Jiang Hengjie: Interpretation of the development direction of the down industry

On June 8th, at the annual work conference of the China Garment Association Down Clothing and Products Professional Committee, Jiang Hengjie, a consultant of the China Garment Association and director of the down apparel and products professional committee of the China Garment Association, asked the guests on the platform. “We used to open annual meetings of professional committees. There will be more than 300 people attending, and only 100 people will participate in this or two years of meetings. What does this mean?"

He pointed out that this shows that the industry is undergoing a major reshuffle. Those enterprises with innovative capabilities, management capabilities and market resilience are poor. Companies that rely solely on price advantages to conduct "price wars" are gradually being eliminated by the market, and industry resources are being concentrated on advantageous enterprises.

“In the face of industry reshuffling, enterprises need not bewilderment, but on the basis of 'objective review, cool analysis, and rational choice', based on market segmentation, dislocation competition, innovation and development, and emphasis on cultural consumption and corporate social responsibility. Jiang Hengjie said that down companies should have a better understanding of the industrial chain environment, market environment, and social environment of the current down industry. They must have a sense of crisis and must objectively understand the current environment.

“The winter of 2012 is earlier than in previous years. The average temperature is lower than in previous years, and the longer duration has brought opportunities to domestic down apparel enterprises. In previous years, inventory was sold almost, so many companies rely on courage instead of wisdom. It is very undesirable for us to enter the down apparel industry again, or to increase the output of down apparel. We must accept the lessons of 2005, be less blind and impulsive, and not repeat the same mistakes.” Jiang Hengjie emphasized.

In fact, in 2012, China's down apparel, both export and domestic sales, showed a declining trend.

Reduced price increase

According to statistics of the General Administration of Customs, in 2012, China's down apparel exports continued to grow, but the increase slowed down significantly. In the year, a total of 69.79 million down apparels were exported, an increase of 3.03% year-on-year. The growth rate dropped by 24% compared with last year; the export value was 2.109 billion US dollars, an increase of 2.86% year-on-year, and the growth rate was 47% lower than last year; the average export volume The unit price was 30.21 US dollars / piece, an increase of 17.89%.

In terms of domestic sales, in 2012, the sales volume of down apparel of national key large-scale retail enterprises decreased by 1.5% year-on-year, and since the beginning of 2008, sales have been negative year-on-year growth for the fifth consecutive year. From the comparison of sales growth in quarterly and off-season sales throughout the year, out-season sales of down jackets in 2012 were very prominent. According to statistics, the sales of down apparels of key large-scale retail enterprises in the country from March to October 2012 increased by 5.4% year-on-year. The growth rate in the January-February quarter was -9.7%, and the growth rate in the November-December period was 1.7%.

“We should clearly recognize that, whether it is export or domestic sales, a large part of the growth in the down apparel industry in the past two years has been achieved by increasing the unit price of the product. But can we always rely on price increases to achieve growth? Can consumers? What is the value of accepting your clothing brand?” Jiang Hengjie believes that this way of gaining growth through increasing product prices is unsustainable and a product of a specific period. In the future, companies must rely on wisdom, innovation, and talent. Realize value growth.

He said that down apparel companies must “strengthen” their efforts. In the past, the era of eating the whole market has passed. The current consumer segmentation is more and more obvious, and individual needs are becoming more prominent. Enterprises must understand the market and understand themselves. Find your own core competitive advantage and corresponding consumer groups.

Enterprises should maintain the advantages of market share and brand reputation while pursuing the brand value and brand style, forming a unique, loyal consumer group. There must be new, scientific, objective and rational understanding and actions. Enterprises should actively use information technology to open up the industrial chain and achieve rapid response. They must adapt to the needs of the market and consumers, and must change from "meeting consumer demand" to "guiding consumer demand."

Jiang Hengjie believes that market demand is always right, and it is the company itself that is constantly changing. Enterprises must have their own ideas in the process of reform and transformation. We must rely on scientific progress to continuously transform our productivity. We must change our development trajectory. We must change from a product as a handle to a product as a product, and turn products into commodities. , thereby increasing market share. The company's product research and development should be based on a comfortable and healthy basis. Do not blindly innovate; future talent is also the key to corporate competition, companies must learn to know, use, and retain people.

At the same time, he pointed out that now that domestic e-commerce has developed rapidly, down companies must adapt to the needs of the times and innovate in business models, but they must not blindly enter them. They must analyze their positioning, strengths and advantages, and make corresponding adjustments.

All of this requires companies to understand the market calmly and rationally, to be quasi-perspective, to have targeted measures, to implement the plans into action, and to be validated in the market.

In the end, he pointed out that the down industry must achieve “common prosperity”, differentiate itself, avoid plagiarism and recurrence of price wars, create a good market environment for competition, and build the core competitiveness of enterprises. Only then can companies For a long time, it has become a century-old enterprise.

A rational view of down prices

Since the outbreak of h7n9 bird flu at the end of March 2013, sales of poultry, chickens, ducks, eggs and other poultry products have been tumbled, and related processing companies have returned to “winter” in the early summer season. .

Although, after the outbreak, in order to protect the poultry industry's production capacity and stabilize the supply of poultry products, the central government has allocated 600 million yuan to deal with the adverse effects of the h7n9 bird flu on the poultry industry and help companies overcome the difficulties. However, due to the killing of live poultry in various places, many goose and duck farms were closed, resulting in shortage of duck feathers and goose feathers, and the raw material market was hard to find.

According to statistics, in March of this year, 90% of white duck downs were 350,000-360 thousand yuan per ton, which has risen to 550,000-56 thousand yuan per ton, and they are not necessarily available.

In view of the current situation of bird flu causing down prices, Jiang Hengjie said that down is just a filling material for down jackets. These raw wools need to be washed several times, then dried and sterilized at 120-130°C for 30 minutes before being divided. deal with. Therefore, the down products and products manufactured by the high-temperature, high-pressure drying and disinfection according to the standard process are unlikely to carry the bird flu virus.

Moreover, experts in the global bird flu research community have also stated that the pathogens of “bird flu” are from chickens, not ducks and geese, and that down jackets are stuffed with urban duck downs and goose downs, so consumers can rest assured.

In his opinion, down prices also have the potential for certain businesses to take advantage of speculation. As everyone expects price increases, reluctance to sell is also one of the predictable behaviors. However, with the normal breeding and slaughter of ducks, the supply of duck feathers will return to normal soon. Businesses must look at their hearts and do not rush to stock down.

"This shortage of supply, the market situation of prices of down products is only an interactive adjustment process, there is a down period of down, it will fall." Jiang Hengjie said.

At the same time, he reminded that companies should further strengthen industry self-discipline, avoid malicious competition in the industry, blindly increase prices, should adopt new product development, upgrade support services to deal with this predicament.

Fortunately, China's down apparel industry is led by large companies through innovation to achieve transformation and upgrading.

Foreign trade processing companies are changing from oem to odm. Odm companies are not only offering products, but also core technologies and premium services. At present, odm is already very common in Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Shanghai.

Branded down apparel companies increased investment in R&D, and the concept of autumn down feathers spread to more brands. Some feather companies have broken through the original fabrics, blending the concept of down and leather garments, and more and more fabrics with strong sense of design such as printing and gradients. In the style, adding chiffon ruffles, bright diamonds and epaulettes and other elements, very popular with consumers after 80 and 90 sought after.

"Internal demand is becoming the main driving force for China's economic development. Urbanization is the historical task of China's modernization construction and the greatest strength for expanding domestic demand. 'Urban-rural integration' will bring new opportunities for the down apparel market." Renmin University of China Huang Weiping The professor said at the annual meeting of the professional committee.

In his opinion, the core of future business development methods is to transform quality, efficiency, and sustainable development, and strive to enhance the new driving force of innovation channels.