax chitin fibers, and the application of melt spinning will increase significantly. The main directions include: preventing the growth and reproduction of bacteria; preventing virus invasion; preventing the breeding of mites; preventing mold; inhibiting the generation of odor, keeping it clean and fresh, etc.
Affected by this year’s epidemic, brands are pursuing cost-effectiveness, and the demand for textiles is expected to be more natural, environmentally friendly, and functional. If we take great strides forward, the need for antibacterial products will also be awakened. There is also a further increase in people’s awareness of health. It is foreseeable that the trend of sportswear and hot sales will come from the awakening of consumers. The fabric direction of 2021 must include this content. Previously, it was just some concepts in the product and was not well implemented. Some responsible domestic brands have already started their layout 2 to 3 years ago, such as JNBY’s Reverb brand and Suran’s environmental protection and sports brand ANKORAU.
2 World Factory
From 1990 to 2020, 30 years have passed. The scale of domestic garment factories has changed from weak to prosperous, and from prosperous to small. Except for a few giant factories, the overall scale has become smaller and more outsourced. . Is it due to competition? Or is it a flexible demand for small batches and multiple varieties? From the author’s point of view, the smart production that is currently being carried out in a lively manner is still in a stage where there is a lot of thunder and a small amount of rain. Take the printing and dyeing industry that we are proud of. Compared with the Southeast Asian companies in emerging countries that the author has visited over the years, our advantages are still reflected in the comprehensive supporting resources and accumulated experience in the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain. The author deeply feels the pressure – —We really don’t have much time left.
China is now known as the “world’s factory”, which vividly demonstrates the dependence of countries around the world on Chinese production. China’s share of global light manufacturing (such as textiles and clothing) is even as high as 52%. In many cases, countries around the world are also highly dependent on China’s exports: China accounts for 40% of global textile and clothing exports. However, since the brand is not in our hands, we naturally have no control over the orders. Taking masks as an example, the chairman of two medical device companies in Changyuan, Henan Province said frankly that the ex-factory price of ordinary medical masks is about 9 cents each, and that of medical surgical masks is between 0.4 yuan and 0.45 yuan each. A mask factory in Jiangyin, Jiangsu Province once stated that the factory manufactures 300 million masks for Japan a year, with an ex-factory price of 2 cents per piece and less than 5% profit per piece. World-class mask brands are 3M, Honeywell from the United States, and Unicharm, the largest mask manufacturer in Japan. The prices of these foreign brands are often more than 10 times the domestic prices.
3 Industrial chain transfer
The speed of industrial chain transfer is accelerating , as the global supply chain was disrupted for nearly a month during the Spring Festival, some global companies have begun to look for new suppliers. International manufacturers cannot wait more than a month. The epidemic is a knockout. This time, companies without cash flow, product moats, and management capabilities will be eliminated faster than expected.
How to get there? Which way to go? Are we ready? Is there enough time left for us? Worth pondering.
4 Domestic sales upgrade
With the growth of income, Chinese consumption Consumers desire better quality products and more choices. Although talk of consumption downgrading exists at the same time, there is evidence that China is undergoing extensive consumption upgrading. McKinsey’s 2018 Global Consumer Confidence Survey shows that 26% of respondents in China are in a state of upgrading consumption as a whole, while the average proportion of the other 10 top economies in the world is 17%. In some cases, Chinese consumers are dissatisfied with domestic brands, in part because of poor product quality and limited choice, both in terms of goods and services.
The SARS epidemic in 2003 accelerated the development of traditional e-commerce channels such as Tmall and JD.com. Now e-commerce channels will Presenting a more decentralized and diversified development. In the second half of this year, clothing companies’ offline income will be relatively reduced, and their offline income will be relatively low.��Income will increase. In the future, more niche and personalized brands will take advantage of the advantages of e-commerce to rise, and the form will not be limited to large channels such as Taobao. More diversified e-commerce channels such as live broadcasts and communities will take advantage of this to heat up.
5 Digital live broadcast
Relying on the layout of “cloud” products such as Taobao live broadcast, short video, and Tmall flagship store 2.0, it has created diversified iterations of merchants’ digital new product releases.
The COVID-19 epidemic has affected the global fashion industry to varying degrees. Many Chinese bloggers and buyers were absent from New York and London Fashion Weeks. As the epidemic in Italy escalates, Milan Fashion Week has to end hastily. The Seoul Autumn and Winter Fashion Week 2020, originally scheduled to be held from March 17th to March 21st, was also forced to cancel.
When the major fashion week organizers were at a loss, Shanghai Fashion Week, which originally announced the postponement, took a bold attempt. . After communicating with many parties and carefully planning, the organizing committee teamed up with Tmall, the e-commerce platform of Alibaba Group, to launch “Shanghai Fashion Week Special Presentation – Tmall Cloud Fashion Week” this season, which will be held from March 24 to March On the 30th, I went to “Cloud” to meet everyone.
6 Chinese Brand and Textile Industry Opportunities
Accelerate online and offline integration. This is not a new topic, because when this direction was proposed, the business of physical stores was still good and brand owners lacked motivation, so there were not many activists. The impact of the epidemic on offline stores has made almost all retailers feel that if they do not do this, they will quickly lose their competitiveness and may be eliminated. I believe that after this epidemic, people’s online shopping habits will be further explored.
Short videos and live broadcasts will continue to be strengthened. Last year, short videos and live broadcasts have been the main theme of marketing. Many industries have also realized it, but they don’t seem to pay enough attention. In addition, although some companies want to try it, they don’t know how to start. Now that we have entered omni-channel marketing, no brand can succeed by relying on only one channel marketing, because users are dispersed and customers’ time is fragmented. Therefore, not trying at this time means that you may lose the next bonus opportunity.
Private domain traffic based on WeChat will continue to be strengthened. There is no doubt that this is a direction that must be strengthened. In the next five years, private domain traffic will be an area that must be broken through and used flexibly. Some physical companies have done well in private domain traffic, so the epidemic has not had a big impact on them. More than 50% of their inventory has been digested. However, companies that have not made private domain traffic reserves have only digested about 10% of their inventory. This is It’s the gap.
Before the Spring Festival this year, WeChat has connected the enterprise WeChat and WeChat, and WeChat is already testing WeChat live broadcast, so there is still a certain opportunity for trial and error from now on, but the window period will be It will be very short. After the epidemic, a large number of companies will put their marketing on WeChat. It depends on who can run faster.
On the other hand, private domain traffic is not as difficult as imagined, and it is even less difficult for retail store owners, but the premise is that you must accept this method from your heart and have the ability to do so. The determination and perseverance to maintain good customers and achieve a win-win situation.
7 Conclusion
If you lose a month, you may miss a month. opportunity; if you miss a quarter, you may miss a golden opportunity in the industry cycle. The more impacted by the epidemic, the more companies should be problem-oriented, goal-oriented, and customer-oriented, and strive to improve product quality, improve operational efficiency, and reduce corporate costs. To some extent, the epidemic is a developer, testing the basic skills of enterprises.
Live streaming, social groups, micro-business, etc. are only supplementary at best. In the future, whether clothing companies will focus on online sales still remains It remains to be tested. It is sufficient to rely on online sales for popular standard products, but mid- to high-end, personalized, functional and other products cannot be satisfied through a single channel. The future trend is still the omni-channel model of online and offline interconnection. Presumably, companies that thoroughly implement employee online, customer online, product online, and management online are all excellent companies that can survive the crisis safely during this epidemic. The online transformation of the consumer retail industry due to the epidemic will gradually become apparent in the next few years. At the same time, we should increase revenue and reduce expenditure, truly seek effects from management, improve management efficiency and effectiveness, improve operational capabilities, truly return to the original intention, cater to user experience needs, and be refined, detailed, specialized, and deep, only then can we have a chance to survive. Only then will we have the opportunity to realize the dreams of artisan products, brands, and enterprises, and even more, the world’s enterprises. </p
