Make good use of foreign designs to capture foreign markets

You can only earn two cents as an OEM for Walmart, but you can earn a dollar by designing merchandise for Walmart. Which would you choose?

This seemingly simple problem reflects the current situation of most Chinese manufacturing companies - the lack of product design. Under the fierce competition in the industry, the phenomenon of homogeneity of Chinese-made products is becoming more and more serious, and price is no longer the advantage of manufacturing enterprises. In order to enhance their image in the international market, more and more Chinese manufacturers are competing to hire overseas designers to expand the export market.

Overseas designers are increasingly favored by Chinese manufacturers

As a hardware company known for its technology, Huawei has hired former Apple creative director Abigail to improve the user experience. Sarah Brody (Abigail Sarah Brody), and let him serve as the chief UX (user experience) designer and vice president of Huawei Consumer BG, responsible for the user interface design of Huawei Consumer BG. According to Huawei insiders, the designer is hired to expand the global market, which shows that the well-known overseas designer Brody is the key figure in this layout. And Brotty also wrote this paragraph on her LinkedIn resume: "Doing something new and incredible: Reshaping the vision of Huawei's consumers."

Such a case does not It is not uncommon, for example, China Junjie and Chery A3 are designed by the famous Italian car design company Pennina, Chery Ruiqi G6 is designed by Italian Broadcom Design Office, Dongfeng Fengshen S30 and FAW Besturn B60 are designed by Italian Giugiaro Automobile. Design company to build, etc. If Chinese-made products want to grab more share in overseas markets, they should first solve their backward design problems in order to enhance their product competitiveness and economic benefits.

For Chinese manufacturing companies, this is also a business with little investment and quick results. According to industry insiders, statistics from the American Industrial Design Association survey show that an enterprise invests $1 in product design and development, and its sales revenue is $2,500. Gu Lei, the special vice president of BAIC and the president of the General Research Institute, also said that the innovation of independent brands should have a more open mind, integrate global advantageous resources, and stand on the shoulders of giants. time.

Dongguan Weiersheng Audio-Visual Equipment Co., Ltd. is such a company, which focuses on the production and export of multimedia speakers. A year ago, Weiersheng leveraged overseas designer resources to rapidly improve product competitiveness and local market share. According to its general manager Lan Qiuwen, the opportunity to cooperate with the overseas designer team was because she saw the cases of her peers, and the immediate results made her decide to try to seek "foreign assistance". "We have cooperated with the design teams of Dutch companies and French companies to develop new products. The products designed by the other party are first positioned to be relatively high-end, and the pricing of their products will also increase accordingly. In terms of design costs, it is 2/3 higher than before. However, the products it designs are in line with the consumption habits of the target market and the purchasing needs of buyers, and also bring more added value to the products. The competitiveness of the products has been greatly improved in the local market, and has been loved by more consumers. .”

For example, a new product bluetooth speaker developed by Weier Sound in cooperation with overseas designers has received very good market feedback. So far, the sales of this product have reached tens of millions of RMB. "At the Global Sources Electronics Show in October 2016, not only the inquiries from overseas buyers are much higher, but the quality of our customer matching has also improved. The sales team of Global Sources has also connected us with VIP-level major customers." Lan Qiuwen said.

"From a strategic point of view, Chinese companies should increase their efforts to use overseas designers, at least the products they design can quickly arouse the cultural 'empathy' of customers." Tristram Keech, a visiting professor at Coventry University, a palace-level industrial design institution, and a contract designer for the Object Design Platform, said in an interview with CEConline. To sum up, hiring overseas designers to develop new products is one of the best options for Chinese manufacturers to enter the international market.

Selection channels and criteria for overseas designers

More and more manufacturing companies are aware of the value brought by overseas designers, but where and how to find most of them People stopped at the door. "There are many channels to obtain resources, and it is very convenient to participate in exhibitions or industry events, such as Global Sources exhibitions or events in overseas design circles, etc.; and the most common situation is to obtain resources through the introduction of others, such as clients or designers themselves. There is another situation that the designer will find the company himself.” Chen Xu, general manager of Fuzhou Langhao Industrial Co., Ltd., admitted that he runs a professional footwear foreign trade company. Like Chen Xu, Lan Qiuwen found the current design team through the exhibition. "We found these designers at the exhibition and exchanged business cards for further communication."

In addition to the above channels, platforms such as industry associations and intermediaries that gather overseas designer resources can also provide Export enterprises provide excellent resources to match. There are many such platforms in the market, and the resources are more secure, such as Sino-Finnish Design Park, Wushe Zhongchuang Design Platform, and Jianwu Original.

Feng Changhong, founder of Sino-Finnish Design Park, executive vice president and secretary general of Shenzhen Industrial Design Industry Association, said in an interview with "CEConline": "There are so many overseas designers, They also have various associations and design exhibitions, but it is difficult to gain an in-depth understanding of the expertise of designers through fancy visits. It is also one of the important tasks of (our) association to match enterprises and overseas designers.” It is understood that the association has successively Signed design strategic cooperation agreements with Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Italy and other developed cities, regions or countries, and built a high-end international platform for enterprises to communicate with overseas designers. A Dongguan plastic manufacturing company that encountered development bottlenecks re-established a product research and development and systematic innovation system by cooperating with an overseas designer in the Sino-Finnish Design Park, and successfully opened up overseas markets with its own brand.

The Wushu Maker Design Platform, where Tristan Kitch is located, uses big data to match enterprises with appropriate overseas designer resources. He said: "The designers who have settled on the Wuxing platform come from all over the world and have various levels of experience. On this platform, manufacturing companies can interact with designers openly and honestly, so as to better find potential partners. ”

Internet platforms like Jianwu Original have started a wave of cooperation with manufacturing enterprises for innovation and transformation. They have signed strategic cooperation agreements with many manufacturing enterprises to make full use of their own industrial designers. resources, and promote the rapid development and upgrading of manufacturing enterprises.

In addition, Stylewe, created by Beijing Xike Network Technology Co., Ltd., is a fashion cross-border e-commerce platform targeting mainstream developed countries in Europe and the United States and focusing on designers. It is understood that StyleWe's profit method is that designers settle in independently, so as to charge commissions according to order transactions. If the designer who settles in StyleWe does not have the production capacity, the platform will help the designer to find the corresponding manufacturer and connect the production resources.

No matter what channel is used to tap talents, Chen Xu believes that the most important thing is the degree of matching between the designer and the company. “Communication with a designer is a crucial part, and the foundation of cooperation starts with understanding each other. We ask the other person what he thinks about the product, the market and the brand to see if his personal ideas and styles fit ours. Of course, we I will also look at some of his previous design cases and work experience." In the process of cooperating with overseas designers, Chen Xu found that the older generation of designers knew more about manufacturing than younger designers, and were more able to design products suitable for production; And young designers are more creative and thoughtful.

Lan Qiuwen believes that the company team is more powerful than the individual. "We mainly examine the strength of their companies, for example, which companies have they cooperated with. As far as I know, they have served well-known brands such as Philips and Samsung. Through these cases, we can preliminarily judge whether their designs conform to our product positioning. .”

Tristan Kitch also gave practical advice. He believes that after the two sides have confirmed the cooperation, it is best for the company to invite designers to visit the company, so that it can deepen the understanding of corporate culture and corporate culture. Develop an understanding of goals.

Management and cooperation methods of overseas designers

Although overseas designers are attractive to Chinese exporters, many factors such as language, culture and work habits have led to the second There are certain difficulties and risks in the cooperation and management of the parties. In this regard, Chen Xu showed his confidence: "It is no different from managing internal employees, and there will be risks, so it is very important to understand and reach an agreement in the early stage. At present, there are many ways of cooperation between Langhao and overseas designer teams. Various forms coexist, such as full-time, commission payment, etc. Different methods have different advantages and disadvantages, and the most important thing is to decide according to each other’s personal characteristics and behavior style, and see which method is most suitable for each other.”

Lan Qiuwen believes that in order to reduce some unnecessary expenses and waste during the cooperative development of products, Weiersheng will communicate face-to-face with the overseas designer team and sign a cooperation agreement to ensure that the implementation is in place. "If there is a specific intention to develop a certain product, the specific overall process will be specified in the agreement." She emphasized, "Overseas designers often like to present their understanding of products in pictures, and we will use pictures that conform to the company's philosophy and style. The product design is purchased and the corresponding fee is paid. Sometimes, for some well-known designers, we will also mark his name on the product, and the copyright of this design is also owned by Weiersheng.”

In In the process of cooperation, in order to make the product design from the paper into the product, the R&D team of Weiersheng will actively discuss with the overseas designer team to ensure that the production of the product is feasible. "Our own R&D team communicates with the other party's industrial design team. If it is not feasible, we will continue to revise. They will also continuously feedback information such as the actual use effect, and propose revisions according to the usage habits of local consumers. After the product, there may inevitably be many problems, and sometimes the board will be hit 3-5 times. This is a process of continuous discussion and improvement.” Lan Qiuwen said.

In order to avoid waste of cost, Langhao's own design team will cooperate closely with the other party. Chen Xu believes that the market is the only criterion for testing design. If you want to create a popular product, design and market are the two most critical factors. "Langhao is also constantly cultivating its own design team to enhance our ability to independently develop and stay close to the market. In the process of cooperating with overseas designers, some of the market-leading works it designs will be adjusted by our design team to To ensure that the design works can meet the requirements of our production and manufacturing while meeting its innovation and taste. Making the design closer to the market is one of our basic ideas."

On the other hand, for some cutting-edge Designers, due to the lack of production experience, there may be some obstacles in the communication between the two parties. In this case, in order to reduce the trial and error cost of enterprises, Luo Huan, founder of Shenzhen Shengbang Design Consulting Agency, suggested: "You can seek the help of product planners and structural engineers on platforms such as intermediaries, and they can make good products. Design should be interpreted as a product with certain commercial value and suitable for mass production.”

Tristan Kitch believes that in the process of cooperating with designers, companies should rely on trust and let designers go Do it autonomously without too much intervention. "I believe that the best design results come from collaboration. Clients (editor's note: manufacturing companies, who are the designers' clients) should allow appropriate time for the research process, refrain from making any judgments, and take risks The ability to not be afraid of failure and to accept solutions that are sometimes a bit 'counter-intuitive' with an open mind. This approach is beneficial for both parties, and in the long run, for everyone, and can form a relationship between client and designer. Strong relationship."