The Changing Road Of Shenzhen'S Foreign Trade In 40 Years: From Huaqiang North Gate To Cross Border Supply Chain

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the establishment of Shenzhen Special Economic Zone. In the past 40 years, Shenzhen Special Economic Zone has taken the lead in the economic field and has become a national model. The rapid development of private enterprises and the rapid growth of service trade have become "Shenzhen characteristics".

In the field of foreign trade, Shenzhen is even ahead of the rest of the country. Its total import and export volume has increased from US $16.76 million in 1979 to RMB 2.98 trillion in 2019. Among them, the total export volume has steadily ranked first among mainland cities for 27 consecutive years.

Despite the severe impact of the epidemic, in May this year, Shenzhen's import and export still achieved double growth, with strong foreign trade momentum. With the rapid development of Shenzhen's foreign trade, the mode of import and export trade has become more reasonable, the product structure has been constantly optimized, and the trade market has become increasingly diversified. Foreign trade has played an important role in promoting the economic and social development of Shenzhen.

Liu Guohai, general manager of Shenzhen region of Alibaba international station, told reporters of the 21st century economic report that since this year, new online foreign trade has risen against the trend, and various industries have accelerated digital transformation. In terms of the whole international station, in the first half of 2020, the amount of transactions received by the platform increased by 80% (in US dollars), the number of orders increased by 98% and the number of buyers paid increased by 60% in the first half of 2020. Among them, Shenzhen's growth rate is significantly higher than the national average online level. In the first half of the year, the online transaction volume of merchants in Shenzhen increased by 102%, and then continued to accelerate growth. In July, the transaction volume increased by 149%.

Huaqiangbei foreign trader's turn

In the memory of the older generation, Huaqiangbei is the biggest label of Shenzhen. Huaqiangbei has given young people a fair chance to compete and have a chance to live a rich and stable life. In addition, there are many myths about wealth creation. And in Huaqiangbei also left countless foreign trade people's development footprint.

Shenzhen best technology Co., Ltd. in charge of Lin Hankui is one of the epitome of Shenzhen foreign trade people. In 2009, Lin Hankui went to Huaqiangbei alone to start a business. Starting from the small outlets of Huaqiangbei, he sold watches, tablets, security supplies, etc., and did both domestic and foreign trade. By 2010, he settled in express, and in 2012, he registered and established Shenzhen bestell Technology Co., Ltd. with the deepening of operation, he began to make use of the advantages of supply chain and industry experience, focusing on the security industry, and the business grew bigger and bigger. Up to now, the company has developed to more than 30 people and the annual sales volume has exceeded 100 million.

After graduating from the company in 2009, I borrowed money from my classmate, Lin qiangkui, to do business with me for three years. At that time, the main business in the Pacific foreign trade market was foreigners' business. At the beginning, the business was OK. There was no survival pressure. Basically, one person was full and the whole family was not hungry. "

However, since 2010, the traditional foreign trade began to decline, and the buyers at Huaqiangbei counter have become more and more refined. It is normal to compare goods with three companies. Most of the peers feel that there are fewer and fewer buyers who take goods in large quantities.

"In 2009, when I was in a foreign trade company, orders of more than 100 thousand US dollars in gold were very common, but there was no later. At that time, although there was business on the counter every day, the amount of money was relatively small. With B2C becoming a new trend, the company tried to transfer its foreign trade business to the online market. At the beginning, it not only made express sales, but also other platforms. It experienced the wild growth period of the whole foreign trade online platform ecology. During this period, tablet phone accessories, video recorders and so on have been tried and eliminated at the same time, until 2014-2015 entered a virtuous circle. By exploring the integration of supply chain and combing resources, we grasped the advantages, and in 2015, we began to show explosive growth. "

Looking back on the ecology of Huaqiangbei in Shenzhen, Lin Hankui said that Huaqiangbei is totally different from that time. Yesterday, I went to Manha, digital city and Pacific Ocean again, and found that it was completely different. In 2009, due to its high cost performance, the whole industry was relatively concentrated. In the past, the first floor to the sixth floor of the Pacific Digital City were selling monitoring equipment, but now it is occupied by the business forms such as mobile phone accessories and beauty cosmetics that serve offline customers.

With the upgrading of the industry and the change of the general environment, the security field focused on by oneself also presents different changes in foreign trade. The number of offline bulk transactions began to decrease, and offline exhibitions began to shrink to a certain extent, and it became a trend to shift to online.

"Although I'm not a successful person, I have sold my products to the world through the transformation of foreign trade. I have a house in Shenzhen, a car, a family, children and a foundation for my life," Lin said. It was the first time to do business with foreigners carrying sacks in Huaqiang North. Today, the rapid development of digital economy in Shenzhen has also led to changes in the form of doing business with us by foreigners. Cross border e-commerce has begun to play an important role in foreign trade and export. "

New foreign trade of cross border E-commerce

In the foreign trade enterprises in Shenzhen, there are no lack of large enterprises.

Wang Tiantian, head of the cross-border supply chain of Alibaba international station, told reporters of the 21st century economic report that what has not changed in Shenzhen is the culture of innovation and entrepreneurship, which is the soul and bottom of the city.

Whether it is the original cross-border e-commerce, or the later comprehensive foreign trade services, to today's cross-border supply chain and duplicated foreign trade business platform, all new ideas, as long as they are close to the market and customer demand, have demonstrated their responsibility and responsibility, playing an innovative and breakthrough role.

"This is also why the headquarters of Yatong cross-border supply chain is located in Shenzhen, because Shenzhen has a strong entrepreneurial culture, and has a fairer business environment and ideology for starting businesses and businesses," Wang said

Konka Group was founded on May 21, 1980, formerly known as Guangdong Guangming overseas Chinese electronic industry company. It is the first Sino foreign joint venture electronic enterprise after China's reform and opening up, and it has grown up with the development of Shenzhen Special Economic Zone for 40 years.

In recent years, it is a hot topic to explore the domestic market and do business with the whole world. Konka's internationalization does not start from cross-border e-commerce. As an old brand of Chinese household appliance enterprises, Konka has started its global trade layout as early as 1994, but it has always followed the traditional wholesale and export mode. Under this mode, Konka's export scale has reached RMB 45 billion.

However, in recent years, with the increasing fragmentation of international trade orders and the rise of Global trade protectionism, the traditional foreign trade export mode has encountered a bottleneck for national brands to take root in the sea. The well-known national brands in China often encounter the embarrassment of "no one knows overseas". Therefore, Konka has opened another new way to explore the international market - cross-border e-commerce. By changing "order economy" into "demand economy", Shenzhen factories and enterprises bypass overseas wholesale distributors and face consumers directly. Overseas buyers can buy customized products, and factories and enterprises can optimize the product structure and produce on demand.

On the road of opening up new foreign trade, no matter small individuals or big factories, are always standing in the spirit of Shenzhen.