When camping and picnics take over the circle of friends, everyone is either having a picnic or on the way to camping. On July 2, in an outdoor camping area near Hangzhou, Zhejiang, Han Yue (pseudonym), a post-95s generation, and her friends were sitting in front of a tent, posing for the camera of their mobile phones. The egg roll table next to her is covered with a bohemian style placemat , and several glasses filled with coffee are placed neatly in a row. On the barbecue grill in the distance, the meat skewers are sizzling under the charcoal fire.
The continuous heating up of the camping industry has led to an explosion in demand for camping supplies, and a large number of manufacturers and outdoor brands are facing new opportunities.
Suddenly, camping products such as tents, canopies, mosquito repellent lamps , camping tables and chairs appeared on e-commerce platforms and outdoor specialty stores. Most of these equipment come from the same place: Ningbo, Zhejiang.
"If you want to buy camping equipment, you must come to Ningbo ! We have everything in terms of styles, prices, and functions." On June 14, when a taxi was speeding through Ningbo city, the driver proudly introduced, "This is the most popular camping equipment in China." The core outdoor equipment manufacturing place, more than half of the more than 1,000 merchants on Tmall are from here. Now Ningbo has long become the main production and sales force of domestic camping brands, including Noke, Mugaodi and many other domestic brands. The top outdoor brands are all produced in Ningbo," Xu Yunlong, secretary-general of the Ningbo Leisure Products Association, told a financial reporter from the Beijing News that the camping equipment industry has developed in Ningbo for 30 years and is the largest camping equipment manufacturing base in China. one.
, the center of the camping equipment industry, is now vigorously competing with Jiangsu, Guangdong and other regions for the Chinese camping equipment market.
30 years of hard work
Ningbo camping equipment industry originated from a parasol
In the Zhejiang Beilai Industrial Group Co., Ltd. park, boxes of tents are neatly stacked in the warehouse, and workers are transporting and loading them in an orderly manner Get in the truck. In a few minutes, the tents will be shipped across the country.
Zhou Li, who has been engaged in outdoor tent manufacturing for 26 years, always stops and looks at it for a few minutes every time he passes by. This has been her habit since she joined the company in 1996. “In the past, all the factories produced were overseas brands. Now more and more domestic brands have begun to emerge. No matter the quality or design, they are not inferior to the big foreign brands. There will always be achievements in my heart.” Sense."
Since 2020, the outdoor camping craze has exploded across the country. According to the "Special Insights on China's Camping Market in 2022" released by Analysys Analysis, it is predicted that the camping market will reach 52.8 billion yuan in 2022, and 210 million people will participate in pan-camping activities in 2030. The market popularity of
is rising with the continuous influx of players. Surprisingly, when looking for camping equipment on e-commerce platforms such as Tmall and Taobao, I found that most of the brands and stores are from Ningbo, Zhejiang.
html On June 13, a Beijing News Shell Finance reporter saw several tents and marquees neatly placed in the middle of the store in a local outdoor camping supplies store in Ningbo. The surrounding shelves are also filled with camping lights, sleeping bags, stoves and other items. These camping equipment have different shapes, styles, and uses, and their prices range from tens to thousands of yuan."I only knew about tents produced in Ningbo before, but I didn't expect that the market would be so large and the product types so complete." Coco (pseudonym), a post-95s generation who was shopping in the store, told reporters that after learning that his favorite brand came from Ningbo, I specially drove from Hangzhou to buy on the weekend. “I don’t want to wait for express delivery, so I want to get it as soon as possible.”
According to the Guanyan Tianxia report, there are about 34,000 tent companies in my country, mainly distributed in Zhejiang and Jiangsu. and Guangdong and other regions. As a hub for the camping equipment industry, Ningbo has been quietly working in this field for 30 years.
The relationship between Ningbo and the camping industry can be traced back to the 1980s.
"The starting point for Ningbo's involvement in the camping equipment industry came from a parasol." Xu Yunlong, secretary-general of the Ningbo Leisure Products Association, recalled that at that time, Taiwanese businessman Ma Zhun'an established a foundry in Linhai, Taizhou to produce large outdoor sunshades. Umbrellas are exported to European and American markets.The huge orders have driven the local and surrounding parasol industry, and spawned a series of outdoor products represented by camping tent .
In the following decades, the prosperity of foreign trade brought by the port advantage and the strong manufacturing foundation allowed more and more local people in Ningbo to enter this field, and a large number of outdoor products companies emerged rapidly in the local area.
But earlier, the domestic camping market was still a niche market, which was not enough to turn outdoor products into a big business. For a long time, the market has been tepid.
"At that time, many practitioners firmly believed that the outdoor camping industry would explode in the domestic market sooner or later." Ji Jianming, who founded Norwegian Outdoor Products Co., Ltd. in 2010, told reporters. The turning point of
finally arrived in 2020. Affected by the epidemic, everyone's lifestyle has changed, and camping has become a leisure choice favored by current consumer groups. The opportunity that Ningbo outdoor equipment manufacturers have been waiting for for many years has finally arrived.
From OEM to Independent R&D
The ODM gameplay of the first tent factory in China
In the production workshop of Beilai Company, a female worker is sitting in front of the electronic sewing machine, carefully aligning and sewing the rainproof fabric in her hand. Weaving, another female worker is also busy tying zippers on all four sides of the fabric, their movements are skillful and precise.
In the production workshop of Zhejiang Beilai Industrial Group Co., Ltd., workers are busy making tents. Photo by Beijing News Shell Finance reporter Qin Che
"A tent needs to go through at least nearly a hundred procedures from raw materials to delivery. If you are not careful, defects may appear." Zhou Li told Shell Finance reporter.
As China's first outdoor tent company, Zhejiang Beilai Industrial Group Co., Ltd. was born in 1992 and has become a well-deserved "big brother" in the industry.
"The factory was originally co-founded by my father and relatives in Hong Kong. The other party was looking for orders in overseas markets, and my father was responsible for production and manufacturing." Zhou Li was deeply impressed. At that time, although the camping industry had been developing in Europe and the United States for more than a hundred years , but it is almost blank in China. In the early stages of establishment, both material selection and manufacturing inspection require independent exploration.
Due to the lack of popularity and independent import and export qualifications, Belle Company could only choose the OEM model for development for a long time. Fortunately, there was no domestic competition at the time, and we received a large number of orders from overseas markets every year. It was not until 1996, after the import and export qualifications were obtained, that the company readjusted its development strategy and gradually transformed from pure OEM manufacturing to manufacturing trade, and gradually became the most well-known outdoor tent manufacturer in Ningbo and even the country. Not only has it established strong OEM cooperation with outdoor brands in Europe, the United States, Japan and South Korea, but it has also become a model for many latecomers to learn from. When the camping industry gradually emerged in China in 2000, many domestic brands, including Mugaodi, Pathfinder , etc., came to Beilai to learn.
In fact, Belle Company, which was not willing to only do the OEM business, also established brands such as Silver Fox, Attention and A+Toys in 2006, and spent heavily on promoting the brands. However, at that time, the domestic outdoor community was still a niche, and the vast majority of players had no brand awareness and sales were not ideal, so they had no choice but to postpone the creation of original brands.
In 2006, Zhou Li's father chose to take a back seat. Before leaving, he told Zhou Li: We must build Beilai Company into a century-old store.
It is difficult to realize his father's wish by relying solely on the pure OEM model. After considering many factors, Zhou Li decided to upgrade the development model. She also hopes to form strategic cooperation with brands in the form of ODM (generally referred to as original design manufacturers), provide them with professional advice, and provide targeted R&D and production according to the needs of different brands. What convinces
’s partners is that its years of experience and resources in OEM work for first-class international brands allow Zhou Li to always know the current market trends of the camping industry at the first time, which is what many domestic brands lack. core cognition.
"Compared with their European and American counterparts, most domestic brands are 10 years behind in terms of concept and design, and the gap with Japanese and Korean brands is almost 5 years. To catch up quickly, professionalism must be improved."Zhou Li said, "We can just make up for this lack and let companies know what they can do now and what they should do in the future. "
" In the future, we hope to provide product design and research and development for brands. The other parties only need to do a good job in the market to achieve success. This is true strategic cooperation. "Zhou Li said.
"Equipment Control" enters the pit
does not build its own factory focuses on brand and R&D
In 2010, Ji Jianming, a senior outdoor enthusiast, decided to create his own camping brand.
The reason for entering the industry is simple. At that time, domestic The equipment used by outdoor players is of foreign brands, but many of the equipment with foreign logos are actually produced in China. Ji Jianming hopes to create a good outdoor brand with the attribute of "Made in China".
is different from many peers and has attracted customers. Since the establishment of the company, Ji Jianming has not planned to build his own factory. He has focused his business on product development and design, and entrusted the top OEMs in the industry with manufacturing.
"I am a design professional. I have often designed for foreign clients before and have a deep understanding of this field. If you don’t understand the production process, it’s easy to make mistakes if you get involved rashly. "Ji Jianming explained Noke's model this way.
As an out-and-out "equipment controller", Ji Jianming has been exposed to all kinds of camping equipment. Whenever he is camping, he always observes which items are more suitable for players and how to make them more suitable. It satisfies the needs of users.
In the exhibition area of Noke Company, exquisite tents attract the attention of exquisite camping players. Photographed by Qin Che, reporter of Beijing News Shell Finance.
At that time, the domestic camping industry was still a niche, and players were more and more interested. Pay attention to the functionality of the equipment. Many manufacturers often ignore the appearance of the products when producing outdoor products such as tents and canopies. Although these equipments are mainly in warning colors such as orange, red, and blue, they are particularly conspicuous outdoors, but they are too monotonous. The color has also been criticized by many young players.
Ji Jianming took this demand into consideration. On the basis of ensuring the quality of the equipment, he added elements that are more suitable for young people in the appearance design. Bright. Among a bunch of tents, you can tell at first glance which one is used to move guests. "A player told reporters.
In 2015, Noke, which had established a foothold in China, shifted its attention overseas and began to explore the international market through cross-border e-commerce.
It is not easy for Chinese outdoor brands to go global. 1 On the one hand, Europe, the United States, Japan and other regions with mature camping industries already have many top brands. On the other hand, Chinese brands have often been labeled as "low-end", "no sense of design", "cheap" and other overseas brands, and few players have paid attention to them. .
“Our main competitors are international big names. "Ji Jianming analyzed that, "Although it is not as well-known as the other party, its quality is not bad and its style and design are also distinctive. More importantly, compared to the high prices of international brands, Noke is undoubtedly more cost-effective. "In order to understand the user market,
develops different products for different regions. Ji Jianming led the team to conduct research on player preferences and climate environments in multiple countries, and developed different equipment accordingly.
's hard work soon paid off with success. 2017 Nianoke's hiking sleeping bag quickly became popular in Europe and the United States, with annual sales of up to 500,000 pieces. Its popularity in the Japanese and Korean markets has also continued to increase, and it has even attracted the attention of Japan's top outdoor seller Itochu Corporation , who took the initiative. Come to seek cooperation. Behind the scenes of
, in addition to Nok’s continuous investment in research and development and product innovation and upgrades over the years, its control of player groups’ preferences and popular trends is also the reason for its rapid explosion in 2019. At the beginning, Ji Jianming noticed that the trend of outdoor camping was shifting from professional players to the mass market. After discussing with his colleagues, he decided to expand Noke's product line and devote 15 million yuan to the research and development of exquisite camping equipment. , building a product innovation laboratory covering an area of 1,200 square meters.
In fact, the current outbreak of “national camping” undoubtedly confirms Ji Jianming’s judgment.Noko launches more than 200 new products every year, which fascinate young and female players in terms of quality, design and appearance.
"Noke's sales in 2021 will be 500 million yuan, and it is expected to reach 1.5 billion yuan in 2022. In the future, we will continue to work hard in the field of exquisite camping to make more young people completely fall in love with domestic brands." Ji Jianming said.
Unconventional approach
Small and medium-sized manufacturers bet on camping equipment chain segmentation field
In the factory workshop of Zhejiang Chaoyi Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd., Li Naixi and his team are inspecting each camping cart that has just come off the production line one by one. Check. This batch of products will be launched on various e-commerce platforms soon, so there is no room for negligence. Although
started to get involved in the field of outdoor walking sticks as early as 2006, it was not until a chance opportunity in 2019 that Li Naixi made up his mind to adjust his strategy and enter the camping industry.
Once, a friend asked Li Naixi to go camping outdoors. When he arrived at the campsite in high spirits, he found that there was still a few hundred meters to go from the parking lot to the destination. The muddy road made Li Naixi miserable while carrying various camping equipment. At the same time, a question also arises in my mind: Why are there no convenient tools to help players transport items?
After returning home, Li Naixi searched various e-commerce platforms. He found that although many camping manufacturers have emerged in China, most of them are concentrated in tents, canopies and other fields. Although some brands include strollers, their styles are also older.
Li Naixi, founder of Zhejiang Chaoyi Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd., is showing off the camping stroller developed and produced by the company. Photographed by Beijing News Shell Finance reporter Qin Che
"At that time, we found that there were a small number of manufacturers doing this business, but most of the monthly sales did not exceed 1,000 units." Li Naixi knew that this field may seem niche, but almost all camping hobbies All may be potential customers. More importantly, there is no monopoly giant in this market segment. Players have low brand awareness of but not when purchasing, and their choices are easily induced by factors such as price and style.
Li Naixi saw business opportunities.
did not have the technology or experience to enter the field of large items such as outdoor tents, so he decided to invest in the segmented field of camping strollers first.
However, just after the first batch of products were launched, Li Naixi, who had expected sales to explode, was poured cold water on her. Many customers stated that the goods were damaged as soon as they received the goods and wanted to return them. When
originally produced the carts, the spraying process used on the surface of the car body was conventional black spraying, but this spraying would be scratched if not careful. "At that time, 9 out of 10 products had surface damage, and the rate of negative reviews and return rate was extremely high," Li Naixi said.
Li Naixi quickly made adjustments in the process, re-adopted the black background silver spray printing process with more beautiful surface technology and better wear resistance, and comprehensively upgraded the product. At the same time, considering that the cart is made of heavy material and is prone to scratches during transportation, Li Naixi also made improvements to the packaging and added a protective lining. The re-launched products of
have attracted a large number of customers, and the price of 200 yuan to 1,000 yuan has also made many players call them "people-friendly". E-commerce orders continue to come back every day, and some anchor MCN organizations and campsites have also taken the initiative to inquire about cooperation.
Looking at the rising monthly sales, Li Naixi waved his fist: It’s done! After the initial success of
, Li Naixi gained the confidence to get involved in the camping industry. In order to gain a foothold in this segment, he began to recruit more professional R&D personnel and invested 10% of the overall sales every year. Develop new products.
"Now we hope to be the most professional in the segmented field, and create differentiated products that are different from other brands, so as to establish the brand in the minds of consumers, and then gradually get involved in other categories." Li Naixi said.
camping popular will continue 5-10 years
future " retention " " expand customers " becomes a challenge
"If you want to buy camping equipment, you must come to Ningbo! All styles, prices, and functions are available."On June 14, when a taxi was speeding through Ningbo city, the driver proudly introduced, "This is the core outdoor equipment manufacturing place in China, and more than half of the more than 1,000 merchants on Tmall are from here. "
How popular is the outdoor camping industry and how big is its scale? According to iiMedia Consulting statistics, the core market size of China's camping economy will reach 74.75 billion yuan in 2021, driving a market size of 381.23 billion yuan. And about "camping" on social platforms The topic also continues to heat up. During the May Day holiday in 2022 alone, the number of readings of the camping topic on Weibo reached 520 million, and the number of camping notes on Xiaohongshu reached 11.94 billion. The explosion of the market has brought rare opportunities to the camping industry. However, problems such as insufficient production capacity and doubtful repurchase rates have also become urgent problems for every camping brand. In an interview, many practitioners of
said that the market had previously been expected to decline. The outbreak period will come in 2025, but the epidemic caused this stage to arrive early. However, in the face of the sudden benefits, the industry was exposed to the embarrassment of insufficient preparation.
Ji Jianming was impressed, even though Noke did a market analysis before May Day. and predicted, and increased the inventory. However, it was found that tents, tents and other products were sold out in just a few days, and many orders have been scheduled for the second half of the year. Although Li Naixi also encountered similar problems. The factory can produce 600 carts every day, but now it is also facing a situation where orders are full and production cannot keep up. “Many partners now dare not accept orders and advance payments from them. "
At the same time, the explosion of the market has not only brought a large number of players, but also attracted many new entrants. Under the increasingly fierce competition, "retention" and "customer expansion" have also become challenges for many camping supplies companies.
Han Yue told Reporters, it costs at least several thousand yuan to complete a set of camping equipment, and it can cost up to tens of thousands of yuan. The tents, tables, chairs, sleeping bags and other supplies usually last for many years, and you will not buy other products for a long time. .
“To increase customers’ repurchase rate, we need to continuously introduce high-quality new products. "Ji Jianming analyzed that the pursuit of outdoor equipment by sophisticated campers stems from needs and personalities. Usually after purchasing tents, canopies and other essential items, they also choose tables and chairs, outdoor coffee machines, barbecue grills and other items. Many players do not Buy everything at once, but continue to buy as the number of camping trips increases. “This requires brands to continuously introduce more trendy equipment in response to player needs. "The reporter from
learned that Noke's R&D team now has more than 100 people, and new ideas and designs will burst out at any time. "Only when new things are continuously introduced, players will pay attention at any time. "Ji Jianming said.
What practitioners are also concerned about is that the early outbreak of camping is due to the fact that the epidemic has prevented players from traveling and turned to this leisure method. So once the epidemic is over, will camping continue to be popular? ?
"The camping industry will have at least 5-10 years of explosive growth in the future. "Zhou Li once analyzed the development rules of the camping market in Europe, America, Japan and South Korea. Nowadays, the enlargement of the base of camping players will inevitably attract some new players. In addition, with the upgrade of equipment and gameplay, a large market will also be nurtured. "The future development speed Maybe not so fast, but it may continue to grow in the future. ”
Now, what they are more happy to see is that boxes of camping supplies are shipped from Ningbo, shipped across the country, and exported to the world.
Beijing News Shell Finance Reporter Qin Che Editor Chen Li Proofreading Wang Xin
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