At a time when COVID-19 has disrupted global trade and supply chains, and many manufacturers in China are facing a shortage of orders from abroad, C2M is providing new opportunities for them to thrive domestically.
Shulai, a sanitary napkin manufacturer in Henan province that suffered an 80% drop in orders over the first five months of the year, is a case in point. When it joined Taobao Deals, Taobao’s exclusive C2M ecommerce platform, at the end of March, it began transitioning its business lines from feminine hygiene products to anti-pandemic face masks.
“Launching the cool masks is our response to consumers’ demand for better products,” said Zang Li, factory manager of Shulai Henan.
The factory repurposed its existing technology for the manufacturing of masks and began selling the new products in June. Each mask cost just RMB1.8, a price point much more affordable than the masks being imported from overseas at the time.
To promote the product shift, Shulai conducted a one-hour livestreaming session on the platform, whereby the manufacturer received RMB12.5 million in deposits for over RMB100 million worth of products.
From insight to opportunity
As the experience of Shulai shows, apart from being a dedicated commerce platform, Taobao Deals also provides consumption insights to help manufacturers adjust production lines and capture emerging market opportunities. Guangdong-based auto-care products manufacturer Odis is another example. Facing a 30% drop in sales after Chinese New Year this year, the factory transitioned to selling in-demand alcohol-based car-cleaning supplies direct to consumers, based on insights from Taobao’s C2M unit about a rise in online searches for these products.
The outcome was that online sales accounted for 90% of the company’s domestic sales during the pandemic, and since March Odis has sold nearly 30 million units overseas. To Qu Weihao, Odis’ general manager, “making the right product at the right time” was key the company’s ability to weather the effects of the pandemic.
Since Taobao Deals was launched on 26 March, over 1.2 million manufacturers have begun using the platform, with encouraging results. During this year’s 618 Mid-year Shopping Festival, the number of orders received by merchants on Taobao Deals increased 500% year-on-year; and the volume of inventory sold through Tmall increased by 34%.
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