In May of this year, the China International Camping Conference was held in Danaye Little Iceland, Shuanglong Scenic Area, Jinhua. Jinhua Shuanglong Scenic Area offers pictures for about three to five friends to set up a tent, light a card stove, enjoy delicious food and music, and embark on an atmospheric camping trip... After being frequently "seeded" on social media, Hangzhou girl Xiaolu plans to go camping in the surrounding area. Recently, when she was purchasing tents, camping vehicles, and other equipment online, she found that many brands on the hot selling list were shipped from Jinhua.
In recent years, the outdoor economy has surged. The "Outdoor Sports Industry Development Plan (2022-2025)" jointly issued by the General Administration of Sport of China, the National Development and Reform Commission and other eight departments shows that as of the end of 2021, the number of outdoor sports participants in China has exceeded 400 million; By 2025, the total scale of the outdoor sports industry will exceed 3 trillion yuan. In this blue ocean, Zhejiang has developed into one of the regions with the largest outdoor sports industry cluster and the most complete industrial chain in China.
According to incomplete statistics, there are over 2000 outdoor sports related manufacturing and sales enterprises in Jinhua. The China International Camping Conference, supported by the Social Sports Guidance Center of the General Administration of Sport of China, was held in Jinhua in May this year. Zhang Yi, Vice Chairman and Secretary General of China International Camping Conference, introduced that the industry research conducted by the organizers of the conference shows that the camping equipment manufacturing industry in Jinhua has accounted for half of Zhejiang Province. Taking tents and camping supplies commonly used in camping as an example, according to statistics from Jinhua Customs, from January to July this year, Jinhua exported tents and camping supplies worth 880 million yuan, accounting for 24.1% of the province's total, ranking first in the province in terms of export scale.
From an unknown OEM factory to extending the industrial chain, establishing independent brands, and hosting professional exhibitions, outdoor sports in Jinhua have gradually become a major industry.
Camping+Stretching the Outdoor Industry Chain
The exhibition hall of the primitive company, where the anchor is live streaming sales of various products. The photo provided by Primitive Man Company is on the 26th floor of Jinyun Building, the headquarters center of Yongkang City. You can pretend to stand up a canopy by the creek to cool off, or imagine a group of friends lighting a fire platform in the park to have a carnival
Zhejiang Yuanren Brand Management Co., Ltd. has transformed an entire floor into a product exhibition hall, using over 400 products from more than ten categories to set up camping scenes such as parks, mountains, and beaches, covering tables, chairs, tents, cooking utensils, tableware, carts, lighting, etc. required for camping, which is dazzling.
Reporters have seen many such exhibition halls in Jinhua. Zhejiang Shengxue Leisure Products Co., Ltd. has also built an outdoor living experience center of over 5000 square meters, including nearly 300 outdoor chairs.
The development of outdoor sports industry in Jinhua started in 1996. Relying on the Yongkang hardware industry, a large number of outdoor sports equipment collaborative factories emerged in Jinhua at that time, driving industries such as welding, cardboard boxes, and aluminum and iron. After nearly 30 years of development, Jinhua has gradually formed a relatively complete outdoor sports industry chain.
From today's perspective, in the past, camping was mostly done by outdoor enthusiasts who spent the night outside, with simple and practical equipment. Before 2020, the domestic market had not yet taken shape, and outdoor sports enterprises in Jinhua mainly focused on exports, with products mostly concentrated in cookware, outdoor tables and chairs, awnings, etc.
Nowadays, camping has become a fashionable way of leisure, with increasingly sophisticated and diverse gameplay. Tent, folding tables and chairs, and camping car are just the basic three piece set for camping. It's not surprising to bring out a mobile kitchen or coffee box, arrange a barbecue, and make a glass of iced American style food. The changes in the consumer market are driving the development of the outdoor sports industry in Jinhua.
Camping nowadays is like a wild 'house play' game, where various furniture and household items can be matched one by one in camping equipment, "said an outdoor sports practitioner. In this way, outdoor sports enterprises have a broader development space - tents are like houses, folding tables and chairs are like dining tables and chairs, camping cars can serve as storage cabinets... In addition to these basic configurations, outdoor furniture and household items also include inflatable beds, moisture-proof mats, outdoor lights, canopies, etc. Just kitchen supplies, there are various sizes of pots, pans, stoves, baking pans, barbecue grills, kettles, etc. There are even mobile kitchens that can be stored in boxes, fireplaces that create an atmosphere, and insulated boxes for storing food. Compared to the home version, camping products are smaller, lighter, and easier to store.
People have also developed more new gameplay based on different outdoor scenes. Jinhua's advantageous industries such as fishing gear, clothing, thermos cups, automobile and motorcycle accessories, and light storage have continuously extended into the outdoor sports industry, elongating the Jinhua outdoor sports industry chain.
With the rise of water sports, primitive companies have launched new products such as paddleboards and kayaks. Camping requires entertainment, and many brands have developed derivative peripheral products such as small fishing rods and folding mahjong tables.
Zhejiang Hals Vacuum Vessel Co., Ltd. is a leading enterprise in the domestic thermos cup industry. At this year's autumn and winter product launch event, all four brands under the company released new products, including the Hals' "Journey" series and the NONOO City Travel Citywalk series, all of which are related to outdoor sports.
Lanxi Jujiang Power Technology Co., Ltd. was originally a lead-acid battery production enterprise. In 2022, it invested in the establishment of Jujiang New Energy Technology Co., Ltd., which produces lithium battery products such as household and outdoor energy storage.
Various portable energy storage devices are like a large power bank, charging the outdoor sports industry in Jinhua.
This is a charging fan light with a built-in 8000mAh battery, which has both fan and lighting functions. It can also be used as a power bank to charge mobile phones. The longest battery life with a single fan can reach 26 hours. "In the display area of the original company, the founder Li Pengcheng showed an outdoor fan to reporters. In outdoor scenarios, similar charging products include heating stoves, speakers, electric stoves, and so on.
Zhang Yi predicts that new technologies will give rise to more new products. The promotion of new energy vehicles can greatly solve the problem of outdoor electricity consumption and bring more imaginative space for outdoor sports products. Outdoor sports products related to new energy vehicles may become the next popular models. For example, the rear tent of a new energy vehicle can be connected to the vehicle body through the trunk, and turning on the car air conditioning is equivalent to having a tent with air conditioning, which increases camping comfort in a straight line.
Creating a brand drives the development of the entire chain
The outdoor living experience center within Shengxue Company has set up various themed camping scenes. When it comes to Jinhua outdoor sports brands, industry insiders are familiar with them.
Jinhua is a major market and foreign trade city, with a high degree of dependence on foreign trade. Some enterprises have strong production and manufacturing capabilities, but once lacked independent brands and weak bargaining power.
The traditional thinking of the past is gradually changing. In the recent wave of outdoor sports, many influential brands have emerged in Jinhua, even ranking among the top in the industry.
For example, "Primitive Man" was originally a brand on Taobao that sold barbecue grills. While many merchants were still selling miscellaneous and unbranded products, Li Pengcheng launched the "Primitive Person" brand and acquired the "Primitive Person" trademark for outdoor sports related categories such as outdoor products and kitchen utensils.
Opportunities often favor those who are prepared. In 2021, Li Pengcheng gradually saw the potential of the outdoor sports industry when communicating with suppliers, so he led the team to design products and strictly controlled the quality. In 2022, the camping economy experienced explosive growth. In March of that year, the first batch of over 60 products from "Primitive People" were launched, relying on quality and high cost-effectiveness, with multiple products selling over 10000 yuan per month. Among them, the moon chair resembling the moon is a popular product, with monthly sales exceeding 90000 orders. "Primitive People" quickly became the top brand in the outdoor category on Tmall. Now, the upgraded version of the Moon Chair still has an average monthly sales of over 30000 units, and "Primitives" still maintains a leading position in the sales of camping categories across the entire network. In the future, Li Pengcheng hopes to build "Primitive Man" into a national brand of outdoor equipment in China.
If the voice of independent brands is strong enough, it can empower the development of enterprises. After the increase in brand awareness, it has brought foreign trade orders to the company, "said the person in charge of Shengxue Company when talking about the independent brand SUNNYFEEL.
Shengxue Company started by manufacturing outdoor products, and one of its flagship products is outdoor folding tables and chairs. Starting from 2021, Saint Snow Company has established its own brand SUNNYFEED. Based on its own advantages, SUNNYFEEL focuses on small sub categories of outdoor folding tables and chairs, with multiple products occupying the hot selling lists of major e-commerce platforms. In addition to expanding into the domestic market, SUNNYFEEL also sells to countries and regions such as the European Union, the United States, Japan, and South Korea through cross-border e-commerce, gradually improving its brand reputation. This year, SUNNYFEEL's e-commerce sales are expected to exceed 100 million yuan, accounting for approximately 11% of the company's total output value.
Not long ago, when Saint Snow Company was exhibiting abroad, a foreign merchant came to the booth to inquire about the SUNNYFEEL brand and finally reached a cooperation agreement. Now that we are exhibiting globally, the company name Shengxue and the brand name SUNNYFEEL are indispensable in our booths. By creating our own brand, Shengxue Company's market positioning has gradually shifted from OEM production to branding.
Many outdoor sports companies in Jinhua have also acquired European and American outdoor sports brands through overseas mergers and acquisitions, accelerating their overseas layout and enhancing their influence in the global market. As early as 2016, Hals fully acquired the Swiss century old brand SIGG and entered the outdoor sports market.
Each brand is like a benchmark, establishing confidence for Jinhua enterprises. More and more outdoor sports manufacturing companies in Jinhua are starting to lay out their brand paths. In interviews, many entrepreneurs believe that after leading companies in the industry establish their own brands, they can also incorporate local factories that were originally outsourced to foreign countries into the brand system, integrate the industrial chain, cultivate local chain leading enterprises, and drive the development of the entire chain. Taking "primitive people" as an example, about 60% of the existing 400+products are manufactured by local enterprises in Jinhua, providing many orders for local industrial chain enterprises in Jinhua.
Brand building is related to the top-level design of enterprises and is a key strategy for promoting long-term development. As a leading enterprise in the industry, brand building is not only about enhancing brand awareness, but also requires comprehensive strategic planning. "Ying Er, Chairman of Zhejiang Apollo Sports Technology Co., Ltd. and Vice President of the Provincial Senior Economist Association, said that for small and medium-sized enterprises, even if they lack systematic brand planning, they should create a brand" moat "through technological innovation and quality assurance to improve their market competitiveness.
Organize an 'never-ending' exhibition
At the China (Jinhua) International Outdoor Camping Equipment Immersive Experience Exhibition, Jinhua enterprises are showcasing their rooftop tent products. Recently, Zhang Yi, who used to work in Beijing all year round, spends most of his time in Jinhua every week preparing for next year's China International Camping Conference.
In May of this year, the China International Camping Conference was held at the Shuanglong Scenic Area in Jinhua. The conference attracted representatives from 13 countries and regions including Kazakhstan, Argentina, Brazil, and Nepal, with a total contract amount of over 270 million yuan for equipment procurement, camp construction, and trade services. More than half of the attendees at the conference are from Jinhua enterprises, and the total amount of contracts signed not only indicates strong industry demand, but also reflects the recognition of Jinhua outdoor sports enterprises by buyers, "Zhang Yi analyzed.
China Yiwu International Small Commodity (Standard) Expo, China (Yongkang) International Door Industry Expo, China Hardware Expo... Jinhua has a unique exhibition economy, and many local characteristic industries have held exhibitions for multiple consecutive years.
Jinhua outdoor sports related exhibitions have also started from Wuyi County, which was the earliest in the industry chain. In 2022, Wuyi held its first camping product exhibition at Dadoushan Flying Camp, and the following year, Wuyi moved the camping product exhibition to Huhaitang Park in Jinhua City. On June 14th of this year, Wuyi organized outdoor equipment enterprises in the county to participate in the Yiwu Sports and Leisure Products Expo and Outdoor Equipment Exhibition (referred to as the "Yiwu Sports Expo") in groups. In the future, Wuyi will continue to hold camping product exhibitions and encourage enterprises to participate in well-known domestic and international exhibitions, broaden market channels, and jointly promote the prosperity and development of the outdoor sports industry in Wuyi, "said Zhang Zhen, Deputy Director of the Wuyi County Economic and Commercial Bureau.
We have been planning for the Yiwu Sports Expo since 2021. Although there is only one exhibition hall and over 400 booths in 2023, exhibitors have received a lot of orders. Building on last year's foundation, the number of exhibition halls and booths has doubled this year, but the supply of booths is still in short supply, and we can only use some of the channels to arrange exhibitions. The organizer of the Yiwu Sports Expo, Yiwu Maker Exhibition Co., Ltd., said that the three-day exhibition attracted a total of 51000 professional buyers, a year-on-year increase of 87%; The exhibition turnover was 170 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 70%.
How can Jinhua make the exhibition "never end" as it connects production on one end and the market on the other? On the one hand, the permanent venue of the China International Camping Conference has been established in the Shuanglong Scenic Area of Jinhua. On the other hand, the Jinhua Shuanglong Scenic Area Management Committee and the organizer of the China International Camping Conference have collaborated to create a nearly 7000 square meter Jinhua Camping Supply Chain Center that integrates exhibition and reception functions. The center will be put into use in the near future and has integrated more than 100 companies including Original People's Company, Holy Snow Company, and Lufeng Company. It can display over 500 camping products on a daily basis and hold exhibitions every day. It will become a new channel for Jinhua's outdoor sports industry to attract and acquire customers.
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