Bags / Shoes & Accessories

China is the world's largest manufacturing country for luggage, and data shows that the luggage produced in China has accounted for nearly 40% of the global market share. With the return of overseas merchants, China's international trade exports of luggage have shown a sustained recovery trend this year.

In recent days, a production base of a luggage enterprise located in Pinghu, Jiaxing, Zhejiang has been working at full capacity to produce a new batch of orders -50000 suitcases - from European customers. Outside the warehouse, workers are busy loading newly unloaded products onto container trucks. Subsequently, these containers will be shipped to countries and regions such as Europe, North America, and Japan through Shanghai Yangshan Port or Ningbo Zhoushan Port.

Luo Fuwang, Director of the Manufacturing Center of a luggage enterprise in Jiaxing, Zhejiang: From January to February, we exported a total of 8.07 million US dollars, an increase of about 67% year-on-year. At present, the orders are also relatively saturated, with around 20 containers shipped per day, and a maximum of 70 containers can be shipped during peak periods.

The popularity of orders stems from the return of overseas customers. Since the end of last year, this company has made a special trip to Europe to visit old customers and continuously participated in professional luggage exhibitions such as Offenbach in Germany and Las Vegas in the United States, winning over $5 million in intended orders in one go. In Yiwu, the "capital of small commodities", more and more overseas buyers are returning here to place orders, which has also driven the luggage business.

According to statistics from Yiwu Shopping Mall Group, since the opening of the Year of the Rabbit, more than a thousand foreign merchants have entered Yiwu International Shopping Mall every day for procurement, an increase of 17.5% compared to the same period last year. Data shows that in the first two months of this year, Yiwu's luggage exports reached 2.69 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 26.2%.

Bao Jianling, a business owner of Zhejiang Yiwu International Trade City: In the first month after the Spring Festival last year, our turnover was 2.6 million yuan. This year, it has increased by 20-30%, over 3 million yuan.

Yiwu, Zhejiang: Falling sea freight prices are beneficial for export luggage enterprises to expand production

Since the second half of last year, the prices of container shipping have been falling all the way. Currently, the price of a container for international trade exports to Europe and the US West route has dropped from the highest point of around $9000 and $15000, respectively, to the current levels of around $1000 and $1500. The cost of international logistics has decreased, which provides a favorable situation for luggage export enterprises.

Su Yanlin, a business owner of Zhejiang Yiwu International Trade and Trade City, stated that trolley cases are a space intensive commodity, so sea freight prices have a significant impact on international trade exports. A container can hold 5000 to 6000 semi-finished products, which is 2-3 times the volume of finished goods shipped. But after the goods arrive abroad, customers still have to rent warehouses and hire workers to assemble the semi-finished products into finished products, which can result in significant expenses. Profits have been compressed, and many overseas customers have reduced their procurement volume, leading to the direct loss of some small orders. But now, with sea freight prices dropping to around one tenth of their peak, many luggage companies' business has warmed up.

A trolley box production enterprise with a construction area of over 10000 square meters can produce over 4000 trolley boxes per day, but the progress is still too slow for the enterprise.

Zhang Yongli, the person in charge of a luggage production enterprise in Yiwu, Zhejiang: Compared to last year, our orders have increased by 15-20%.

The person in charge told reporters that since the drop in sea freight prices, the luggage business has continued to recover. They are optimistic about the market situation this year and have spent tens of millions of yuan to purchase three new production lines. The production line is currently in the debugging stage and is expected to be officially put into use in May this year.

Zhang Yongli, the person in charge of a luggage production enterprise in Yiwu, Zhejiang: We are currently arranging international trade orders until July, and the production cycle is relatively long. Customers need to wait for three to four months. So we need to invest in a new production line and shorten the production cycle to 45 days.

Jiaxing, Zhejiang: From OEM to self built brand luggage enterprises, promoting growth through multiple channels

Despite the rebound in business, the international trade environment is becoming increasingly complex and changing. In order to increase industrial added value, many luggage enterprises in Pinghu, Jiaxing, Zhejiang have begun to seek transformation.

In the production workshop of a luggage enterprise, the reporter saw a large inkjet printer drawing cartoon patterns for a luggage. In recent years, the company has won over ten well-known IPs and created joint branded bags. These products have achieved excellent sales in markets such as Europe, America, Japan, and Southeast Asia, helping this luggage enterprise successfully establish a foothold in the mid-range market of over $100 and high-end markets of over $200.

The reporter learned that there are currently more than 40 large-scale luggage enterprises in Pinghu, Jiaxing, Zhejiang. In the past, these enterprises mainly engaged in OEM for foreign brands, with low product added value. Now, local luggage companies are continuously improving their competitiveness through overseas acquisitions and self built brands.

Chen Wanglun, General Manager of a luggage enterprise in Zhejiang: From a sales perspective, we currently have 40% of our own brands and OEM processing, and it is predicted that in the future, our own brands should exceed 50%.

At present, this luggage enterprise launches over 700 new products every year, and the gross profit of a single suitcase has increased from 5% to 20% to 30% today. At the same time, many luggage enterprises are also making efforts to expand their sales channels, not only opening stores globally on cross-border e-commerce platforms such as Wal Mart and Amazon, but also establishing overseas warehouses in Europe and North America.

Yu Xinfang, the director of Pinghu Factory, a luggage enterprise in Zhejiang, said that in order to meet the needs of cross-border e-commerce customers for small batch and personalized customization, our factory has launched an "unlimited minimum order" model. We can also accept orders for a few or more boxes. To this end, we have created a flexible production line that can transition from one product to another, with an intermediate production line adjustment time of only half an hour.