The World Cup is coming

Three days down to the 2022 Qatar World Cup, Yiwu merchant Wang Jiandong, who has been a peripheral product of the event for more than a decade, is still working overtime.

“We are waiting for the customer’s design, and it will be delivered at 2:00 pm. After tomorrow’s flight delivery, we can arrive in Qatar on the 19th.” On November 16, Wang Jiandong told China First Finance that they had received orders for products around the World Cup since last year, and have been making up orders since then. At the beginning of the game, they are also paying close attention to the shipment, “the customer orders and then quickly goes out” to ensure timely delivery.

In order to catch up with the time limit, they can complete the production in one day. No matter how much the value of the goods, they will also deliver them by air as soon as possible.

As the person in charge of Shaoxing Polis Garments Co., Ltd., Wang Jiandong has set up the front-end sales shop in Yiwu and the back-end factory in Shaoxing. With the opening of overseas markets, offline events and large-scale activities have resumed. Small, medium and micro foreign trade manufacturers, which were hit during the epidemic, have also taken advantage of the World Cup to welcome a considerable increase.

Staying up late to catch up on orders

As early as 100 days before the World Cup, Chen Xianchun, head of Yiwu Jinzun Sporting Goods Company, felt the “return” of orders.

“Orders for gifts, prizes and souvenirs have really returned this year.” Chen Xianchun told First Finance that they had received orders for commemorative prizes of this year’s World Cup, fans’ commemorative medals, key chains and other peripheral products. It is expected that this year’s performance will increase by at least 50% compared with last year, returning to the pre epidemic level. In the first half of this year alone, the company’s performance has exceeded the sum of last year and the year before last. Before that, “without a meeting, this kind of products would not be used”, and the epidemic directly reduced their business by 90%.

At the end of August this year, the World Cup order in Chen Xianchun’s hands has been basically delivered. However, some customers are still returning orders, and the orders have been received at the end of December. In particular, “the end of the year is coming, and every customer is in a hurry”, which has made her stay up for several consecutive nights recently, just to catch up with the work so as to deliver as soon as possible. It is expected that the busy state will last until the Spring Festival.

Chen Xianchun said that at the peak of the boom, they would send out goods in several cabinets every week, and one cabinet could hold nearly 4000 trophies.

He Jinqi, a businessman in Yiwu who specializes in producing and selling flags of various countries, told First Finance and Economics that since the list of the top 32 winners of the World Cup was determined in May this year, more and more merchants have come to inquire about and place orders, from the mini flags as big as business cards to the large flags that are 2 meters by 3 meters. As Yiwu was affected by the epidemic in August, logistics did not recover until around August 22. Therefore, the last order for the World Cup was not processed until the end of August.

Under the business opportunity of the World Cup, their orders this year are expected to increase by 10%~20% compared with last year. During the epidemic, the flag business was mainly digested by the line, so it was also greatly affected. This year their biggest selling item is a string of 32 team flags, which are mainly used for various decorative occasions.

For Wang Jiandong’s company, the increment brought by the World Cup is 10 million to 20 million yuan, accounting for about 20% of the total sales. In his view, the World Cup has brought about an increase, and their business this year is expected to increase by 30% compared with last year.

Before the World Cup started, Yiwu merchant Wu Xiaoming factory had exported 1 million soccer balls worth about 20 million yuan. According to his experience, Yiwu merchants’ order income from the World Cup in the year of its holding is “basically equal to two years in one year”.

According to the estimation of Yiwu Sports Goods Association, from the flag of Qatar’s top 32 World Cup to the ornaments and pillows of the World Cup, “Made in Yiwu” has accounted for nearly 70% of the market share of commodities around the World Cup.

According to CCTV, 60% of the World Cup official stores in Qatar are made in China. As the sales volume far exceeded expectations, the franchise store also added orders to the officially authorized Chinese suppliers.

It’s not time to make a bet

The idea that Yiwu businessmen predict the World Cup champions in advance, or even the results of the American election, has been talked about with relish. However, Yiwu merchants did not agree.

“It’s hard to predict.” He Jinqi also said that sometimes it is not even certain whether the flags of the 32 countries are finally used in the World Cup.

Wang Jiandong believes that before the competition, which country ordered more flags or peripheral products mainly depends on the size of the country. “After all, it is a carnival. If you have money, you can buy more”, which is not directly related to the final win or loss.

Wang Jiandong said that the current results of the game are certainly unpredictable, but in the second half, they will also make some predictions and increase the stock depending on the situation. For example, “when there are only four or eight countries left, we will prepare more flags of these countries” to ensure that the demand for replenishment can be met at the first time during the last four or eight competitions.

According to this logic, Yiwu businessmen may indeed be the first to predict the final ownership of the World Cup – according to the number of props ordered by teams from various countries, they can at least predict the hot countries that will win the World Cup.

A Yiwu businessman recalled that during the 2016 US election, Trump received a large number of orders for props in Yiwu market. Yiwu businessmen “successfully” predicted that Trump would win the presidential election. However, the successful prediction of the World Cup champion team has not yet occurred.

Foreign trade opportunities have always been

Due to the wide variety of products, from flags to blankets, to pillows and T-shirts, there are thousands of varieties. At the same time, the customers and sales layout are also wide. They will not only meet the business of outdoor advertisers, but also have accumulated some experience in the cross-border e-commerce field. Wang Jiandong’s global business is not too affected by the epidemic.

Wang Jiandong said that after the business opportunities of the World Cup, the European Cup and the Asian Games will come soon, and the opportunities for growth will always be there. Adhering to export and domestic sales, they are both cautious and optimistic in an uncertain environment.

In addition to sales volume, more and more small, medium and micro foreign traders are also turning to the two ends of the smile curve to improve the added value of products. For example, designing original IP or brands, rather than just doing nameless OEM behind the scenes.

The World Cup effect has always been obvious in Yiwu. Different from the past, this year’s World Cup orders have seen a large increase in products such as projectors and football star cards, in addition to traditional strong categories such as toys and clothing.

According to the statistics of Yiwu Customs, in the first eight months of this year, Yiwu exported 3.82 billion yuan of sports goods and 9.66 billion yuan of toys. Related goods include flags, football, whistles, horns, rackets, etc. of various countries. In addition to the Middle East, Yiwu exported 7.58 billion yuan to Brazil, up 56.7%; Exports to Argentina reached 1.39 billion yuan, up 67.2%; Exports to Spain reached 4.29 billion yuan, up 95.8%.

In the face of a positive growth trend, Wang Jiandong said that he was starting to expand the plant and invest in more automated equipment to improve efficiency and added value. As challenges such as recruitment difficulties have existed for a long time, he, who holds the resources of international customers, also wants to focus more on trade and trust the factory, while he further develops offline and cross-border e-commerce resources to seek greater certainty under uncertainty.

Influenced by economic downturn, Russia Ukraine conflict, global inflation and other factors, the world’s overall consumption power has declined. According to the data of the General Administration of Customs, China’s total import and export value in the first 10 months was 34.62 trillion yuan, up 9.5% year on year. Among them, exports increased by 13% year on year and imports by 5.2%. Compared with the previous nine months, the growth rate continued to drop slightly, but still remained at the level of about 10%.

Wei Jianguo, former vice minister of the Ministry of Commerce and vice chairman of the China International Economic Exchange Center, said to China First Finance and Economics that this year’s “golden nine and silver ten” of China’s traditional foreign trade will be postponed later, and there may be a more obvious tail raising phenomenon at the end of this year. In addition to the surge in demand for small commodities, cold proof clothing and daily necessities in Yiwu, there will also be greater demand for automobile anti-skid chains, deicer and other products.