Dongguan Shoe Enterprises: No Profit, No Choice But To Shrink "Winter"

Long Yongtu, former vice minister of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation and chief negotiator of China's accession to the WTO, believes that, footwear industry In fact, it is not a low value-added industry. As long as it is well done, it is also a high value-added industry, and the relevant departments should vigorously support it. He said that the shoe enterprises created a lot of jobs for the country, which is a positive industry. But in many cases, the government wanted to develop high-tech industries, ignoring the development of shoe enterprises.

"The industry suitable for local development is the industry with high added value." Long Yongtu said that the government and society should create a profitable environment for shoe enterprises. When enterprises make profits, they will find ways to innovate and shoe enterprises will develop.

　　 Investigate "the most afraid of customer leaving"

since this year on Dongguan Shoes enterprises are very unstable. They are generally faced with the problems of low production capacity and unstable quality. A big order accident will lead to contraction or closure.

Abroad, European debt crisis Deepening, the world economy continued to bottom out, and foreign trade orders declined significantly; At home, CPI is high, consumer confidence is obviously insufficient, and domestic market growth is sluggish. Under the pressure of internal and external extrusion, the pressure of high inventory suddenly appears, manufacturers are cautious in production and the market is cautious in purchasing, resulting in the contraction of the whole shoe industry.

China's shoe industry is under the dual pressure of domestic sales and foreign trade, and the shoe enterprises cannot make money. What should we do?

Standing on this key node, is it to shrink the operation or to find ways to continue to grow?

At the World Footwear Development Forum held in Houjie, Dongguan on October 31, Long Yongtu, a member of the International Advisory Committee of the Boao Forum for Asia, the former chief negotiator of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, and the former vice minister, said frankly that industries suitable for local development are high value-added industries. Houjie, Dongguan, is the world shoe capital, and government departments should support the development of shoe enterprises, Because shoe enterprises can create many jobs.

　　 More than ten shoe factories in Houjie closed down

In fact, Dongguan's shoe industry has been unstable since the beginning of this year. First of all, Dabang Shoes Co., Ltd., located in Shipai, Dongguan, with more than 1000 employees, went bankrupt, and the supplier was in arrears with about 10 million payments, causing a sensation in the industry. Then some shoe enterprises continued to spread adverse news, and the entire shoe industry was shrouded in a mist of sadness.

MALA is a technician in a shoe factory in Houjie. A few months ago, the boss downsized the factory to keep only the elites and turned it into a trading company to prepare for the "winter". Although he was not cut off in the layoff trend, MALA felt no future and chose to leave the company.

"I felt I had entered the wrong industry". MALA said that he only knew the technology of this industry. He could only leave this shoe factory and go to another shoe factory. There was no other way out.

The reporter interviewed many insiders and learned that since this year, many shoe factories have closed down, and there are no less than ten in Houjie alone. Many shoe factories have two or three hundred people, and some of them are not registered at all, so they have not caused such a sensation in the industry as the collapse of Dabang.

　　 No profit, no choice but to shrink for the winter

"Now many shoe factories are shrinking." Having worked in Dongguan for many years shoes According to Mr. Zhou, the president of a shoe company, the shoe industry is now generally faced with the problems of low production capacity (due to the difficulty of hiring) and unstable quality (due to the large turnover of personnel). If one of the big orders goes wrong, the enterprise will shrink or close.

Xie Qingyuan, president of Dongguan Association of Taiwanese Investment Enterprises, said in an interview that the shoe industry was greatly affected by rising costs and falling profits. Last year, a Taiwan funded shoe factory in Houjie, which is famous for making shoes, contracted from thousands of people to more than 1000 people. "It is not bankruptcy, but contraction without profit".

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The reporter learned that most of the shoe enterprises in Dongguan are sent to Europe and the United States after receiving orders for processing. In the past, European and American manufacturers would remit money to the account of Dongguan shoe enterprises immediately after receiving the goods. Now, after receiving the shoes, they would sell them by themselves, and they would give a batch of money after selling a batch of shoes, directly dragging the capital chain of Dongguan shoe enterprises.

　　 700000 yuan evaporation from suppliers

"Now the market is depressed, and stability has become the extravagant hope of shoe enterprises." Miss Li, who had just invested in a shoe factory two years ago, wanted to transfer some orders because of lack of manpower. She found an acquaintance, "Jazz", and hoped that his factory could take some orders, but "Jazz" did not dare to introduce Miss Li to the factory owner, because this year, The operation of the factory has not been very good, and the boss has less energy on the shoe factory.

"Sir" said, "To be honest, because I know Miss Li too well, I will feel guilty if the boss suddenly runs away."

Miss Li said that in April, she had been "lost" by a supplier, and 700000 yuan had evaporated. "Since this year, several bosses of my shoe factories have more or less encountered the situation of customers running away, with losses ranging from hundreds of thousands to millions. One friend had to close down because the other party ran away."

Is there any way to avoid running away? "There is no way." Mr. Chen from the Wukai Shoes Factory in the south of Houjie said that the trade rules are to collect money after two or three months of delivery. The boss often runs away without any omen and always disappears suddenly. "You can't guard him every day".

"I'm looking for opportunities to change careers." Mr. Zhou, who has been engaged in the footwear industry for many years, said that he is currently learning about emerging high-tech projects. If there are projects with good prospects and little investment, he will change careers.

　 Customizing "high-end shoes" for stars on the road of transformation

Many shoe enterprises in Houjie have reduced their production scale and changed to "boutique line"

Dongguan Houjie has 432 shoe manufacturing enterprises, about 100000 employees, and a total investment of 420 million dollars, known as the "Shoe City". Due to the difficulty in recruiting workers and high human costs, some shoe factories in Houjie adjusted their strategies, reduced their production scale and changed to "boutique". At present, this phenomenon is more and more common, especially for enterprises manufacturing high-end products. Such enterprises have developed the "advanced customization" mode, such as cooperating with domestic and foreign celebrities and star clubs to customize shoes, while gradually creating their own brands on the high-end route.

Industry insiders said that the changes in production scale and product strategy of such enterprises represent the trajectory of transformation and upgrading of the shoe industry. Such enterprises also witnessed the transformation and upgrading of Houjie footwear industry from its initial development. Dongguan shoe industry urgently needs to seek breakthrough through integration and upgrading.

　　 Skillfully use e-commerce to turn to domestic sales

The person in charge of Dongguan Economic and Information Bureau said that the old marketing model had large investment and slow effect

Liu Jiongxian, Deputy Director of Dongguan Municipal Bureau of Economy and Information Technology, believes that it is not easy to do export business at present. Under such circumstances, shoe enterprises can turn to domestic sales through e-commerce.

He said that many enterprises in Dongguan are OEM international brands, which have long been in line with international standards and represent the international industrial direction, so it is advantageous to develop the domestic market. "But many of our enterprises are used to doing order business, not used to the domestic market, and have no domestic sales development strategy, so they have no experience in talent training, team building, and channel building."

It needs a lot of investment to develop the domestic market (such as early publicity, opening physical stores, etc.). Will the government help solve this problem? Liu Jiongxian said, "The government should encourage, support and guide, but it can't do everything.

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What enterprises do must be guaranteed by the government, which cannot be guaranteed. " He pointed out that the key to developing the domestic market is to use a new marketing model. Dongguan will vigorously promote enterprises to use e-commerce. "If the old marketing model is still used, the effect will be slow and the investment will be large.".

　 Draw a grand plan to build 30 headquarters shoe enterprises

Houjie Town Government Vigorously Promotes the Overall Transformation and Upgrading of "Shoe Industry Cluster"

The reporter learned in the interview that Houjie has pushed forward the overall transformation and upgrading of the "footwear industry cluster" in recent years, and will allocate 100 million yuan of special funds for scientific and technological innovation to further increase assistance to enterprises, promote the synchronous upgrading of research and development, technology, equipment and management of the footwear industry, so as to achieve the number of headquarters enterprises in the cluster The scale of leading backbone enterprises and the scale of industrial output value have doubled respectively, and efforts have been made to promote the development of Houjie Shoe Industry Cluster towards industrial scale, high-quality products and high-end brands.

The relevant department of Houjie Town said that at present, there are more than 800 shoe traders and purchasers stationed in Houjie for a long time, and more than 5000 businessmen from the United States, Brazil, Japan and other countries are engaged in shoe processing, trade and procurement in Houjie for a long time. The finished shoes of Houjie are "walking" all over the world. According to the transformation and upgrading plan, the town will strive to introduce 5 world footwear brands, 10 domestic brand enterprises and Houjie shoe enterprises for cooperation and docking, and establish 30 headquarters shoe enterprises.