Speaking of old industries and new markets, what should we do? He gave a solution to open up the second growth curve of the enterprise. It changed the original model of “production before going to the market”, learned new trends in toys from global market data, used young people’s thinking to create toys that young people like, and let their old factories “rejuvenate”. Since joining Alibaba International Station in June 2020, in just six months, he has broken into the top ten in the industry, and his online income has doubled, turning the new battlefield into the main battlefield. We talked to him. When the old industry can’t keep up with the new market, it is the young people’s backwind methodology. “The biggest fear of being a boss is to fall in love with your own products. In many cases, your personal preferences are not important. To gain insight into user preferences, you need a lot of data to support: through online real-time data feedback, you can understand market needs and feedback. Second, in order to improve the product in time.” Cross-border e-commerce becomes a “breaking game” new track My hometown, Chenghai, Shantou, Guangdong, is known as the “Chinese Toy Capital”. Since the 1980s, nearly 50% of the country’s plastic toys have been manufactured. Our family is no exception. My parents have been running a toy factory. In the Chenghai toy industry belt, the parents always follow the traditional offline foreign trade, doing fixed categories, and the important task of developing online is entrusted to the younger generation. When I was about to take over this factory older than me after graduation, the epidemic came. Affected by the new crown epidemic in 2020, regular overseas exhibitions have been blocked, and small and medium toy manufacturing factories in Chenghai have suffered heavy losses. Orders have fallen precipitously. Most factories choose to cut online and look for new orders. In fact, long before the epidemic, we had already discovered that our toy factories had encountered a growth bottleneck-competition for existing products was fierce, and it would be difficult to achieve new growth without transformation. For a long time, the factory has mainly produced remote control toy cars with a customer unit price of less than RMB 40. My parents rely on a few classic products to dominate the world, some of which have been in production for many years. Under the traditional foreign trade model, the toy market is low in sensitivity, and market feedback can only be obtained one or two months after the release of new products. This also leads to a long product development cycle and slow upgrades. From the point of view of the factory’s operations, it has been reluctant to maintain a balance in the past few years, but this sudden epidemic has forced the transformation process. Cross-border e-commerce has become an important choice for us. I found that the ability to insight into consumers requires a lot of data support. Through online real-time data feedback, one can understand market needs and feedback, and second, in order to improve the product in time. I took my two foreign trade salesmen and plunged into the Alibaba international station, while expanding new customers from scratch, while looking for opportunities to make explosive products. What to do when the old industry cannot keep up with the new market? He relies on data to make toys and breaks into the top ten in the industry for half a year “In my eyes, toys are not just toys, but also a set of accurate data. As a business, the most important thing is to do a good job of data analysis of hot words, find out the products corresponding to the words, and then be able to produce products in the next stage. Seize the opportunity in development.” 2. Data analysis, predict trends Toy explosions can also be customized Although I just graduated and lacked experience, fortunately, I was able to learn and practice in the light of my outfit. Just like when I was in school, I took part in the training step by step at Alibaba International Station, learned operation and business courses for a period of time, and became familiar with the platform’s traffic tools and marketing and promotion methods, which improved the exposure of my own products and gained a new batch of new products. customer. In recent years, there have been many explosive toys coming out. From the fingertip spinners in the early years, to the pink pig bubble camera and the pig/dinosaur stair climbing automatic rail car that went viral last year… the industry is summing up the experience of making explosive models, such as incorporating cute animal elements. And most importantly, the prerequisite for creating explosive models is to select the right category and screen out good products that are suitable for a certain time node in a short period of time. With the help of the data staff of the international station and a complete set of digital marketing system, we have explored a set of very practical product selection logic: First, start from the root of the word, and use these three roots to bring the keyword index in the background, you can see the overseas popularity of related products, and then analyze the corresponding categories behind the hot words. Then sort by the degree of competition and find the category corresponding to the less competitive words. This shows that the number of merchants selling this product is small, and it is actually a blue ocean that can be invested. Simply put, first consider the category corresponding to the hot word, and secondly consider the logic behind its competing products, transaction volume, transaction amount and other data. Slowly, in my eyes, toys are not only toys, but also sets of accurate data. Take the explosive decompression toy in November 2020. When I first came into contact with it, I found that related search terms have risen astonishingly through data staff, which means that buyer demand has increased significantly. We also found that there were few sellers on the platform to make such products at the time, which was a typical supply of less than demand. Combined with the post-epidemic period, the overseas economy is sluggish, and under various pressures, young people urgently need to ease their emotions. At this time, I knew that the opportunity to create explosive models was coming. At the same time, I noticed that most of the existing products on the market are square and round conventional graphics, and there are few cute animal graphics. Based on past experience, I led my team to develop small animal decompression toys such as dinosaurs, octopus, bear claws, etc., which were exported to Europe and the United States, and sold out three days after going online. This also filled a gap in the toy market at that time, and the profit margin was already higher than that of remote control cars. It was really a sense of accomplishment. Within six months, the average monthly sales of such toys reached 2 million yuan. Since then, many businesses in Chenghai noticed that they have also begun to produce animal decompression toys, which has set off a burst of decompression toy craze in the Chenghai toy industry. “For the toy industry, the era of the exhibition has passed. After the two years of the epidemic, no one can deny the necessity and broad prospects for toy companies to use digital platforms to go overseas.” 3. Stand firm on the second growth curve, Bring the family old factory to “rejuvenate” In addition to making explosive models, we are also slowly improving products through big data analysis, and the improved products will be more recognized by the market. For example, through data analysis, we added a white spray paint on the bottom of the dinosaur toy. The overall sales of this product basically increased by more than 30% in the next six months. This has also been recognized by customers. Among the new customers reaped from the popular products include small B customers who were previously unreachable in offline operations. Compared with the larger B-side customers, they should adjust their purchases in time according to the market and maintain frequent interaction with the production side in order to increase sales. Thanks to data analysis and feedback, the factory can improve product details in time. Companies that do not innovate will be eliminated, and they must be forced to grow quickly. Compared with my peers, I don’t have time to play games and eat chickens. Before two o’clock every night, I am busy researching and analyzing hot words and other data on the Excel sheet, paying attention to the volume of inquiries, so as to accurately locate the market. What makes me feel gratified is that data selection not only saves decision-making costs and energy, but also makes many salesmen and enhances the overall combat effectiveness of our team. Throughout the year, we have received an order of more than 10 million yuan, which helped the company to reach a new level. It can be said that we have found the second growth curve of our company. I have been stationed in Alibaba International Station for more than a year and have been able to achieve such results. I have to say that both my own efforts are also inseparable from grasping the general trend of the industry. In my opinion, the era of exhibitions in the toy industry has passed. In the past two years after the epidemic, no one can deny the necessity and broad prospects for toy companies to use digital platforms to go overseas. On New Year’s Day in 2022, I have set a small goal for myself to exceed 300 million or even 500 million in turnover in the next three years. If it were placed in the past, I would not dare to think about such a thing, but now, I think that dreams are still necessary, what if it is realized? Very good logistics service!
