Just after the 15th day of the first month of this year,the government cooperated with Hangzhou Ruili Technology Co.,Ltd.to send a batch of workers from all over the world to the factory by train,which also made Ruili the first batch of foreign trade factories to return to work in China.By the end of February,Ruili's employees had returned to work 70%of the time,but the current operating rate was only about 40% -50%.

Ruili technology is a foreign trade export cosmetics enterprise integrating research,development and production.When the domestic epidemic raged,Ruili's foreign business did well,but with the spread of the overseas epidemic,Ruili encountered great challenges in the overseas market.For example,at the end of March,Ruili had to close all the offline Wal Mart stores and warehouses in the United States.

It is reported that 80%of Ruili's orders come from the U.S.market.So far,60%of Ruili's orders have been suspended.Originally,it was a time when Ruili was busy preparing summer and student season products,but now it's all suspended.

A lot of goods have already received the deposit,so the situation that the customer cancels the order completely is very few,but what Ruili needs to face is to negotiate with the customer to postpone the order,and make up for it in the way of developing new products and so on,which also leads to the need to change the product design and so on.

At the same time,there are more"idle"people.In other words,cost consumption is inevitable,but also face the decline of foreign trade orders and sales. "However,our factory has formulated a policy,which stipulates that no one can be laid off for more than one year,so the burden is heavy now."Said Liu Chunrong,general manager of Ruili.

However,it is worth mentioning that Ruili is also defending growth in its own way and accelerating market layout against the trend.

01

Quickly adjust product line

Because of the unpredictability of the global epidemic,it is very important to plan the next production capacity.The decline of production capacity means that the staff capacity is surplus and the production saturation is insufficient. "At present,it's a big pain point for Ruili to be afraid of the slack of the labor union.If the order is enough,even if we lose money properly,we will let the employees run enough,because we choose not to give up the employees. "

In this regard,Ruili's approach is to arrange the employees on the removed product line to the existing product line,on the one hand,to stabilize the employees'mood,on the other hand,to let them not work overtime and give all workers enough rest time.Today,Rayleigh employees may take 8 or 10 days off a month.At the same time,Ruili will arrange half a day of training for employees every week.

Compared with the same period last year,Ruili's overall capacity saturation in the first quarter did not decline much.Liu Chunrong said: "because it can be mastered in January,and because it is early to return to work in February and March,the order has been made.But compared with last year,the current production saturation is only about 80%

"The harder it is,the more you have to think about it.We need to make money and pay out.That's the skill,not the layoff. "In Liu Chunrong's view,at this time,it is imperative to study how the process can be better and whether other costs can be reduced.

Increasing product lines and increasing investment in water-based products have become a major opening for Ruili's sales expansion.According to reports,before the outbreak,Ruili's cosmetics production capacity accounted for eighty or ninety%of its total,the rest of the water-based workshop production line,mainly for make-up remover,disinfectant,hand sanitizer and other products.At present,three of the original five production workshops have been affected,so Liu added two units to the production line of water-based products.

"The original factory capacity has been reduced by 60%.Now,after increasing the capacity of water-based products by 20%,it is mainly used for export while domestic sales."Mr Liu said sales of water-based products accounted for about 40 per cent of total sales last month and will rise more this quarter.

Liu Chunrong stressed that Ruili has always been the positioning of make-up companies,and making water-based products is only a short-term growth strategy under the epidemic situation.In fact,before the outbreak,Ruili was reluctant to do so because of the heavy investment in the production and processing of water-based products and the lack of added value and competitiveness.

"Now,as long as you don't lose a lot of money,you will do it.But if after the epidemic,this wave of waves recedes,the market will flood and the price will fall.If it withdraws late,it will definitely be a pit. "He said.

In addition to disinfectants,hand sanitizers and other water-based products,there are also many foreign trade factories to make masks.In this regard,Liu Chunrong believes that when the foreign trade factory transforms to make other products,it must be cautious,and some competitors who temporarily enter the track have already appeared"danger". "It's not that qualification examination and approval will be difficult,but the whole process will take months from the preparation of application to the end of examination and approval.When commodity prices and market conditions are on the decline,the original benchmark time of high price and high quantity can be missed.Moreover,for manufacturers,such as hand sanitizer,disinfectant and mask,the technical content is very low,and the profit space has been compressed to the extent that it can't be smaller,so it's hard for laymen to get bonus again. "

In his opinion,the production of anti epidemic materials such as masks is not a"normal"business.Unless the customers of foreign trade factories have their own existing channels and markets,there is a great risk in expanding the production of anti epidemic materials directly from the perspective of investment,and it cannot be taken as a long-term layout in the post epidemic era.

At present,for Ruili,what remains to be solved is to flatten the difficult curve brought about by the epidemic.For example,Liu Chunrong has two solutions to the problem of staff costs and sales decline:on the one hand,maximize sales by relying on existing expenses;on the other hand,reduce some costs and increase the layout of the sales end.

02

Multi channel domestic sales

According to reports,after March,Ruili increased investment in the domestic market,that is to say,domestic sales,and distribution of live sales.And export to domestic sales is also a big measure for many foreign trade factories to help themselves.

Fortunately,as early as last year,Ruili has started a part of the export to domestic distribution,for example,cooperating with the 1688 daily special sale factory project.Today,compared with only six or seven categories when she joined the daily special sale factory,Ruili has invested more than 20 categories in the domestic market.At the same time,Ruili is also increasing the investment and operation of tmall,pinduoduo,Jingdong and other platforms.

Both domestic and foreign products

"For some losses,there is no way to turn around.Overall,the order should come back in July,but I don't know how much it can recover,but it won't be as painful as it is now. "In Liu Chunrong's view,today,the whole foreign trade industry does not have many good ways of self-help.Considering that domestic channels have been opened up,Ruili's current task is to start from the product side and accelerate the product development at home and abroad.At the same time,it is necessary to keep close communication with foreign customers and wait for quick response to the epidemic in the past.

Due to the seasonal problems of cosmetics products,the product color or packaging design style should be considered.However,from the purchase of raw materials to production,transportation,and marketing,the whole order cycle will take about three months.Therefore,Liu Chunrong pointed out that at present,the United States may not be able to take off the masks in June.Some beauty products such as lipstick and other color categories have no time to be produced and put on sale in the summer. "We can only redesign the packaging and color to make products for the next season.At the same time,predict with customers whether the Christmas season can be snatched back after July,and do a good job in the Christmas season market hot product analysis. "

At the domestic product end,Liu Chunrong said that the product level developed by Ruili is much higher than last year,and more suitable for the domestic market,and the product price is not only"10.9"for a long time.

"At present,some of our domestic products have nothing to do with foreign trade.Foreign trade products must be handled by foreign trade customers.How to change the customer's order design,and transform the product with the least waste,Ruili will adjust and change. "

At the same time,Liu Chunrong believes that the foreign trade market is still a large space,and we still need to find ways to go out.From the perspective of corporate profits,it is not immediately effective to transfer domestic sales,and it is impossible for enterprises to completely subvert the proportion structure of foreign trade and domestic sales.After the epidemic,the demand leverage in the U.S.or European market is still there,and the unemployment rate in the U.S.may be very high in the next few months,the lack of consumer funds will pay more attention to the cost-effectiveness of products,which may also be more beneficial to some Chinese manufacturing enterprises.

"Some enterprises I know are suffering.For some enterprises that can't do product inventory,if they can't sell,they will lose money.They also need to pay bank loans and interest.They can only choose holidays and other ways."Liu Chunrong pointed out that Ruili factory will not change market decision-making in large area,but it can follow the development law of rapid changes in the domestic market and find phased self-help mode.