CTEI: Analysis of the operation of textile and clothing e-commerce in 2016

According to the Ministry of Commerce, the scale of China's e-commerce transactions is expected to reach 22 trillion yuan in 2016, of which online retail sales will be 5.16 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 26.2% (of which online retail sales, online retail sales of physical goods will be 4.19 trillion yuan).

In 2016, textiles and clothing remained the most active trading category on major e-commerce platforms, and e-commerce has become an important means to promote the transformation and upgrading of the industry. Industrial clusters, professional markets, business associations, etc. have increased their support in talent cultivation, public services and preferential policies; enterprises have paid more attention to improving the quality of e-commerce channels, and the integration of online and offline has further developed; the construction of e-commerce industrial parks has developed rapidly, and the professional service level of e-commerce platforms has been continuously improved; the government, market, enterprises, and professional service agencies have worked together to further improve the industry's e-commerce ecological environment.

1. Steady development of textile and clothing e-commerce

According to estimates, the total e-commerce transaction volume of textiles and clothing in 2016 was 4.45 trillion yuan (Figure 1), a year-on-year increase of 20.27%, accounting for 20.23% of the total e-commerce transaction volume in the country. Among them, the e-commerce transaction volume between textile and clothing enterprises (B2B) was 3.45 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 21.05%; the total online retail sales of clothing and home textiles totaled 985 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 18.53%, accounting for 23.51% of the total online retail sales of physical goods in the country.

Since 2011, the growth of textile and clothing e-commerce has shown a steady decline. The survey shows that the application of corporate e-commerce is gradually changing from extensive development to focusing on management and improving the quality of operation, and has been rapidly improved in brand development and operation efficiency. Large-scale enterprises closely focus on consumer needs and strive for excellence in operation management, product design, quality control, product display, express delivery time and pre-sales and after-sales services. Under the organization of the government and the market, small and medium-sized enterprises cooperate with well-known e-commerce platforms to develop the online market. At present, Alibaba's textile and clothing industry belt (business circle) involves more than 70 industrial clusters (professional markets) across the country, with nearly 900,000 small and medium-sized enterprises settled in. Alibaba has opened up a cloud market for the textile and clothing professional market and carried out mobile e-commerce on Alipay. In this way, enterprises can not only enjoy the support of large platform traffic, but also get offline professional e-commerce guidance. The most important thing is to open up downstream online merchant channels. For example, the China Textile Center Clothing City has accelerated the transformation of traditional markets by combining offline physical markets with the online 1688 cloud market to create offline and online synchronous sales channels. At present, 639 merchants have settled in China Textile 1688 Cloud Market, accounting for 85% of the merchants in the physical market. The online market has diverse categories and clear classifications, and is loved by the majority of buyers. In 2016, merchants achieved a transaction volume of 630 million yuan through the e-commerce platform, and the number of transactions reached 82,000.

Source: China National Textile and Apparel Council Information and Statistics Department, Circulation Branch

2. Business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce continues to maintain its dominant position

In 2016, the e-commerce transaction volume between textile and garment enterprises (B2B) was 3.45 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 21.05%, accounting for about 77.53% of the total e-commerce transaction volume in the industry, and continued to maintain its dominant position in the development of the industry's e-commerce (Figure 2).

Source: China National Textile and Apparel Council Information and Statistics Department, Circulation Branch

The continuous improvement of e-commerce service models and service capabilities has promoted the rapid development of business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce. The service model of mainstream domestic e-commerce platforms has evolved from trade matchmaking to business closed loops. For example, the opening of the business chain between Alibaba's 1688 platform and Tmall Taobao retail platform has made payment, logistics and financial services more complete and smooth. At the same time, the 1688 platform cooperates with industrial clusters and professional markets to continuously implement professional services such as industrial belts and cloud markets (business circles), which has promoted the improvement of online and offline service capabilities. The continuous launch of regional e-commerce service agencies such as vertical e-commerce platforms and e-commerce industrial parks can provide more professional and precise services for business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce applications, greatly increasing the enthusiasm of enterprises to apply e-commerce.

With the in-depth application of technologies such as mobile Internet, big data and cloud computing, textile and garment enterprises pay more attention to B2B applications. The awareness of e-commerce applications in large-scale enterprises is gradually increasing. They adopt information technology to improve supply chain management, and the proportion of online procurement and online sales is increasing. Online distribution is an important way for small and medium-sized enterprises to carry out business-to-business e-commerce (B2B), that is, enterprises form data packages by photographing products for network merchants to distribute or retail on e-commerce platforms.

3. Online retail sales of clothing and home textiles continued to grow

Since 2012, the growth rate of textile and clothing online retail, represented by clothing and home textiles, has continued to decline, but it is still the largest category of domestic online retail in terms of scale. In 2016, the total online retail sales of clothing and home textiles totaled 985 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 18.53%. Among them, the total online retail sales of clothing was 854 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 18.09%; the total online retail sales of home textiles was 131 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 21.52%. (Figure 3)

Source: China National Textile and Apparel Council Information and Statistics Department, Circulation Branch

From the overall market situation, the online clothing market is developing towards branding, and well-known clothing brands have become the absolute main force in online clothing sales. In the 2016 Tmall "Double Eleven" sales rankings, the top 10 men's clothing brands are all well-known domestic traditional brands, and the top 10 women's clothing brands are 9 well-known traditional brands and 1 online brand. At the same time, cross-border online shopping e-commerce has huge room for development. In 2016, there were more than 40 million mobile phone online shopping users in China, 36.1% of users purchased clothing and footwear categories, and 38.2% of users said they would increase purchases in this category. The entry of high-end clothing and apparel brands such as international big brands, luxury goods, and light luxury into the Chinese market has not only pushed up the overall customer unit price of clothing and apparel categories, but also further promoted the growth of the entire market.

Small and medium-sized enterprises in industrial clusters fully integrate resources, continuously improve product quality, and improve rapid response mechanisms, forming an online retail system with local characteristics. For example, Qinghe County, Hebei Province, relying on local cashmere resources, continuously strengthens e-commerce support, builds e-commerce parks, introduces e-commerce service agencies, improves service capabilities, increases e-commerce training, and guides the development of corporate network branding, and e-commerce has achieved rapid development. In 2016, the number of online stores opened by small and medium-sized enterprises in Qinghe County through third-party platforms such as Taobao and Tmall reached more than 30,000, with annual sales exceeding 4 billion yuan, an increase of 14% year-on-year. Among them, the sales on "Double Eleven" exceeded 250 million yuan, an increase of 25% year-on-year. In the list of "China's Top 100 E-commerce Counties" released by the Alibaba Research Institute, Qinghe County ranked 8th.

IV. E-commerce promotes the innovative development of professional markets

According to estimates, in 2016, the e-commerce transaction volume of 8.5 million textile and clothing professional markets with an area of ​​more than 10,000 square meters was 978 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 20.74% (Figure 4). Compared with industry e-commerce, the e-commerce transaction volume of professional markets accounted for 21.98%, which is an important part of the development of industry e-commerce.

Source: China National Textile and Apparel Council Information and Statistics Department, Circulation Branch

In 2016, the e-commerce transaction volume of the textile and clothing professional market accounted for 46.35% of the physical transaction volume of the professional market (2.11 trillion yuan). Under the condition of slow growth of physical transaction volume in the professional market, the proportion of e-commerce transaction volume increased by 6 percentage points compared with 2015. It can be seen that Internet applications represented by e-commerce have gradually become an important way for merchants in professional markets to expand channels, increase sales and innovate development. For example, Guangzhou International Textile City provides "5+1" e-commerce basic supporting services for physical merchants to build an O2O e-commerce system covering various scenarios and terminals. That is, through the five online experience channels of website, micro website, mobile client, on-site shopping guide equipment, WeChat service account and Textile City e-commerce customer service center - Fangchenghui, it provides full-range services for merchants' e-commerce applications. Fangchenghui platform is the connection point that runs through the online and offline in the O2O e-commerce service chain. It not only provides a good environment for buyers and suppliers, greatly improves the purchasing experience and operating efficiency, but also shortens the distance between buyers and physical stores, and promotes the deep integration of fabric and auxiliary materials trade and informatization. In 2016, Guangzhou International Textile City focused on the informatization construction of more than 3,000 merchants. Through on-site guidance, professional services and continuous training, the total number of products on various e-commerce platforms exceeded 100,000, the total number of product searches reached 200,000 times, the average number of visits to the official website was 12,500 people per day, the cumulative number of APP users was close to 9,000, and the total number of WeChat service account users exceeded 110,000. Buyers published nearly 30,000 real and effective purchase information through the purchase platform, of which 20,000 messages were manually forwarded through WeChat, and about 6,000 messages received effective responses from physical merchants through telephone return visits. The comprehensive application of e-commerce has promoted the improvement of the informatization and intelligence level of the Textile City market, and also laid the foundation for the expansion of merchants' network channels.

V. Further improvement of e-commerce public services

E-commerce has become an important driving force for the transformation and upgrading of the textile and garment industry. Industrial clusters, professional markets and business associations have integrated resources to strengthen the construction of e-commerce public services and create a good application environment for corporate e-commerce applications. First, strengthen the construction of e-commerce platforms and improve professional service capabilities. Professional e-commerce platforms are an important force in the development of e-commerce in industrial clusters and professional markets. These platforms are rooted in the local area, have a better understanding of corporate needs, and are recognized for their precise and personalized services. In 2016, Yibu.com of Shengze Town opened O2O fabric experience halls in three professional markets, namely Guangzhou Zhongda, Shaoxing Keqiao and Hangzhou Sijiqing. After the online mobile platform of Changshu was launched, the number of registered users in multiple channels was nearly 30,000, the average number of active users per day exceeded 3,000, the online transaction volume of B2B and B2C exceeded one million yuan, and the transaction volume of matchmaking exceeded ten million yuan. China Wool Knitting Network is a senior Internet service company in Puyuan. On the basis of continuously optimizing the service functions of PC and mobile terminals, it has increased the promotion efforts online and offline. At present, it has 230,000 registered users, 1,102 merchants, 7,000 page views per day, and a transaction volume of 36.12 million yuan, becoming an important channel and service provider for the development of e-commerce in the sweater industry in Puyuan. Second, the construction of e-commerce industrial parks has been further promoted. The construction of e-commerce industrial parks has become an important means for the industry to promote the application of e-commerce. For example, the first national "e-commerce demonstration base" in the textile and garment industry, Humen E-commerce Industrial Park, established the Dongguan E-commerce Public Service Center, 1840 E-commerce Photography Base, and Humen E-commerce Operation Center in 2016, and introduced Alibaba's cross-border e-commerce township operation center, the National University E-commerce and E-government Joint Laboratory (Dongguan Branch), and the Clothing E-commerce Quality Alliance and other units and groups, which greatly enhanced the park's comprehensive strength and industry influence. Changshu Zhongfu E-commerce Industrial Park has continuously increased its construction investment, and has newly completed and put into use the Clothing City Express Warehousing and Distribution Center, Mocheng E-commerce Park Phase II, and Changshu E-commerce Service Outsourcing Industrial Park, with a total scale of more than 100,000 square meters. Currently, there are more than 230 merchants settled in, with an annual sales scale of more than 1.5 billion. 80% of the e-commerce service providers in Changshu are concentrated in the region, building a relatively complete e-commerce service system in the park. The third is to strengthen guidance and standardize the development of regional e-commerce. The relevant management departments of industrial clusters are actively exploring various methods in regional e-commerce applications, and have introduced targeted measures to regulate market operations, such as establishing a market integrity system to ensure product quality and standardized business operations, and providing security at the network front end; establishing an e-commerce association to strengthen industry self-discipline and standardize business operations; establishing a data sharing mechanism to grasp dynamic information and strengthen online market operation management; participating in the formulation of e-commerce related standards to enhance corporate awareness of standards.

Source: China Textile Economic Information Network