Packaging Plants Out of Orders? Consumer Goods Orders in These Sectors Are Booming, With Growth of Up to 20 Times

As a barometer of the economy, the packaging industry has seen a rather sluggish market this year. Apart from exports, which are the lone standout, domestic demand orders seem to show no improvement at all. As a result, many people are pessimistic about domestic consumption.

However, if we think about it the other way around, the unrestrained expansion of production capacity in the packaging industry may be the other side of the story behind the scarcity of packaging orders. Judging from officially published data, domestic consumption does not seem that weak.

On November 9, data from a report released today by Kantar Worldpanel showed that in the 12 weeks ended October 8, 2021, growth in the fast-moving consumer goods market rebounded somewhat. The southern region was the main driving region, growing 2.4% over the same period. Growth in e-commerce channels continued to rise, up 13.8% year on year in the recent 12 weeks.

In the recent 12 weeks, 72.2% of urban households purchased fast-moving consumer goods through e-commerce channels, and purchase frequency also increased 25.5% to 6.6 times. Among leading e-commerce players, the penetration rate of Tmall + Taobao was 45.6%, down 0.5 percentage points year on year; that of JD.com + Yihaodian was 17.9%, up 0.7 percentage points year on year; and that of Pinduoduo was 26.1%, up 9.3 percentage points year on year.

JD.com: Luxury goods order value up 100% year on year

During the JD.com 11.11 pre-sale period, pre-sale order value for luxury goods rose 115% year on year, and sales of popular categories such as footwear, apparel and bags hit new record highs. Among them, pre-sale order value for luxury footwear rose 3.6 times year on year, luxury apparel pre-sale order value rose 180% year on year, and luxury bags pre-sale order value rose 105% year on year.

More than 15 luxury brands saw pre-sale order value grow by more than 200% year on year, among which Tod's pre-sale order value rose 20 times year on year, and more than 30 niche trendy designer brands saw pre-sale order value grow by more than 5 times year on year. Watch brand Breitling's pre-sale order value rose 225% year on year, Mido's rose 145% year on year, Chinese original designer watch brand CIGA Design's rose 36 times year on year, and the pre-sale order value of Longines HydroConquest dive series mechanical steel bracelet watches rose 34 times year on year. Pre-sale order value for watches and eyewear rose 80% year on year, and Chinese-style watch brands set a 36-fold growth record.

The famous Italian footwear and leather brand Tod's was highly popular with consumers, with pre-sale order value up 20 times year on year. Affordable luxury bags became a consumption highlight; in the 4 hours after opening on October 20, affordable luxury bags surpassed the full-day sales of last year's first pre-sale day.

As Generation Z rises to become the backbone of consumption, trendy designer brands lead the shopping boom. During the JD.com 11.11 pre-sale period, pre-sale order value for designer brands rose 16 times year on year, and more than 30 niche trendy designer brands saw pre-sale order value grow by more than 5 times year on year. Among them, Stone Island, BE@RBRICK and GUIDI saw pre-sale order value grow by more than 10 times, and 2 BE@RBRICK blocks bear trend toy blind box gift figures sold out within 8 seconds of going on pre-sale!

Pinduoduo: Agricultural product orders during the National Day holiday surged 279% year on year

On October 8, new e-commerce platform Pinduoduo released its Golden Week consumption trend report. During the National Day holiday, demand for personalized and quality consumption continued to increase. Compared with last year's Golden Week, the number of consumers whose total shopping payment amount grew by more than 100% year on year increased 64% over the same period last year. With the support of the 10 billion subsidy program, Apple series digital products, camping equipment, smart small home appliances and Chinese-style clothing became hot items for consumers' group purchases.

As the country's largest platform for agricultural products going to market, Pinduoduo also welcomed a golden week for agricultural product sales. Agricultural-related orders generated during the holiday surged 279% compared with the same period last year. Iconic agricultural products from across the country, such as Yuncheng apples from Shanxi, Zhanhua winter jujubes from Shandong, Huili pomegranates from Sichuan, and hairy crabs from Gucheng Lake and Hongze Lake in Jiangsu, were especially popular.

Suning: High-end home appliance orders up 52%

In the Double 11 just past, doing things expertly, enhancing experience and expanding incremental growth became the main directions for platforms' upgrades. During Double 11, orders for bundled high-end home appliances priced above 10,000 yuan on the platform rose 52% year on year, the number of people using trade-in programs across all channels rose 57% year on year, energy-saving home appliance products accounted for 68%, and sales of smart home products grew 108%. On the day of Double 11, in-store experience visits rose 137% year on year, and more than 60% of young people took part in food and audio-visual experience activities.

Shanghai CIIE: Consumer orders reached 5.84 billion USD

Procurement demand for consumption upgrading was strong. The food and agricultural products zone and the consumer goods zone were the two zones with the largest intended order amounts and the most concentrated procurement. Among them, intended transactions in the food and agricultural products zone reached 3.43 billion USD, up 10.5% year on year, accounting for 42% of the total transaction value, mainly meat products, vegetables, fruits and dairy products. Intended transactions in the consumer goods zone reached 2.41 billion USD, up 32% year on year, accounting for 30% of the total transaction value. The import trend for high-end consumer goods remained strong, with large deals appearing frequently; L'Oréal and Estée Lauder had intended transactions of more than 1 billion USD, fully demonstrating the influence of an international consumption center city.

The terminal consumer market changes rapidly, and it is time for the traditional packaging industry, which waits for orders to come, to change its thinking. Paying attention to market trends, taking the initiative, and using one's own expertise to provide value-added services to customers may be the foundation for packaging enterprises in the future.

Packaging factories that have no unique competitiveness and rely solely on competing on price have no future.

——This article is reprinted from China Packaging Network (pack.cn). Original link: http://news.pack.cn/show-378729.html