The headquarters of Plum Blossom Umbrella is in Dongshi, a famous umbrella-making town in Jinjiang, but the reporter of Financial Weekly met Zheng Jiayao, the secretary of Plum Blossom Umbrella, in an old building in Xiamen.

? Xiamen is still an office, mainly responsible for internal sales, and some of them are OEM order salesmen. Most of the company's business is still in Jinjiang headquarters. ? Zheng Jiayao, who just came back from working outside, told reporters. This place was just established at the beginning of the year. ?

In the process of being interviewed by reporters, Zheng Jiayao is still dealing with the ticket issue of Chairman Wang Anbang to Brazil. We hope to make a breakthrough in the North American and South American markets this year. ?

The first business that was dragged back.

During the interview in Jinjiang, almost all the local people contacted by the reporter were familiar with Meihua Umbrella Company. The export volume, export amount, and the number of exporting countries and regions of the umbrella industry in the United States and China rank first among the umbrella manufacturers in China. The story of Wang Anbang, the founder of Plum Blossom Umbrella, is also widely circulated in the local area.

At the Spring Fair of 199 1, Wang Anbang went to the Canton Fair alone with two umbrellas to look for opportunities. As there was no library card, Wang Anbang had to wait at the door. At noon, with the help of friends who worked in Fujian Foreign Trade Center at that time, Wang Anbang had lunch with two American foreign businessmen, and took this opportunity to talk with them under two umbrellas.

Wang Anbang, who doesn't know English, bargained for a period of time with the calculator in his hand, and then negotiated the price. But just as the contract was about to be signed, something unexpected happened.

? The price is ok, and foreigners are happy, but there was an accident at this time. On my friend's side, I want to raise their prices again. Foreigners leave without taking it. Then I went to get him back, but he didn't understand and refused to come back. I was in a hurry. I gave him my umbrella and wanted him to come back and sign the contract. The foreigner didn't know, and thought I was going to give him an umbrella. Seeing this, I pulled him tightly and pulled him back. ? Wang Anbang said. In this way, he pulled back the first foreign order business.

At 1995, he had the idea of establishing a brand. ? According to my personality and my years of experience, I named this brand Meihua. The edge of the sword comes from sharpening, and the fragrance of plum blossoms comes from bitter cold? Very emotional. ? Wang Anbang said.

After determining the brand name, in order to promote the brand of plum blossom, Wang Anbang made a rule: all foreign businessmen with the name of plum blossom card can not only enjoy preferential prices, but also enjoy preferential treatment without paying a deposit; If you want to contract, not only the price should be doubled, but also whether the production line of the enterprise can be arranged. This move not only did not scare away customers, but retained old customers because it established brand reputation.

? Last year, the Russian market accounted for one third, followed by the European Union, Japan, the United States and Ukraine. In the past three years, 60%-70% of the market share has been in these markets. ? Zheng Jiayao told reporters that our brand is very famous in Russia and Ukraine. In Italy, we enjoyed the highest courtesy and became the object of counterfeiting. At the Italian airport, our chairman and I saw our umbrellas tied to the tie rod of the suitcase. ?

Independent brand ++OEM

Plum Blossom Umbrella began to build its own brand in 2003, and the gross profit margin of its own brand is higher than that of OEM. According to the relevant data in 2007, the difference between them is 3 percentage points. ? Now the sales of independent brands have accounted for more than half. ? Zheng Jiayao revealed.

The transformation from OEM to independent brand is an inevitable process of enterprise development.

? A few years ago, we felt that OEM was not a long-term solution, and we needed to increase our sense of independent brand. Therefore, our production mode has become such a mode that independent brands are increasingly dependent on. An OEM order means that the customer gives us a deposit, then we buy raw materials, arrange production and then deliver the goods. Independent brands need us to plan production, research and development, and sales. These two models are completely different, but independent brands have brought relatively stable effects to our sales. ? Zheng Jiayao told reporters.

In addition, the standardization of products is also an important reason.

? When Meihua changed from OEM to independent brand, we did it for too many markets around the world, and each market was different. After reaching a certain scale, it is difficult to expand because of low production efficiency. ?

Zheng Jiayao explained that? Customers in the Russian market may prefer heavier umbrellas, while in the East Asian market, they prefer lighter products, which makes it more difficult to determine the standards. We are an independent brand because we have relatively standardized our products into several series according to the global market and our own experience, and such series can be accepted by the global market. ?

Specifically, the main products of plum umbrella cover three categories: manual umbrella, self-opening umbrella and self-opening umbrella, 13 umbrella cover size specification, and cover umbrella rib styles such as straight bone, one fold to 60 fold, and more than 3,000 colors and styles.

The 2008 annual report of Plum Blossom Umbrella shows that among all products, self-opening umbrella has the highest operating profit rate, up to 28.94%, followed by automatic umbrella and beach umbrella, with operating profit rates of 65,438+02.30% and 65,438+00.29% respectively.

? The gross profit margin of big umbrella is higher. For small umbrellas, China's export volume last year was probably the lowest in five or six years. We are also very worried about whether the sales of umbrellas will turn around this year. Big umbrellas have been growing in recent years. ? Zheng Jiayao told reporters.

The marketing network covers over 50 countries.

? Our biggest advantage is that we have been doing plum umbrella for more than ten years and our customer base is very good. Our global customers can cover at least 50 countries every year, reaching 69 countries last year, with a wide range of customers and a wide marketing network. ? When talking about the main competitive advantage of plum umbrella, Zheng Jiayao told reporters.

As a commodity, the demand for umbrellas is relatively rigid, and the price becomes the key to marketing.

? In foreign countries, as long as the quality is good and the price is cheap, the products are easily accepted. For example, in Italy, we have a product that is especially suitable for sale in Italy, so the whole market situation is suddenly opened, and we can sell three or four containers a year. ? Zheng Jiayao said.

? The whole Italian market thinks that the retail price of umbrellas should be around 20 euros. We took it to the market for suppliers to sell, and the price was only a dozen yuan. Customers thought it was a good deal, so the whole market spread out at once. ?

In terms of marketing methods, plum umbrella is wholesaled by local Chinese.

? Abroad, we look for distributors in every country. In some places where independent brands do well, we will find some well-established Chinese as our agents. These China people may have done clothing, batteries or umbrellas wholesale business locally, and they can help us bring the brand in. ?

Talking about the specific reasons, Zheng Jiayao explained that because in these markets, we used to do OEM, and now we are independent brands, and the market acceptance is relatively faster. In addition, the dealer culture in China is based on the same cultural background, which also facilitates our communication. ?

So, how much profit margin can this marketing model bring to agents?

? Our foreign distributors can get more profits from the agency process than we do. Our former foreign importers will increase the price by 40%-60% and sell them to the second wholesaler. The agent we are looking for in China is equivalent to replacing the first importer, and his profit margin will come out. ?

Sell export commodities in the domestic market

Although it relies heavily on foreign markets, Plum Blossom Umbrella is gradually developing the domestic market, and exporting to the domestic market is considered to be the focus of the company's next transformation.

? This year is still slow, that is, there are still some problems in long-term dependence on the international market. After all, the domestic market with a population of more than one billion people is now doing the domestic market. The domestic model is different. The China market is so large and complicated that it is different from the international market we are facing. ? Zheng Jiayao said.

In fact, in 2007, Meihua Umbrella began to establish a domestic sales system, and initially completed the initial distribution of goods in key cities such as Beijing and Shanghai 17, and entered the high-end umbrella market with high added value with medium and high-end umbrellas as a breakthrough. In addition, the company established Jiujiang Meihua Umbrella Co., Ltd. in Jiujiang City, Jiangxi Province in 2005, making full use of the abundant and relatively low-cost local labor resources, land resources and raw material resources, and taking advantage of local geographical advantages to occupy the domestic market.

? It is another matter for export-oriented enterprises to do domestic trade, which needs to be used for reference. This industry itself is quite special. The first few brands, such as Paradise, have occupied a large share. We don't want to face such competition too actively, so our level is higher. However, because of the high grade, the consumption this year is a bit low, so the planned amount this year is not very large. At present, products are mainly sold through provincial agents. ? Zheng Jiayao told reporters.

He predicted that in 2009, the umbrella industry may hopefully recover. ? In 2009, many small and medium-sized enterprises, especially those facing South Korea, Japan or the United States, will be greatly impacted and affected. Big customers are not at ease with them, and these orders will definitely shift to concentration. ?

Zheng Jiayao cited the example of Canton Fair. ? Judging from the situation of our Canton Fair, the situation this year will be a little better than last year. At the Canton Fair last year, the whole international exchange rate system and raw material prices were in a very chaotic state. There were many inquiries, but few orders were signed, but basically all of them were signed this year. The situation of this year's Canton Fair shows us the hope of industry recovery, which may be more obvious after the third quarter. In the Japanese market, some mainstream channels are restoring contact with us. ?

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