The Impact Of European Debt Crisis On German Textile And Garment Market

?

In Berlin retail market, Clothing products Discounts and promotions can be seen everywhere. The trend of low prices of clothing products is still strong, but the first WHITELABEL · Europe held in Berlin, Germany, from July 4 to 6, was still a success. More than 500 businessmen attended the three-day exhibition. "Although the number of visitors is not large, the quality is high. Many of them are big customers with substantial purchase intention, and the customers are international." This is the unanimous evaluation of many exhibitors on the level of exhibition visitors. Many exhibitors have made breakthrough progress in their business in the three-day exhibition, and many exhibitors believe that the German textile and clothing market is worth further cultivation.

　 Key customers bring surprises to exhibitors

"More than 30 customers were contacted in three days, four of whom were big customers, and all of them asked for samples and color cards from the staff. One German customer has placed an order for 25000 scarves and 2000 pairs of gloves." Chen Dehan, the manager of the second sales department of the OEM sales department of China Tulsu Xuelian Co., Ltd., told reporters excitedly during the exhibition.

On the third day of the exhibition Europe Chen Dehan, who was investigating the market, received a phone call from a key customer he had contacted at the exhibition. The other side expressed the hope that the specific purchase details could be further discussed, and intended to visit the production factory in China. Chen Dehan told reporters that, generally speaking, once the customer has completed the inspection of the enterprise, especially after seeing Xuelian's factory, they will place an order, because Xuelian's cashmere products processing factory is one of the most advanced factories in China. "A total of 8 merchants came in the last two days, two of whom are of high quality. These two are direct buyers, one is from Germany, with 65 stores, and the other is from France, with 250 stores. These two merchants have selected samples and asked us to send them samples in time after the exhibition." Chen Jun, assistant general manager of Hangzhou Light Craft Textile Import and Export Co., Ltd., told reporters at the exhibition.

Finding direct customers means reducing intermediate links and leaving more profits in the hands of both trading parties. This is the most ideal exhibition achievement that Chen Jun expected. It can be said that the white label exhibition has basically achieved the ideal effect. "The customers who came to the exhibition were very professional and direct. They were looking for suppliers, and the purpose of the visit was very clear. The customers who came to the exhibition booth included retailers, wholesalers, and private brand companies. We were very satisfied with the number of customers we could reach at the first exhibition, and the overall quality of the guests was very high, with a strong international character, The effect of the exhibition exceeded expectations. " This is the evaluation of Lin Xuehu, General Manager of Jiangsu Sumeida Textile International Trade Co., Ltd., on this exhibition.

　 High degree of internationalization of merchants

The high degree of internationalization of professional visitors to the exhibition is the unanimous evaluation of the exhibitors. Chen Jun told reporters that they met customers from France, the Netherlands, Germany, Peru, Canada and other countries at the exhibition, and Jiangsu Sumeida Textile International Trade Co., Ltd. also met customers from Germany, France and Italy during the exhibition.

Most of the former business partners of a company come from Japan, and there is not much export business to Europe. This exhibition is to try to explore the European market. The first white label exhibition brought them unexpected gains. Wang Kaicheng, the general manager of the company, told the reporter that more than 30 businessmen were contacted in the three days of the exhibition, seven or eight of whom had substantial purchase intentions. Wang Kaicheng was even more impressed by the international nature of the audience. In just three days, Yantai Zhenmeng received businessmen from France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Greece and the United Kingdom. "The enterprises have participated in many domestic and foreign exhibitions, but it is the first time that they have met with businessmen from so many countries in an exhibition," Wang Kaicheng told reporters happily.

Journalists have tracked and reported on the professional exhibitions of textile and clothing organized by relevant Chinese institutions in Australia, the United States, Japan and other countries. These exhibitions have a history of about 10 years, but none of the visitors can compare with the first white label exhibition held in Berlin in terms of internationality.

Chen Jun analyzed that the reason why a processing exhibition held for the first time could attract businessmen from so many countries was related to the Berlin Fashion Week and the Bread and Butter Exhibition held at the same time. Influenced by Berlin Fashion Week and Bread and Butter Exhibition, the audience of China Textile and Garment Exhibition is very international. Chen Dehan told reporters that all the major customers who came to the exhibition took designers to the white label exhibition to place orders after they learned about the fashion trend in the bread and butter exhibition. The white label exhibition was held at the same time as the bread and butter exhibition, which formed a good interaction with several other exhibitions, providing convenience for international buyers attending Berlin Fashion Week. {page_break}

　 The impact of the European debt crisis continues

Hu Yali, assistant general manager of Ningbo Weike Industry and Trade Co., Ltd., has not returned to Europe to participate in the CPD exhibition since 2003. Although the company has always had business cooperation with France and Germany, under the influence of the European debt crisis, orders this year decreased significantly. Hu Yali gave an example. Customers who originally ordered seven containers of products now only order one container. This time, she learned about the current situation of the European market, adding to her pessimism about the European market. "In the German market, whether in supermarkets or department stores, the retail price of clothing products is too low. A pair of cotton beach pants costs 4.99 euros, and even if we place an order with us, we can't do it." Low unit price is only one aspect of the problem, on the other hand, the order quantity is also very small. In this exhibition, some merchants Hu Yali contacted only ordered 100 products, while in the past, there were tens of thousands of products ordered for any one order. The changes in the European market can only be experienced by visitors to Europe.

Wang Chao, the sales manager of Shanghai Luculent Textile Co., Ltd., feels the same way. He said: "The European economy is not good, and the order quantity has been greatly reduced. The original clothing is 2000~3000 pieces, but now only a few hundred pieces are required."

Chen Jun revealed that 60% of the customers now maintain the original order level, but 40% of the customers either reduce the number of orders or order less styles. In addition, the number of short orders and urgent orders increased, mainly because the market prospect was not good, and the majority of merchants held a wait-and-see attitude.

Chen Jun analyzed in more detail that European merchants have also changed a lot. Due to the bad economic situation, the merchants raised their technical standards. It is mainly reflected in that items that did not require testing before now require testing. Those that originally required testing now require more testing and stricter standards, which virtually increases the production cost of the enterprise.

　 Deep ploughing can yield

"Some people think that in the context of the European debt crisis, going abroad to participate in exhibitions will not yield much, but we believe that the more the crisis, the more you want to participate in exhibitions, and you need to explore the potential market by going out to participate in exhibitions." Lin Xuehu told reporters that this year Jiangsu Sumeida Light Textile International Trade Co., Ltd. set the goal of maintaining the export scale and increasing moderately. He learned from the exhibition in Europe that European merchants are under great pressure and the retail market is difficult to recover, so orders have declined. Although the retail price of European local brand products is not good, they are also actively exploring the potential market, trying to improve the diversity of product styles and reduce production costs, hoping to attract customers through multiple styles and small batches consumer 。 This requires suppliers to provide low-cost products. After understanding these market development trends, Lin Xuehu began to focus on developing low-cost products, especially looking for cheap surface materials.

In addition, due to the downturn in the retail market, in order to maintain long-term customer relations, Sumeida's product prices are 15%~20% lower than last year, which is beneficial to customers and helps them overcome difficulties.

Chen Jun adopted the same strategy. Among the three difficulties faced by foreign trade enterprises this year, two are tending to improve. From appreciation to slight depreciation, the price of raw materials also tended to stabilize and decline. However, due to the appreciation of the euro, European merchants are under greater pressure to operate. In this case, in order to maintain a long-term trade relationship with customers, Hangzhou Light Craft Textiles Import and Export Co., Ltd. has not only not increased its export prices this year, but also decreased some of them, so as to better help trade partners tide over difficulties.

In addition, we will provide more new products with selling points for customers. Chen Jun revealed that product innovation now requires starting from the development of raw materials. It not only requires the use of special yarns, such as core spun yarn, down spun yarn, toothpick yarn, etc., but also requires the mixing and matching of four or five kinds of yarns, which increases the difficulty of proofing. However, the sense of fashion of products increases sharply, the price space increases, and it is difficult for other factories to imitate. The development of such products will not fall into the quagmire of price competition. {page_break}

Zhou Ti, the OEM sales manager of CCECC Xuelian Co., Ltd., told reporters that under the influence of the European debt crisis, the obvious feature of Xuelian's export trade to Europe is that high-end customers are not affected. The orders of some high-end customers of Xuelian in Switzerland and Germany have not decreased, and some low-end orders have not been affected, but the middle end orders have been greatly affected, and the order volume has decreased. Xuelian is mainly engaged in high-end products, so the decline in exports to Europe is not significant.

Zhou Ti believes that it is important for enterprises to establish their own position. At present, Xuelian's strategy is to develop high-end products and markets. Because of the rising processing costs in China and the characteristics of cashmere products, it is no longer allowed to make low-end products. In order to ensure high-end quality, Xuelian strictly controls the raw materials.

Because cashmere is expensive in raw materials, raw materials account for a large proportion in the cost. The cost of the final product is quite different from that of pure and impure raw materials. As a brand under COFCO, Xuelian also insists on strict control of raw materials in order to maintain its brand in a chaotic market. In addition, pay attention to the continuous innovation of processing technology. Xuelian's exhibits in this exhibition are all designed for the European market, and the product series is clear. Jacquard, embroidery, and semi jacquard products are available. Even basic products, they also do unique detail treatment on neckline, cuffs, hem, and other parts to fully demonstrate the processing level and process of Xuelian to customers, Let knowledgeable professional customers see the quality of Xuelian products at a glance.

Zhou Ti told reporters that every time after the exhibition, there will be new ideas. After this exhibition, I thought that if I participated in the exhibition next year, I would need a booth, but I would take photos of every style, make brochures, and then send materials to relevant exhibitions. At the same time, there are corresponding objects on display in the booth, so that if the guests are interested in seeing the promotional materials of new products, they can come to the booth to see the objects.

Zhou Ti and Chen Dehan both believe that the German market is very good. German customers recognize cashmere, and in-depth development of the German market can bring rich returns to enterprises.

　　 The white label exhibition is worth looking forward to

As the sponsor of the exhibition, Sun Xiaoming, the general manager of the company, told reporters that the exhibition project has attracted attention from all parties since it was launched in February. The successful holding of the exhibition marks that the white label exhibition has initially established its own image, and many well-known brands such as HugoBoss, Strenesse, Adidas, etc. have come to the exhibition for negotiation. Professional media from Germany, Japan, Austria and other countries also reported on the exhibition. At present, the white label exhibition has occupied a place among the 11 official events of Berlin Fashion Week released by the industry. Textile institutions or enterprises from Latin America, Eastern Europe and Asia also visited the exhibition and expressed their intention to participate in the next exhibition as exhibitors. The exhibitors also gave full recognition to the first exhibition, and generally reflected that "although the number of visitors is not large, the quality is high, there are many big customers with substantial purchase intention, and the international nature is strong".

As it is the first exhibition, the white label exhibition still has some shortcomings such as inappropriate location, but the organizers are confident that the white label exhibition will become an international clothing processing exhibition. Therefore, in order to continue to expand the scale of the exhibition and further improve the function and influence of the exhibition, the second white label exhibition has decided to move the venue to the main venue U3 railway station before the Premium Women's Wear Exhibition in July next year during the Berlin Fashion Week.