Foreign Shoe Companies Are Eating The Chinese Market.

In October 4th, the European Commission announced that it would conduct "sunset review" on anti-dumping duties on leather shoes in China and Vietnam. This means that anti-dumping duties may be extended, and the export market for Chinese shoe enterprises is facing a double test of financial crisis and anti-dumping measures in Europe and the United States.

5 days later, in October 9th, China's footwear industry research report released by UBS showed that the per capita consumption of Chinese footwear continued to grow. The report predicts that by 2012, Chinese residents will buy 2.3 pairs of shoes on average annually, and this figure will be 1.8 pairs in 2006 alone.

UBS therefore boldly predicts that China's domestic market of nearly 800 million pairs of shoes will be pregnant every year.

On the one hand, there are obstacles to export, on the other hand, there is a huge potential consumer market for domestic sales. The development of Chinese shoes and clothing enterprises is facing new opportunities and challenges.

To expand domestic demand and enter the 2008, the "collapse tide" of shoes and clothing enterprises has surged, and small and medium-sized enterprises that are burdened by factors such as the appreciation of the renminbi and the rising price of raw materials have entered the minefield. The export of textile and garment enterprises has been seriously frustrated, and even normal production has no profit.

Yu Dong, director of the Yantai foreign trade and Economic Cooperation Bureau of Shandong Province, said recently that the average profit margin of the textile and garment import and export enterprises in Yantai was around 7%. The appreciation of the renminbi has led many enterprises to withdraw from the international market.

From the current economic situation, the demand of European and American countries has dropped, and many export enterprises have not been able to pform immediately, resulting in failure or bankruptcy.

In spite of the recent global financial crisis, China's GDP growth has slowed down and inflation is relatively high. But UBS still insists on a positive view of China's footwear market. On the one hand, it is based on China's population base and its relatively low per capita consumption. On the other hand, China still has relatively stable economic development under the financial crisis.

According to the survey data of UBS, the value of China's footwear market increased from US $7 billion in 2003 to US $8 billion 600 million in 2006, with a compound annual growth rate of 7.2%.

China's urbanization has brought the middle-income group with good taste.

UBS believes that the growth of the group will have a positive impact on China's footwear market.

"With 1 billion 300 million people in China, 1.8 pairs of shoes are purchased each year.

Compared with 3.5 pairs in Korea, 5.3 pairs in Japan and 7.8 pairs in the United States, the base is very low.

The report believes that China's footwear market has great potential for growth.

A problem that can not be ignored is that China's potential domestic market is attracting many foreign shoe and garment enterprises to come to China. They are strong in China, and have set up exhibitions and stores of famous clothes and famous shoes, looking for domestic partners and trying to carry out localization operations.

Not long ago, Italy's more than 50 brand shoe companies jointly built a famous shoe hall in Chengdu's "women's shoes city of China". The shoe hall covers an area of 800 square meters, displaying nearly 500 new shoe samples of Italy's first-line brand.

The responsible person even said that the shoe hall is a channel for Italy shoe industry to enter the Chinese market directly.

With the development of economy, the footwear industry in Italy has begun to enter the Chinese market in a big way.

Deng Yongbing, a marketing management researcher, believes that the strong entry of foreign enterprises into China has an impact on China's shoes and clothing enterprises and has a great impact. In the long run, it may mean the loss of local positions, because the high-end brands of local shoe and clothing enterprises have not yet formed a camp.

Foreign brands may be disdained by low-end brands, but they do not mean they do not.

In response to foreign competition, American Daily News published in October 8th that it was too difficult to give up "made in China". The author described it in person: "my shoes are made in India, but shirts, underwear and trousers are made in China."

What about the disinfectant gauze in the first-aid kit?

Made in China.

My portable coffee cup comes from China, and wooden chopsticks in table drawers are also from China.

A small toy car commemorating the Beatles video yellow submarine is also "made in China".

There is even a long time joke in the foreign trade circles that if there is a lack of Chinese made products in the European and American markets, Jesus will not be able to manage the birthday party smoothly.

At present, the export market is still inseparable from Chinese shoes and clothing enterprises, but enterprises can not blindly adhere to the old practice of OEM production.

To achieve long-term business benefits, enterprises need to make qualitative changes.

Hong Tao, director of the Institute of economics, Beijing Technology and Business University, said that under the environment of poor export, only by adjusting the industrial structure and pferring the focus to the domestic market can enterprises have a better development space. Only by relying on the strength of the enterprise brand and its strength in the domestic market, can the export market be a long-term business.

He has been engaged in the research of customized shoes, and has explored the establishment of his future industry standard Huajian shoes industry through data collection. Mr. Zhang Huarong, President of the company, said in a recent interview with the television media: "the footwear industry in Italy is well-developed, but in the past, their businesses were also OEM production, and gradually accumulated their experience of making shoes before they gradually made their own brands and went abroad.

But in order to pform from "OEM" to "independent brand" trade mode, enterprises need to go a long way, and need more independent R & D capability and more market development input.

It is a long-term thing to make a brand. "

Deng Yongbing, a marketing management researcher, pointed out that the main problem of domestic footwear enterprises is that they have not been able to form strong brands. The strategic adjustment of Chinese shoes and clothing enterprises seems inevitable.

The development of foreign brands in China's domestic market is also hard to achieve at present, because foreign brands are not familiar with the local market, and the channels are not familiar. The key is to see the marketing behavior in recent three years.

And the channel is a powerful force in the mainland. In this respect, the shoe and clothing enterprises in China still have advantages.