Painful Decisions, Shoe Enterprises Enhance Pricing Power

The latest statistics show that after the EU anti-dumping, the export volume of EU leather shoes dropped by 8%% from 1 to October this year, while the total export volume and price rose by 7.2%% and 16.5%% compared with the same period last year.

Domestic shoe companies experiencing storm baptism have come to realize that products with brand, technology and quality really have core competitiveness. According to the latest statistics of China Chamber of Commerce on import and export of light industrial arts and crafts, after last year's EU anti-dumping, the export volume of EU leather shoes in China decreased by 8%% from 1 to October this year, but the total export volume increased by 7.2%%, equivalent to an increase of 16.5%% in export price.

These figures show that domestic shoe enterprises have not been overthrown by unfair rulings by the European Union. On the contrary, more and more enterprises are growing up in the predicament, and they begin to realize that the long-term development of enterprises needs brand, technology and quality as the core competitiveness, and these are the "hard truth" that the shoe companies in the country have to grasp the pricing power.

Abandoning the "imitation" from the "innovation" relies on the international brand "OEM" processing production and the volume of winning export mode, not only makes domestic shoe enterprises fall into the situation of imitation and low price competition, but the profit is becoming increasingly thin. What is more serious is that the lack of brand, technology and quality support Chinese shoes products frequently encounter trade disputes, and the biggest blow is the EU's anti-dumping on China's footwear industry.

Among the five thousand or six thousand shoe manufacturers in Guangdong, Guangzhou, Huizhou, Dongguan and Zhongshan, which are the main export industries of footwear industry, more than 80%% enterprises are processing trade enterprises.

Faced with adverse factors such as rising raw material prices, RMB appreciation, export tax rebate reduction and successive anti-dumping, Guangdong has suffered the most.

According to a field survey conducted by the Asian Footwear Association in Guangdong, 200 to 300 enterprises in Dongguan's more than 1000 shoe enterprises went bankrupt this year.

These enterprises are basically small and medium-sized enterprises, and they simply can not afford to possess brand and technological strength.

Unlike Guangdong, in the industry chain of "innovation, manufacturing and sales", after heavy manufacturing, light research and development and sales, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Fujian, many of the enterprises in China's shoe-making base have begun to embark on new industrial routes. They are willing to get rid of the "imitation" mode that relies solely on processing trade, increase capital investment and innovate research and development, so as to enhance the added value and competitiveness of products and create their own brands.

In November 27th, in Wenzhou, Zhejiang, AOKANG footwear technology research institute, with an area of 7000 square meters and a pre investment of 60 million yuan, was formally established.

This is the first comprehensive technology research institute of footwear enterprises in China.

Previously, in order to achieve technological breakthroughs, AOKANG has invested more than 200 million yuan, introduced 30 world-class production lines, and set up three shoe research and development centers in Wenzhou, Dongguan and Italy Milan, developing thousands of new shoe models every year.

In 2006, China's first development and development platform with independent intellectual property rights and full implementation of footwear product innovation was developed by AOKANG and so on, which led the footwear consumption in China to a new era of personalized customization.

It not only improves the technical content and brand added value of China's footwear products, but also enhances the independent innovation ability and international competitiveness of footwear enterprises.

Innovation has rewarded the footwear industry in Wenzhou.

Wenzhou customs statistics show that in October of this year, Wenzhou's leather shoes exports to the EU rose.

Leather shoes exported to the EU were US $9 million 860 thousand, an increase of 4.06%%; the number of exports was 1 million 100 thousand pairs, down by 10.85%%; the average unit price increased by 16.73%%.

In an interview with reporters, experts of the China Chamber of Commerce for import and export of light industrial arts and crafts said that the development process of enterprises in the field of technology will inevitably undergo three stages, namely, copying copying stage, innovating and evolving stage, and developing stage of intellectual property rights.

At present, a large number of enterprises with scale and economic foundation have emerged in China's footwear industry.

These enterprises have begun to mature in the development of many years, especially in recent years, the export difficulties encountered by the shoe industry have made them truly realize that they can truly participate in the international market competition by building their own brands, innovating their own designs and improving the quality of products.

Mastering the pricing power of products and having independent innovation technology and brand will undoubtedly increase the domestic shoe enterprises' pricing chips in the international market.

This year, China's export prices for EU leather shoes continued to grow by two digits.

In this regard, the China Light Industry Arts and crafts import and Export Chamber of Commerce told reporters that although the impact of rising raw material prices, RMB appreciation and export tax rebate adjustment and the EU's anti-dumping duties on China's imported leather shoes were not excluded, more importantly, some powerful domestic shoe enterprises promptly adjusted the structure of export products, increased the production of independent innovation brands, realized the pformation from low to middle grade products, enhanced the core competitiveness of enterprises, and enabled enterprises to grasp the right to speak for product pricing.

This is an important reason for the rise in export prices of shoes.

At present, Chinese shoe enterprises, like many Chinese manufacturing enterprises, are faced with the pformation from "made in China" to "created in China". They are free from external dependence, independent research and development, and create world brands.

Only in this way can we really grasp the pricing power of products.

This is also the only way for China's footwear industry to achieve sustainable development.

At the "world footwear development forum" held recently, Long Yongtu, Secretary General of the Boao forum for Asia, said that the time for "made in China" to regain pricing power in international trade is ripe.

On the one hand, as the domestic economy goes to the demand support, the dependence and dependence of the enterprises on overseas markets can be greatly reduced. On the other hand, the developed countries have already formed a strong dependence on the huge output of "made in China", for example, the proportion of Chinese shoe production accounts for over 70% of world shoe output.

"In the past, we have been immersed in the bill and made a lot of money, but we are happy to earn a small sum of money. Although we have solved a lot of labor problems from a historical perspective, we have lost the pricing power of international trade in the long term inertia, and now we must take the initiative back.

Chinese enterprises can take some tough positions in an upright manner.

In this regard, Kangnai group has stepped out of the first step.

At present, the export price of some Kangnai men's shoes has reached 45 US dollars / double.

In France, Holland and other countries' stores, about 100 euros of Kangnai shoes are popular.

It can be said that Kangnai has firmly grasped the pricing power of products with independent brand, innovative technology and reliable quality.

The industry believes that China's per capita consumption is 1.7 pairs of shoes a year, the United States is 7.4 pairs of shoes, Europe is 5.7 pairs of shoes.

If domestic consumption per person is doubled, 1 billion 300 million pairs of shoes will be added each year.

Domestic demand is bigger and bigger, and the dependence of domestic shoe enterprises on overseas market will be smaller and smaller.

This allows domestic shoe companies to play a bigger role in pricing power.

In the next thirty or forty years, the domestic footwear industry will be at the forefront of the world.