2022 Export Enterprise Format and Development Prospect Research Report

In the past year, the turbulence in the international trade market has intensified, the epidemic has repeated in some parts of the country, and some supply chain links have been blocked. What is the current development trend of the manufacturing industry as the cornerstone of the national economy? How confident is the entrepreneur? In order to track the survival of foreign trade enterprises and capture the development trends of foreign trade entities in the era of drastic changes, CEConline once again launched the "Export Enterprise Format and Development Prospect Survey".

From the survey results, compared with the previous two years when the epidemic was severe, the international trade market in 2022 will be intertwined with old and new problems. However, new opportunities for foreign trade have also emerged, especially the new model of cross-border e-commerce driven by digitalization is vigorous. Foreign trade enterprises are still optimistic about the current and future expectations, and they have also shown strong risk resistance and tenacity in their development.

Sample description

From the perspective of the industry, the most respondents in this survey are from the manufacturing/processing industry (63%), followed by import and export trade (25%). %), Networking/IT/E-Commerce/Telecom (11%), Retail/Distribution/Product Agency (1%).

From the perspective of business structure, pure foreign trade companies account for only 14%, both domestic and foreign trade, but the number of companies focusing on foreign trade is slightly more than the number of companies focusing on domestic trade, 51% and 36% respectively. This shows that although more than half of the interviewed companies focus on foreign trade, a considerable number of foreign trade companies have maintained their focus on the domestic market.

From the point of view of the destinations of enterprise product exports, the most countries and regions are still traditional trading partners such as Europe, Southeast Asia, North America and South America, accounting for 33%, 27% and 26% respectively. The Middle East and Africa also accounted for a certain proportion of exports, accounting for 7% and 4% respectively.

From the perspective of the scale of export enterprises, the proportion of enterprises with an export volume of more than 20 million US dollars is the highest, accounting for 23%; the export scale of respondents' enterprises with an export scale of more than 5 million US dollars accounted for more than half.

Cost Rising Export Enterprises' Profitability Increased

In the past year, export enterprises' order volume has been mixed. The epidemic has suspended the global economy, but under the combined effect of various national trade support policies and the gradual recovery of international demand, 36% of enterprises still have orders increased, and 30% of enterprises remain the same as in previous years, indicating that these enterprises can rely on complete The manufacturing system continues to meet international market and consumer demand. Conversely, companies that cannot maintain continuous supply, or whose products do not match demand, are under pressure, with 35% of companies reducing orders.

In terms of scale and profit, the proportion of enterprises choosing "decrease in scale and decrease in profit" is the highest, reaching 23%, followed by companies with "increase in scale and decrease in profit", accounting for 21% , 19% of companies choose "increased scale and flat profits", ranking third. The results of the first three items show that the profitability of export enterprises is not optimistic. Only 15% of the surveyed companies "increased in scale and increased in profit", while "increased in scale and flat in profit" accounted for 9 percent, "in the same scale and increased in profit" accounted for 4 percent, and "increased in scale and profit" accounted for 9 percent Enterprises are only 2%.

"It's busy all year round, and it's not crowded." What are the reasons for the shrinking and falling profit margins of enterprises?

72% of the surveyed companies chose "rising costs". In addition, "weakening international market demand", "increasing trade barriers and trade frictions", "increasing trade risks" and "exchange rate fluctuations" were also important reasons. , accounting for 53%, 41%, 30% and 28%, respectively. Indeed, since last year, the skyrocketing prices of international bulk commodities, the emergence of "astronomical" shipping container and logistics costs, the rise of inflation in the United States, and the sharp appreciation of the RMB against the US dollar have all caused the profits of some foreign trade factories to shrink sharply. Of course, the decrease in profits is also related to the ability of exporting enterprises. 23% of the interviewed enterprises attributed the reason to "the demand of the target market changes rapidly and cannot be grasped in real time", and 21% of the enterprises believed that "the ability of innovation and R&D is insufficient".

In the face of complex cost increases and a general increase in the price of raw material supply, when the target market demand changes, some export companies did not sit still, but carried out various aspects through a combination of internal and external strategies. promote.

For foreign trade companies, allowing foreign buyers to share the cost pressure is one of the direct and quick results, but only 16% of the respondents choose to do so, and they are more proactively changing themselves . Externally, 52% of the interviewed companies resolved export pressure by "looking for new overseas markets". Internally, 51% of the companies turned to the domestic market and increased production by expanding domestic sales. 48% of the companies strengthened their management and 46% of them Enterprises have invested more in research and development, 42% of enterprises have carried out technological transformation, and another 19% of enterprises have carried out industrial transformation. This shows that foreign trade enterprises have realized that technological transformation and adjustment of product structure are the long-term strategies for sustainable development of enterprises. Through self-improvement, Chinese export enterprises must deeply participate in the high-end competition of the global value chain.

Offline and online complement each other and cross-border logistics has become a new problem

From the perspective of promotion, foreign trade enterprises The means of developing the international market are more diversified. However, for now, the traditional foreign trade development model is still dominant and will not be completely replaced by cross-border e-commerce. Enterprises mainly rely on large foreign dealers and local partners (57%), participating in offline exhibitions (51%) ) these traditional ways. Of course, the digital economy is playing an important role in promoting China's exports. Online channels are getting more and more attention. The proportion of cross-border e-commerce platforms has reached 44%. Self-built websites, overseas social media marketing networks, and email marketing The proportions of the three items are 27%, 22% and 17% respectively.

The development of cross-border e-commerce is unstoppable. The main reason is that the threshold in this field is very low. Basically, if you have an account and connect with a logistics, you can get orders and come to export. the whole process, but this has also led to some false propaganda, incorrect goods and other phenomena. In 2021, Amazon will set off a wave of bans, which will cause Chinese sellers to suffer huge losses.

59% of the enterprises require the platform to have a certain market share and popularity, 54% of the enterprises will consider the breadth of the countries involved in the platform, and 46% of the enterprises will consider the rules and support of the platform 44% of enterprises will check whether the platform's business philosophy is consistent with their own products, and whether the platform has a stable warehousing and logistics system, the platform's expenses and deposit amount, also become the reasons for many enterprises to choose the platform.

At present, the biggest problem facing cross-border trade is cross-border logistics.

Especially since March this year, the epidemic has shown an upward trend, and the degree of recurrence has become more and more serious. At present, it has involved many provinces across the country, and cross-border logistics is facing many problems such as tight supply, insufficient transportation capacity and high cost. In this survey, 54% of the companies thought it was difficult to clear customs, 47% of the companies said that freight activities were restricted, in addition, 44% of the companies said that the tax was too high, 33% of the companies thought it was difficult to return goods, and 28% of the companies thought that the goods were damaged. high rate.

Exporters are eagerly waiting for the international logistics market to return to business as usual, and they are constantly improving their own processes and marketing methods to increase the satisfaction of overseas buyers. Faced with the instability of the cross-border logistics supply chain, 74% of the companies surveyed said they would pay attention to changes in logistics timeliness and adjust the delivery rhythm in a timely manner; 60% of companies said they would stock up in advance; 32% of companies would take measures to stabilize buyers Experience, repurchase rate; 28% of companies will provide preferential policies to sellers for big promotions.

Expand the domestic market Innovation to meet the future

Under the promotion of the dual-cycle policy, more and more export companies see that as the momentum of the international cycle is significantly weakened, the development of the domestic sales market has become a must. However, when expanding the domestic market, enterprises are faced with many difficulties.

Foreign trade exports are mainly order-based sales. After switching to domestic sales, some companies lack market sales channels and are not familiar with market access, sales, settlement and other rules. Therefore, 64% of the companies said that The expansion of sales channels is hindered, and 60% of enterprises feel that the collection cycle is long. After foreign trade export enterprises switch to domestic sales, their brands are not well known in the domestic market, and it is difficult to enter domestic high-quality retail channels. Therefore, 51% of enterprises believe that brand building is difficult. The difference in demand between domestic and foreign consumers also makes it difficult for 26% of enterprises to cater to domestic consumers' aesthetic preferences.

Whether it is to seize the international market share or to seize the hearts of domestic consumers, enterprises need to further innovate and develop new products. For future consumption trends, many companies believe that enhancing product functionality is the most important (67%), while enhancing sustainability (56%), customization (53%), creativity and brand storytelling (43%), and exclusivity (41%) and improving appearance (27%) also accounted for a high proportion, which further reflects the efforts of Chinese export enterprises to develop upstream in the industrial chain.

In terms of future export development, the interviewed companies have put forward more demands: to obtain more overseas market information (75%), to directly connect with prospective buyers (63%), to provide export credit insurance support ( 46%), strengthen external publicity (40%), improve the financing environment (37%), and obtain preferential policies for overseas investment and construction of factories (26%).

And for the future export market expectations, they also release a positive signal of prudence and optimism: 40% of the interviewed companies believe that it is the same as in the past, 38% of companies believe that growth will continue, while only 18% choose to decline.

No matter how the external environment changes, there is no doubt that high-quality development and innovative development have become the main theme of China's foreign trade, and export enterprises are undergoing digital, refined and high-end transformation.