GUANGZHOU, Mar. 29 -- In Guzhen Town, Zhongshan city of Guangdong Province, Chen Yongqiang, a young person born in the 1990s, was designing a new lighting product and communicating details with his customer far away in South Africa through social network.
A graduate of University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Zhongshan Institute, Chen established a lighting manufacturing enterprise with only 20 employees two years ago. In 2017, the enterprise achieved an output value of more than 5 million yuan. With its specially-designed and patented American-style lamps, Chen’s enterprise knocked its way into South Africa.
"Despite current small scale, we have mapped out to explore market potentials in Belt and Road countries this year," said Chen as he took out his business card, bearing gorgeous lighting on one side and his personal information in English on the other side.
In the 1980s, Guzhen rose rapidly by lighting manufacturing and became the "Chinese lighting capital". With a total area of less than 50 square kilometers, the little town is visited by global dealers more than 1 million times every year. Currently Guzhen's lighting market scale has topped 100 billion yuan, taking up more than 70 percent share of the Chinese market.
There are 25,000 lighting enterprises in Guzhen, of which most are micro and small enterprises. Now they no longer settle for going abroad joining exhibitions, but go out in groups to hold exhibitions as well.
Knowing the difficulties faced by small and micro enterprises when "going out", Zhu Yuqing, who has been in the lighting business for 9 years, brought together foreign trade professionals to establish a company in 2014, for which organizing enterprises to host exhibitions in Belt and Road countries and regions has become main business.
"Last year, I took a 120-member delegation to Germany to survey the local lighting and building materials market, almost all members were owners of lighting enterprises. I shared my overseas experience and make more enterprises switch from "production-based sales" to "sales-based production", thereby achieving win-win," said Zhu.
At a lighting exhibition hosted by Chinese enterprises in South Africa, Chen signed a contract with the customers favoring his products. "Chinese enterprises going abroad in twos and threes for exhibitions were blinded as if they were looking for a needle in a haystack. Now they have clubbed together to rent venues and host exhibitions abroad, and been more targeted in inviting professional merchants," said Chen.
Wei Yanchun from Guangxi, engaged in lighting business in Guzhen for 10 years, came across difficulty in developing overseas sales channels. "I know Vietnamese a bit and want to develop the Vietnamese market against the background of Belt and Road construction. I felt I was powerless and hope to be guided by veterans," said Wei.
Wang Yongfu is CEO of Guzhen Brand Union Company. Founded by 11 leading enterprises, the company focuses on the international market. "China's lighting industry has a large scale and an integral industry chain. We used to be an OEM. Now we have built an alliance to switch from product selling to design selling. There is much to be improved for the lighting industry," said him.
According to a notification issued by the General Administration of Customs at a press conference this January, China registered a total import and export value of 27.79 trillion yuan in 2017, up 14.2 percent from 2016, reversing the tide of declining for two consecutive years.
With the deepening of the Belt and Road Initiative, micro and small enterprises engaged in traditional manufacturing have been revitalized. "30 percent of Zhongshan's lighting products are exported and the export volume has been rising in recent years," said Qu Decheng, Vice President of the Zhongshan Association of Lighting Industry, adding that, "It has been more than 30 years since Guzhen started to make lighting products in 1985. We experienced the road economy and the store economy which have changed into the 'international-style' exhibition economy."
Under the Belt and Road Initiative, the "group globalization" of Chinese micro and small enterprises has injected new vitality into the international market. "More and more Chinese micro and small enterprises have appeared at international exhibitions, and the Belt and Road has been frequently mentioned by locals in their business negotiations with us," said Zhang Diansheng, an international marketing consultant investing in Vietnam, "While going out for exhibitions, Chinese micro and small enterprises need to work out long-term plans, establish brand image and take root in overseas markets," he added. (Edited by Niu Huizhe, niuhuizhe@xinhua.org)
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