On Huanghe Road, which is familiar to all “Old Zhengzhou” people, in addition to the electric vehicle market, Huanghe Road Clothing Wholesale Market was also the most prosperous place with the largest flow of people. Until now, the Huanghe Road Clothing Market is still an iconic piece of land on Huanghe Road, and there are still many passengers getting on and off at this station.
What I remember in my childhood has finally become history. Now that I come to this place again, it is a different place. A scene.
Perhaps due to special reasons this year, the Huanghe Road Clothing Market during the National Day Golden Week encountered a different situation than in previous years. Different periods of embarrassment.
The reporter entered a children’s clothing store at the entrance of the market. The words “19 yuan, 39 yuan, 59 yuan rush to buy” outside the store were very conspicuous. The clothing in the store basically ranges from 19 to 59 yuan for cotton-based bottoms, and 39 to 139 yuan for down clothing, with the lowest price being as low as 10% off.
According to the store owner, this year’s price is a new low in history. In the past, it was basically It is sold at the original price, and the discount this year is quite large. The store owner said that in previous years, if the clothes for the season were not sold out, they could be returned to the factory, but this year due to the impact of the epidemic, the factory did not allow the clothes to be returned. “Only 200 pieces of winter clothing have been purchased this year. There is not much traffic in the market and business is not easy to do. Now we just want to be able to promote sales and sell them out as soon as possible. If we can sell one piece, we will have to keep inventory.” The boss said. Said helplessly.
Walking into the market, the reporter deeply felt the indifference of the clothing market this year.
I saw that there were very few customers in the huge market.
Outside rows of stores, shop owners were listlessly playing with their mobile phones. Maybe he was too leisurely, maybe he was tired, he looked absent-minded and had nothing to do.
Among them, the owner of a shop jokingly said to others that his legs were “numb” all day long. “Yes.” It’s just that when business is good, it’s a standstill, but now when there’s no business, it’s a sitcom.
The reporter observed the entire market. In the clothing area on the first floor, basically many shops in each row of shops were closed, and the words “lease and transfer” of the shops were printed.
You can see “Qing, Qing, Qing” everywhere , It has expired, the entire store will be cleared, no one will be left, and the transfer will not be done” and other messages.
Most of the shops in the shoes, socks, hats and textile areas on the second floor have been closed. Some shop owners even Fell asleep in the shop.
However, there are still some stores that have a certain amount of customers. The reporter noticed that the stores are basically Japanese, Korean and European, and some cotton and linen stores are also quite popular.
The reporter came to a shop that he had visited before. The owner of the shop told the reporter that the ancient style of cotton and linen has been relatively popular in recent years. It is not only popular among middle-aged and elderly people, but also among young people. . There are many styles, quick updates, good reputation, and many repeat customers. This store’s business is relatively good this year.
“During the epidemic, before the market opened, we basically sold on WeChat and refreshed pictures every day. Many old customers liked shopping online directly. After the market opened, the initial sales were indeed It has been affected to some extent, but it has basically returned to normal after May, and the current turnover is basically the same as the same period in previous years.” said the owner of the store.
From a visit to the terminal clothing market, affected by the epidemic, this year’s market conditions have declined significantly compared with previous years. Not only the number of stores has been reduced, but also the sales revenue has been reduced, which has also forced many stores to switch businesses due to promotion. The reporter observed that most of the stores that are struggling these days mainly sell traditional and popular clothing, lacking the characteristics of the store itself. On the contrary, some differentiated stores will have an easier time.
The clothing market is recovering weakly
The sudden new crown epidemic is profoundly affecting the clothing industry. The reporter learned that the epidemic has had a great impact on textile and garment factories.The epidemic has led to a rapid decline in terminal consumption and serious inventory accumulation; the order volume of textile and clothing is getting smaller and smaller. During the epidemic, foreign textiles were at a standstill, most orders were canceled or delayed, and the number of loss-making enterprises increased significantly. As of August 27, a total of 29 of the 40 A-share apparel and textile companies have disclosed their 2020 semi-annual reports. Only 7 of them have positive year-on-year net profit growth, and the remaining 22 companies have shown a decline in net profits in the first half of the year.
“Since most of today’s textile industry still prepares goods in advance, under the impact of the epidemic, the predictions based on experience in previous years have been misaligned. At the beginning of the year, foreign trade orders A large number of items have been canceled, which has accumulated a lot of inventory for textile companies. The average inventory of gray fabrics in Jiangsu and Zhejiang has reached a maximum of 45 days, which is already the highest level in history.” Zhang Qiang, director of the Acquisition and Editing Center of China Silk City Network, said that due to insufficient demand, the price of raw materials has The price of polyester FDY 150D fell sharply, reaching the lowest level in April to 5,300 yuan/ton, which was also the lowest in history. This also led to the decline in cloth prices. Judging from the current situation, the difficulties faced by textile enterprises are mainly concentrated in two aspects. One is the large inventory caused by poor terminal demand, and the other is the financial pressure caused by the lengthened payment cycle.
However, it is worth noting that data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed that in August, the added value of the consumer goods manufacturing industry fell by 0.8% year-on-year, and the decline narrowed by 0.3 percentage points from the previous month. Driven by the gradual recovery of consumption and improvement in exports, most industries have improved. Among them, the textile and chemical fiber industries grew by 3.3% and 2.1% respectively, and their growth rates rebounded slightly. Production in my country’s textile industry is recovering steadily, with the decline narrowing month by month. From January to July, the industrial added value of the textile industry fell by 3.7% year-on-year, and the rate of decline narrowed by 0.8 percentage points from January to June; the textile and clothing industry fell by 11.9%, and the rate of decline narrowed by 0.3 percentage points.
The reporter also interviewed some people in the textile industry, and they also confirmed that the foreign trade market has indeed improved since August. In August, clothing exports reached US$16.21 billion, a year-on-year increase of 3.23%. It was the first time that positive monthly growth returned after seven consecutive months of negative growth during the year.
“On average, the number of orders in October this year is about 70-80% of previous years. The operating rate of water-jet looms is around 75%, which is 10% higher than that in June and July. It has rebounded by about %, but of course there is still a gap compared with previous years.” Zhang Qiang said that the domestic trade of textiles has basically returned to the situation before the epidemic.
Zhang Qiang told reporters that in the first half of the year due to the epidemic, Due to the impact of the epidemic, most stores in Shengze Oriental Textile City, China’s silk capital, were severely closed. However, with the recovery of the market after the epidemic in the second half of the year, most stores were able to operate normally, with little change in quantity.
“Food, clothing, housing and transportation” are the most basic needs of human beings, among which “clothing” is placed first. In recent years, the textile and apparel market has undergone great changes compared with the past. On the one hand, people are pursuing more personalization and have higher requirements for the comfort and style of clothing. Transmitted to the textile industry, there is more demand for the functionality and appearance of textile fabrics, which requires textile companies to have higher research and development capabilities; on the other hand, purchasing clothing online has become the choice of more and more consumers . This year’s epidemic has accelerated this situation. Due to the flexibility of online purchasing and the ability to provide timely feedback on orders, the “small order and quick response” model has gradually become popular, changing the transaction model of the textile market.
It is worth mentioning that during the epidemic, online marketing methods represented by live broadcasts, social marketing, etc. rapidly emerged and gradually became normalized.
Overall, under the influence of the epidemic, the traditional trading model of the textile industry has been affected to a certain extent, and textile and clothing people have begun to actively transform and adapt to the new market. Judging from the current situation, the economy is recovering steadily and clothing consumption has picked up, but the speed is relatively slower than other categories. Consumer demand for clothing products still needs time to recover. With the gradual recovery of the domestic and foreign trade markets, everything is developing in a good direction. </p
