Written by Wang Yisu Zhou Xiaojing
Ultraman, four-wheel drive racing, plush toys... If there is a place where toy freedom can be achieved, it must be Chenghai, Guangdong.
Chenghai is the toy capital of China and even the world. It brings countless happiness to hundreds of millions of children and even grown-up children. It can be called the Hollywood of toys.
Countless young people come here with the dream of realizing wealth and freedom, hoping to create their own world through hard work.
Zhang Hao (pseudonym), an entrepreneur who has been working in the toy industry for nearly 20 years from scratch, is busy with "618" delivery.
Since entering e-commerce 7 years ago, Zhang Hao has taken many detours until he encountered e-commerce's support for the industrial belt and entered a new stage. With the support of
traffic and product demand customization, Zhang Hao's toy brand e-commerce sales have jumped from 10 million 7 years ago to the current 60 million mark. More importantly, the unit price per customer has increased from 100 yuan to 300 yuan, product quality and profit margins have doubled, and annual sales have exceeded the 180 million mark.
From the simple production lines in small workshops when they first entered the toy industry, to modern digital workshops, integrated warehousing and distribution logistics facilities, and cross-border & e-commerce sales channels, Zhang Hao and the others have witnessed the transformation of China's toy industry from OEM to The hardships and glory of creating your own brand.
Chenghai is the cradle of one-third of the world's toys, and the place where the dreams of 100,000 employees with an output value of 50 billion are launched.
In the context of the development of Chenghai's toy industry, we can see that the local arts and crafts tradition laid the foundation for the industry. The "red-headed boat culture" also shines in the generations of toy entrepreneurs. The red-headed boat is a symbol of Chaoshan people who crossed the ocean to make a living overseas. Dare to fight, venture, and forge ahead are their spiritual core.
But seven years ago, the Chenghai toy industry belt, like most small commodity manufacturing in China, also faced the problems of product homogeneity and lack of innovation faced by traditional industries, and was in urgent need of transformation and upgrading.
Chenghai, this "dream workshop" that sells happiness, how can we turn toys into a good business with high quality and good price?
01
From passive to active, how do traditional toy factories transform?
The rise of Chenghai's toy industry combines all the elements of time, location, and people.
Chenghai is the departure port and important node of the "Maritime Silk Road" and a famous hometown of overseas Chinese, which provides a natural channel for Chenghai toys to enter the global market. The profound traditional arts and crafts and the exquisite craftsmanship of "farming is like embroidery" give Chenghai people an unparalleled advantage in other regions at the starting line.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, some craft factories in Chenghai County made breakthroughs in innovation, applying traditional techniques such as painting and engraving to make toy products. In the 21st century, they shifted to independent design, processing, and independent brand production to create international brands, and then to today's E-commerce era. At every development stage of
, there are problems that trouble entrepreneurs, and there are barriers that need to be broken through. This is still the case today.
Xiangsheng Group started out as an OEM manufacturer in the early days. Later, it established its own toy brand and extended its business reach to toy supply chain management and product research and development. But soon, Xiangsheng Group encountered a problem.
"A customer urgently ordered 1,000 children's fitness frames and delivered them within 25 days. By the 15th day, 60% of the products were not completed, and there were still problems with the fabric material and could not be used directly." Zhang Hao recalled the time when he first arrived in Chenghai In this crisis, problems may arise in every link, and every problem may become the last straw that crushes the project.
This project that they were struggling with involved the production schedule of toy manufacturers, the supply of fabric suppliers, the needs of toy customers downstream of the flagship store, etc. It reflected the thorny problems that existed in Chenghai toy supply chain management at that time.
Previously, Chenghai toys had always been a conservative and introverted development model of traditional industries. Merchants mainly focus on one or a few specific secondary or even tertiary product categories. This focus is an advantage, but in the rapidly changing market environment, its limitations have gradually emerged.
manufacturers often fine-tune their products based on existing experience and market feedback. Although this micro-innovation strategy can ensure stable sales in the short term, the problems hidden behind it cannot be ignored.
In terms of market research, in the past, we mainly relied on historical sales data and limited customer feedback. Manufacturers rarely take the initiative to dig deep into consumers' real needs and potential trends, resulting in a lack of forward-looking market research and difficulty in capturing changes in market dynamics.
also has subjectivity and lag in product iteration. Most manufacturers decide the direction of product upgrades based on the intuition of internal decision-makers and industry practices, ignoring market research and data analysis, resulting in slow product updates and easy misses of the best market window.
Therefore, it is urgent for Chenghai Toys to change the current operating status, improve market sensitivity, and speed up product iteration.
"If you want to gain insight into fashion trends, you can't just pat your head on the head. You must rely on the power of big data analysis." Zhang Hao is connected with Jingdong Supermarket Purchasing Manager Lu, who has rich experience in solving product homogeneity issues. experiences and thoughts.
With the help of Manager Lu, Xiangsheng Group got rid of the trouble of homogeneous product selection and made great progress in marketing, IP cooperation and other aspects. The stressful experience of the year is gone forever.
02
I broke through in the traditional toy industry. As an e-commerce company, sales tripled in one year.
Talents are emerging from generation to generation, and the industrial belt is constantly innovating.
’s Little Kingdom, which specializes in remote control toys, was born in 2016. In a market environment where domestic sales of remote control toys were still OEM-focused in 2018, the company launched an independent product research and development strategy. However, problems also arise.
The investment in new product R&D in the toy industry is risky. How can we make new products that meet market demand?
While offline stores were constantly under attack, a huge turning point occurred in 2023. Little Kingdom Toys learned about JD Supermarket’s support policies for industrial belts at an investment meeting.
's procurement and sales have been refined and stratified according to categories. "We used to only do the top ka customers; after dividing them by categories, we can deepen the industry belt." Jingdong Toy Procurement and Sales Director said about the business data Pi said.
A brand determined to be independent, met an e-commerce platform determined to reform, and they hit it off immediately.
"When I entered JD Supermarket as an ordinary seller 7 years ago, it was just an ordinary pop shop. Through the innovative adjustment of the cooperation model in the past two years, it has become the leading merchant in the remote control category." Xiaoguo Jingdong platform sales manager Zhu Xiaobo told Business Data School. The rapid growth of
is inseparable from the close cooperation between JD.com’s procurement and sales and brand merchants.
"We touch it often, look at the data every day, and deeply touch the market demand every 1 to 2 weeks." Zhu Xiaobo said that JD.com's purchasing manager will discuss with us which new products have explosive potential, which ones can be optimized, and future toy consumption Trends and more. Close communication with JD.com’s procurement and sales allows Zhu Xiaobo to always be “online” in sensing the market temperature.
has grasped the precise needs of the market, and half of the business has been completed.
relied on JD.com’s data “eyes in the sky” to enable Little Kingdom to conduct in-depth analysis of market trends and consumer preferences, thereby accurately positioning product directions. With the help of big data, it not only optimized the existing remote control car and remote control aircraft product lines, but also targeted It has launched a number of exclusively designed remote control toys, such as intelligent remote control robots that integrate education and entertainment, achieving product differentiation.
Among them, a popular product is the 4drc six-wheel remote control car, which ranks first in the entire remote control off-road vehicle category on JD.com. The secret behind ’s popularity is that Little Kingdom has captured JD.com’s live streaming bonus.
4drc alloy remote control six-wheel off-road climbing vehicle boarded the Jingdong purchasing and sales live broadcast room
"I liked it at first sight and thought it was right." Before Double 11 last year, when Manager Dong and Zhu Xiaobo discussed product selection for the live broadcast room, they relied on The product selection intuition of procurement and sales directly selected this six-wheel remote control car, and the price was also directly reduced to the lowest 130 yuan.
Sure enough, this car performed very well during the first trial sale. It became an instant hit during the Double 11 sales period on October 31, and more than 1,000 units were sold in one live broadcast.
After the Spring Festival promotion period, Manager Dong took the initiative to ask Zhu Xiaobo to increase the price and upgrade this popular product for the holidays - the packaging was upgraded to a red gift box, which also gave this car a "gift-giving" attribute. The price of 100 yuan and the necessity of giving as a gift have once again increased the sales of this toy car by an order of magnitude.
It is not enough to create explosive products. The toy industry needs a rich product line to meet the needs of users in different price ranges.
Previously, the prices of remote control toys on JD.com were relatively popular, around 100 yuan, which is also the price range that Little Kingdom focuses on.
However, Manager Dong has been in JD.com’s procurement and sales system for many years and knows that JD.com has many high-quality users who need higher-quality products. So, he discussed with Zhu Xiaobo the need for data research, "Can we make a product that costs more than 300 yuan?"
is a business consensus that sells volume at a low price and builds branding and profits at a high price. Zhu Xiaobo is very willing to do this. attempts.
So, after many communications, Xiaoguoguo launched a high-end product with a unit price of 399 yuan to 2999 yuan - a remote control aircraft. Even the most high-end product can compete with DJI, the king of drones. wrist.
After a year of hard work, Little Kingdom’s sales on JD.com have increased by 300% year-on-year, and sales on the JD.com platform have become the bulk of the entire company. More importantly, with sales of 618 this year, Little Kingdom continues to be expected to double its growth.
chose the right partner, allowing Little Kingdom to occupy 30% of the remote control toy market and become the industry leader in one fell swoop. This growth rate far exceeds that of traditional toy manufacturers in Chenghai.
It can be seen that with the help of digital and intelligent channels, traditional industries can also gain wings to take off.
What impressed Zhu Xiaobo was that during the peak season for remote control toy sales, even if orders surged, logistics was very strong. JD.com’s integrated warehousing and distribution model is indispensable, saving them warehousing and transportation costs, improving inventory turnover, and delivering products quickly. This is also an important factor why customers praise Little Kingdom Toys.
small toys, going to the big world. There are many players in the domestic toy market, and going global has become an option for businesses. In recent years, Little Kingdom has also started to go overseas. Now they have opened stores on almost all mainstream domestic cross-border platforms, and cross-border sales have accounted for 50% of the company's overall sales.
went from offline store sales 10 years ago, to cross-border e-commerce 6 years ago, and now to customization with JD Supermarket. The three channel changes experienced by Little Kingdom Toys are also a microcosm of the entire Chenghai toy industry belt.
"The online share of the toy industry is increasing year by year, and the category/industry structure in the existing market has changed. The industry has opportunities to reshuffle. Opportunities and challenges coexist for the majority of manufacturers." As the general manager of the toy and musical instrument business department of Jingdong Supermarket said in It was judged at a conference that the trend of digital intelligence is starting a profound reconstruction of the toy industry. Chenghai, a toy industry based on the tradition of handicrafts, is rejuvenating with new vitality.
Among the brands in the Jingdong toy industry, some people have jumped from tens of millions to 180 million a year. If you go to Chenghai to do toy business, there is no unanswerable demand here. From design and research and development, raw material supply, production and manufacturing to marketing and export trade, all links are interlocked, forming a complete supply chain system.
In recent years, the output value of Chenghai's toy industry has increased year by year, approaching the 50 billion yuan mark, accounting for 33% of the global toy production capacity.
Moreover, Chenghai’s pace is still accelerating. In 2025, Chenghai’s toy industry aims to have an output value of more than 100 billion and build a world-class toy manufacturing cluster.
03
Double-sided "618", the symphony of life, consumption and industry in the treasure town
Chenghai's red-headed boat cultural gene is not only deeply rooted in toy entrepreneurs, but also affects the consumption habits of Chenghai people.
JD.com’s “618” consumption trend in 2024 shows that the top three categories of shopping users are food and beverages (accounting for 13%), household cleaning/paper products (accounting for 9%), maternal and infant (accounting for 7%), these fast-moving consumer goods This is the category where consumers in Chenghai shop more intensively.
Chenghai people are known for their hard work and frugality. This spirit is reflected in today's consumption as an emphasis on practicality and cost-effectiveness. While pursuing quality of life, they still maintain a rational view of consumption and focus on actual needs and value for money.
Business Data School noticed that the number of users purchasing compound cereals increased by 405% year-on-year, and the number of lactobacillus beverages increased by 234% year-on-year. The year-on-year growth in the number of tea shopping users is outstanding for products such as Lapsang Souchong (214%), Dahongpao, and Biluochun (139%).
In addition, nutritional and health care products have also gained more attention from consumers: the number of colostrum users increased by 725% year-on-year, sports energy gel (167%), sleep-improving nutrition products (104%) and gastrointestinal care nutrition Products (89%) also had good growth. It can be seen that Chenghai people maintain their pursuit of a healthy lifestyle despite their fast-paced work.
It is worth mentioning that the number of shopping users for digital products increased by 74% year-on-year, and ranked among the top 3 in the category of growth in the number of shopping users in the Chenghai area, showing that they are willing to try new things and keep up with market trends. We can still see Chenghai people are willing to explore the unknown in their genes.
In the treasure town of Chenghai, whether it is people’s living and consumption habits or the toy industry that they are proud to sell happiness, what flows in the middle is the blood of people who are not satisfied with the status quo and dare to fight and break out. Its source is riding on the The red-headed boat crossed the ocean to find the future ancestors.
Like Chenghai Toys, Jingdong Supermarket has in-depth cooperation with more than 2,000 industrial belts. These high-quality and low-priced industrial belts are deeply consistent with the proposition of "Jingdong 618 is cheap and good". On the
JD.com platform, high-value users account for more than 70%, plus members account for more than 50%, and family users account for more than 60%. These users have considerable purchasing power.
As of 23:59 on June 18, 2024, more than 500 million users have placed orders on JD.com 618. Both transaction volume and order volume have reached new highs. JD.com live broadcast order volume has increased by more than 200% year-on-year. Moreover, there are 83 brands with a cumulative turnover of more than 1 billion, and more than 150,000 small and medium-sized merchants have achieved sales growth of more than 50%.
Jingdong Supermarket Toys and Musical Instruments 618 full-cycle battle report also achieved good results. More than 300 new products were exclusively launched on Jingdong, and there were more than 210 million-selling products. Sales exceeded 10 million in 30 minutes after the start, new user growth doubled, and the number of broadcasts exceeded 600 million. .
The three major trends of IP, gift-based, and youthful products are obvious. IP derivatives, smart musical instruments, and building blocks all performed well, with sales increasing by as much as 120% to 200% year-on-year.
In addition, due to the tens of billions of subsidies and multiple key areas of purchasing and selling live broadcast rooms to assist sales, during the JD.com 618 promotion, the number of online products in the tens of billions of subsidy channels increased by more than 100% year-on-year, and the number of tens of billions of subsidy users and order volume The year-on-year growth exceeded 150%.
Specific to the toy category, the transaction amount of tens of billions of subsidies exceeded 100 million, the transaction volume of 10+ popular products exceeded 1 million, and the sales volume of 20+ single products exceeded 10,000 orders. The results are gratifying. Behind
, on one side are consumers buying toys, on the other side are manufacturers such as Chenghai Toy Belt, and the e-commerce platform is the link between the two parties, connecting industry and consumption.
