Core conclusions:A factory in Yongkang, Zhejiang Province that has been manufacturing stainless steel vacuum thermos cups for 12 years has previously been purely domestic and OEM for domestic brands. Adjust the approach from August 2025: reposition product information from an "e-commerce consumer perspective" to an "overseas buyer perspective," and at the same time shift the market from the crowded Red Sea to a dual market combination of "German Supermarket + United Arab Emirates Gift Channel."In 14 months, the export volume was 4.1 million yuan, with an average monthly inquiry of 32, and orders from European supermarkets accounted for 58%.The whole process is disassembled below.
1. Customer background
Factory in Yongkang Economic Development Zone, two automatic vacuum cup production lines, more than 80 employees, annual production capacity of about 3 million. The product quality is stable. It has been an OEM for a leading domestic brand for a long time, and it has also sold white brands through e-commerce channels. The boss said frankly: The domestic price war is getting thinner and thinner, and the profit of OEM orders is being pushed to single digits. I want to find a way to go to sea, but I have no clue at all-I have worked on an English official website and registered as a member of a B2B platform. I have only received sporadic inquiries for a year, and they are all price comparisons.
In terms of team configuration, there are no full-time foreign trade personnel in the factory. The landlady manages two platform accounts, and English relies on translation software. The boss's idea is typical: "Our products are not bad. What's bad is that we don't know where customers are and how to talk to them. "
2. Problem diagnosis: four stuck points
- The information is all about domestic e-commerce talk.The English materials say "high-value, value-for-money special offers" and are open to consumers throughout. Overseas purchasing managers are concerned about production capacity, quality control, certification, OEM cases, and delivery dates. There is no piece of these information-customers still don't know whether this factory can accept OEM orders after reading the information.
- The chain of qualification evidence has not been sorted out.The factory actually holds LFGB, FDA food contact material test reports, and EU customer factory inspection records, but they are scattered in the salesperson's personal mailbox and have never been systematically organized into an evidence page that buyers can quickly verify. Trust endorsements are in stock, but they are not on the table.
- Pricing follows the domestic sales cost mark-up.The FOB price was quoted based on domestic sales thinking. I didn't know the quotation structure of the European supermarket channel (including packaging design fees, factory inspection apportionment, and accounting period costs). The first quotation to the German customer was directly 15% higher than that of the peer, but the other party never responded again.
- Market choices depend entirely on hearing and hearing.Seeing that its peers are doing the United States, Amazon will also do the United States and squeeze into the Red Sea to fight a price war. I have never systematically evaluated "which market and channel my production capacity scale and category characteristics are suitable for."
The four sticking points are intertwined: if the information is not good, the inquiry will be of low quality; if the price is not good, the good inquiry will not be received; the market has chosen the wrong way, and the efforts are all in the wrong direction.
3. What have we done?
- Data reconstruction: Rewrite a full set of English materials based on the buyer's decision-making chain-directly answer the five questions of "production capacity/certification/OEM cases/delivery date/MOQ" on the front page; separately produce a test report summary page (related items to LFGB, FDA, EN71) and the OEM case page (concealing the customer name and retaining the category, quantity, and year).
- Market mix reformulation: usecustoms dataThe verification found that the European supermarket system purchased a large amount of thermos cups and the certification system matched the existing qualifications of the factory. The United Arab Emirates gift channel was tolerant of the minimum quantity and had higher profit margins. Determine the dual market structure of "German supermarket production + United Arab Emirates gift production" and abandon the Red Sea of American e-commerce.
- Rebuilding the quotation system: Re-modeling according to the channel structure of European merchants and supermarkets. The quotation is divided into four modules: basic price, packaging specification price, factory inspection allocation, and accounting period cost. Customers can choose configurations according to their budgets, and the negotiation flexibility will change from "one size fits all" to "menu-style".
- Accurate development: Customs data screened 90 European and Middle Eastern buyers with insulation cup procurement records, divided into A/B/C three layers according to procurement frequency and scale, 36 customized development letters on A layer, and B and C layers in batches.
4. Execution rhythm
Month 1: Data and location reconstruction
Rewrite English materials and independent station core pages, organize the evidence chain, and establish a quotation model. The screening and layering of 90 buyers were completed in the same month, and Level A customers were filed.
Month 2: Data reach launched
The 36 companies on Level A issued customized development letters one by one (each letter quoted the other party's purchase records), and simultaneously completed the contact of the purchasing manager on LinkedIn. Nine valid replies were received that month, including a German supermarket purchasing group and two gift traders in Dubai requesting samples.
Month 3: Complete sample list and trust
Send 11 sets of samples and cooperate with German customers to complete remote factory inspection (video routing + document verification). Dubai gift merchants took the lead in placing the first batch of 1200 test orders; German supermarket companies entered their own quality inspection process with a long but continuous cycle.
From the fourth month: Double market volume increases
Customers in Dubai have continuously returned orders and imported them into their retail channels; after 5000 German supermarkets passed the test orders, they signed an annual framework and placed orders on a quarterly basis. During this period, two rounds of packaging plans were customized for German customers, giving full play to the menu-based advantages of quotation. In the 14th month, the cumulative export volume reached 4.1 million yuan, with European supermarket channels accounting for 58%.
V. Outcome data
Key data for the 14-month implementation period are as follows:
- Export value:4.1 million yuan (August 2025-September 2026)
- Valid monthly inquiries:32 articles (less than 4 articles before implementation)
- Proportion of orders from European supermarkets and supermarkets:58%
- Sample transfer rate:26%(11 sets of samples converted into 3 official customers)
- Repurchase customers:9 companies, with repurchase orders contributing 63% of exports
- Average gross profit margin:It is approximately 11 percentage points higher than domestic OEM
6. Which factories can this method be replicated to?
The most suitable factory is this type of factory: it has stable OEM/ODM production capacity (whether it is stainless steel kitchens, small appliances or household use), has or can quickly complete the target market certification, and the unit price is within the buyer's "rational decision-making interval"(not relying on impulse consumption to complete a transaction). The problem with such factories has never been the product, but the fact that the data is not from the perspective of the buyer and the market has not made structural choices. Do these two things right first, and only then can the development actions be taken over.
On the other hand, if your product relies heavily on C-end brand premiums, or if the production capacity is too small to receive stable refund orders, the supermarket channel approach is not appropriate, and you should take the small-B wholesale or cross-border e-commerce route. There is no panacea for playing methods, only those that match the market structure and production capacity scale.
7. Common questions
Q: Without a foreign trade team, how will it work in the early stage??
A: The foreign trade affairs of this factory in the first three months are handled by the boss +1 newly recruited salesperson. Qihang AI is responsible for data reconstruction, market screening and development letter system construction, and lists weekly actions. Stabilize the order and expand it. The key is to not pursue "building a team and then starting it" in the early stage. Use lists to run the actions and build a team unilaterally.
Q: European supermarkets have a high threshold for factory inspections. Can small factories pass it??
A: The threshold mainly lies in the consistency of system documents and on-site management, and does not entirely depend on the scale. This factory has a size of 80 people and is completed through two rounds of remote factory inspection + formal factory inspection. In the early stage, quality system documents (ISO9001), social responsibility documents, and common items for factory inspections (fire protection, working hours, chemical management) will be self-checked and completed according to the list, and the pass rate will be greatly improved. Certification and factory inspection costs must be included in the channel quotation model, which is the meaning of "menu-based quotation".
Q: Do you have enough energy to do it in two markets at the same time?
A: Enough, because the channel logics of the two markets are different but the actions can be reused: the supermarket channel has a long cycle and a large order volume, and in the early stage, waiting + preparation of certificates; the gift channel has fast decision-making and fast order return, and in the early stage, high-frequency follow-up. What you really need to avoid is to open five or six markets at the same time-each market requires a separate certification, quotation and follow-up pace. If you shop too many, no one will be able to do it deeply. Two, that's enough.
--Qihang AI Foreign Trade Research Institute·Let China Intelligent Manufacturing Set sail to the sea| Foreign trade customer consultation: 180-0327-6609
