Shoemaker Manufacturers Take The Lead Alone.

As the eyes of the world look at the 102nd Canton Fair this week, more and more manufacturers have been found to be on the right side.

In order to enhance their brand image and gain higher profits, manufacturers began to separate from the original channel monopolized by distributors and began independent marketing.

But in the face of higher costs, manufacturers and distributors still seem to be "reluctant to part".

The leading role of the fair changed quietly yesterday. According to Xu Bing, deputy director of the foreign trade center of Guangzhou Fair, according to the statistics of the enterprise type, the manufacturers who participated in the Canton Fair reached 7959, accounting for 54.61% of all the exhibitors, while the leading role of the various trade fairs in the past - foreign trade enterprises accounted for only 3 of the total enterprises.

In fact, the quietly changing proportion of manufacturers and distributors has not only happened at the Canton Fair.

At the fourth China International Footwear Expo held this month, a staff member of Guangdong Dongguan Chen Hong Shoes Co., Ltd. is rushing to display new children's shoes in front of a booth less than 5 square meters.

Unlike the past, the protagonists of similar fairs in previous years came from shoe dealers everywhere, but today, several exhibition stands with Chen Hong shoe industry are almost all occupied by manufacturers from all over the world, but the main protagonists of the exhibition are few dealers.

In a recent visit, reporters learned that most of the exhibitors of clothing, toys, automobiles and machinery manufactures were monopolized by manufacturers, while domestic dealers with unprecedented scenery were beginning to face the dilemma of being replaced.

In the list of exhibitors at the China International Footwear Fair, the reporters found that only German shoe dealers, Beijing Baohua Yulong Trading Co., Ltd. and Shandong zexheng economic and Trade Co., Ltd. two shoe dealers participated in the Expo, and the rest were all manufacturers.

"Now the main force of the exhibition has changed, most of which are sold and ordered by the manufacturer itself, and everyone is willing to reduce the manufacturing cost."

People in Guangdong Dongguan Chen Hong Shoes Co., Ltd. told reporters that, according to the traditional mode, dealers will pfer orders to manufacturers when they receive orders from the exhibition. After the manufacturers are completed, they will be forwarded to the distributors and sold to customers. The sales process is more complicated, and the selling price of the products will be allocated to the dealers, so the selling cost is obviously higher.

She calculated for reporters: if manufacturers build their own platforms at the exhibition, they can sell products directly to end customers.

The difference between the two models is that the manufacturer sold the dealer at a price of 5 yuan, and the distributor sold it to consumers at a price of 5.5 yuan or more. Now the manufacturer sells it to consumers at a price of 5.5 yuan or more, and the manufacturer can earn at least 0.5 yuan.

According to another representative of the exhibition, at present, most manufacturers began to sink channels, and set up offices in all parts of the country. They could bypass the distributors' channels and directly participate in the market operation.

In fact, the distribution mode of Guangdong Dongguan Chen Hong Shoes Co., Ltd. is only a microcosm of all kinds of commodity fairs.

According to Gao Yi Dao, Deputy Secretary General of Beijing business enterprise association, as domestic manufacturers gradually show the characteristics of collectivization, internationalization and scale, dealers participating in exhibitions are gradually being replaced.

Manufacturers and distributors are hard to get rid of. Although there is a trend of reseller, it is hard for manufacturers to say good-bye to dealers.

A few days ago, all kinds of golf products were placed at the booth of 2007 China (Beijing) Golf Products Fair in China World Trade Center.

Reporters in the field staff talk with the understanding that at present, most of the participants at the fair are domestic distributors or product agents.

In this regard, Mr. Li, director of sales of sun spring sporting goods company, told reporters that although there are manufacturers replacing dealers in some industries, dealers are still the leading role in individual trade fairs.

Mr. Li, for example, currently sells golf products mostly from Europe, America, Japan and Korea. Local companies can not set up a large number of distribution outlets in China.

At the same time, due to backward technology, the domestic golf products manufacturers do not have the scale to promote their products by themselves.

"If a manufacturer is prepared to go it alone, all dealers will not provide sales channels to them, which is too expensive for manufacturers."

Mr. Li said.

According to Gao, the main reason why manufacturers are willing to spend money with distributors is to provide value-added services to manufacturers in the process of product circulation.

This appreciation comes from two aspects: the reduction of paction costs and the amplification of the value of enterprises or products.

The decrease of paction cost is mainly reflected in the balance of financial cost, time cost and communication cost, while value-added services are mainly embodied in the provision of product circulation function while dealers can creatively do some work of helping sales, such as display vividly, posting and maintenance of publicity materials, sales guidance and frequent prompts, etc., so that manufacturers can always appear in the best image for distribution, retail and consumers.

A staff member of Guangdong Dongguan Chen Hong Shoes Co., Ltd. also told reporters that when the company's products are sold by distributors, the company only needs to wait for the product orders in the production area, so that many manufacturing and management costs can be saved.

But when the company is responsible for selling, all kinds of expenses must be paid by the company.

It is reported that there are about ten exhibitions of footwear in China every year. If manufacturers need to participate in every exhibition, they must plan their own publicity.

At the same time, the reporter understands that the dealers who occupy the market advantage and continue to survive are not only in the golf products industry.

Reporters from the Fifth China International Tea Fair held in Beijing recently, nearly 60 exhibitors list, accounting for more than 90% of professional tea merchants, but few tea growers.

As manufacturers upgrade to brand operators, why do many other manufacturers prefer to give up dealers and participate in various exhibitions themselves?

On behalf of the China International Footwear exposition, a representative of the manufacturer who did not want to be named told the dealer partners. "Because of the long relationship between manufacturers and distributors, some of the old qualifications dealers often focus on mastering important market areas. They often ask manufacturers for higher purchase conditions, and even have the situation of dragging accounts. The new distributors of the company are unable to spread the goods to the whole market because of their low qualification, which also delays the sales performance of the manufacturers."

Meanwhile, at the 2007 China (Beijing) Golf Products Fair held in Beijing recently, the Marketing Commissioner of Ge fan clothing and apparel Co., Ltd. also told reporters that its company had already separated from the dealer channel and set up several independent commodity exhibition units in Beijing.

Lai Yang, Secretary General of Beijing Institute of business economics, revealed that after 2000, the market environment has undergone great changes, and more and more manufacturers have begun to integrate and upgrade the industrial chain.

The purpose of manufacturers' choice of integration is to expand the profit margins of manufacturing enterprises, and on the other hand, it is also influenced by competition among distributors.

However, more importantly, with the increase of market participants, manufacturers have begun to pform from simple sales mode to focus on brand building, but because of the uneven distribution of distributors and the distribution of multiple brands at the same time, it is difficult to display the complete brand image of manufacturers, and it is also difficult to provide satisfactory services for end customers.

In this regard, Lai explains that in the process of commodity circulation, the pition from manufacturers to brand manufacturers and upgrading to brand operators is a mature market change.

"In the international market, there are two kinds of brands, one is that the design does not involve production, and the other two is to control brand marketing."

Because the majority of domestic manufacturers are still in the process of pformation to brand manufacturers, controlling brand marketing is becoming the first choice for manufacturers.

In the end of last year, the auto industry also had a negative impact on manufacturers' brands and led dealers to "fight against water".

The new car dealer, new Baoding, announced the termination of its cooperation with Ford in Changan, and accused Changan of Ford's confusion in management, brain drain, price disordering and product quality complaints.

Just a few days later, the other side responded that new Baoding failed to meet the service standards stipulated by Ford in Changan, and all the achievements were worst among the distributors nationwide.

A domestic automobile industry expert also told reporters that as part of the current automobile manufacturers in the market do not recognize the two level agents, and on the basis of further strict control of the first class agents, many car dealers' rice bowls are increasingly difficult to guarantee.

"Dealers are gradually being replaced by manufacturers, which reflects an important trend."

According to Lai Yang, in the past industry development, the manufacturer was unable to make his own brand, so he could only entrust the dealer to help, and the profit in the sales link was also made away by the dealer.

But as manufacturers pform to brand makers, businessmen are trying to turn them into their own profits.

"This shows that the manufacturers now have begun to pform to commodity brands, and control the positioning of products and price planning in the product sales channels, and many exhibitions are the platform to achieve this."

As for the fate of dealers who are at the edge of survival, Lai Yang told reporters that some dealers have begun to achieve two extensions.

The main way is to establish a terminal store in the market, and invest and pool some of the manufacturers in the initial stage, and create some new brands from other independent licensing for sale.

"This feature has been a precedent in the fashion industry. Many new brands continue to enter the market, which is based on the experience of brand operators."

At the same time, Gao believes that some professional distributors are difficult to pform because of the difficulty of pformation, so they can directly participate in the capital operation of manufacturers and form an integrated operation in order to avoid the risk of being "thrown away" by the manufacturers.