The sudden outbreak of a coronavirus pandemic took a heavy toll on textile companies, but the danger of the pandemic cut both ways. When foreign trade demand is blocked, textile companies actively transfer to domestic sales; when offline channels encounter obstacles, textile enterprises actively explore the cloud services. It is essential for the textile industry to nurture new growth points and grasp the initiative for development during the pandemic. The textile industry should explore new incremental space to increase user stickiness, so as to hedge the impact of the pandemic.

Target Consumer Trends

The coronavirus pandemic promotes the diversification and multi-levelization of consumer structure, consumption demand and consumption methods. The consumption trend also shows the characteristics of plentiful consumer subjects, classified consumption habits, and integrated consumption channels. Textile and apparel enterprises should seize new consumption trends, tap into market demand, and reintegrate resources.

China's consumer groups are constantly subdivided, and the original classification standards such as age, gender, income level, etc. are constantly being refined. And mainstream consumer groups are changing. From the perspective of age, generation Z who was born after 1995 and 2000 has gradually become a new force in the consumer market. From a regional perspective, the new generation of third-tier or fourth-tier cities has become new engines of growth.

Consumer groups that continue to be subdivided are driving individualization, diversification, and anti-popularization on the demand side. New types of consumption have emerged, including cultural consumption, health consumption, customized consumption, emotional consumption, credit consumption, self-pleasure consumption, and information consumption. For textile enterprises, it is necessary to enhance the recognition of local brands, establish local designer brands, and expand new consumer markets. In addition, for brand collection stores, factory outlets, boutiques, IP creative halls, etc., textile enterprises should target their target consumers and provide them with personalized and differentiated consumption experience.

During the pandemic, the boundaries between online channels and offline channels continued to blur. Offline channels such as professional textile markets, department stores, and brick-and-mortar stores actively create new models for online consumption and offline experience. While online platforms, such as Suning Corporation, JD.com, Vipshop have invested the operation of offline experience stores, attracting a batch of new consumers. Textile companies should learn and apply emerging marketing methods such as content e-commerce, community supermarkets, and online live streaming based on community shape and fan economy to encourage consumers to realize omnichannel purchases and lay out new markets.

Forge Ahead Based on Transformation and Upgrading

The textile and apparel professional market and operating merchants must actively adapt to the new challenges of the consumer era and the new changes in consumption models, transform and upgrade the business model based on the new requirement of consumer groups, so as to realize the specialization, intelligence, precision and high efficiency of supply chain channels.

The outbreak of the pandemic has a direct impact on the offline channels of the textile and apparel professional market, forcing the professional market to accelerate the online channel layout.

The emergence of new normal has put forward higher requirements for the comprehensive operation and management capabilities of the textile professional market. After the opening of Guangzhou International Textile City and Puyuan Cardigan Market, etc., they have increased related application of information technology. Guangzhou Baima Apparel Market develops its own big data platform to realize real-time monitoring of on-site passenger flow, realize visual monitoring of on-site staying people through digitally managed Internet technology, and initiate passenger flow control measures in a timely manner.

During the coronavirus pandemic, more professional markets and textile companies recognized the importance and urgency of increasing smart applications and building smart malls, especially the establishment of smart management systems such as e-commerce applications, smart logistics, smart parking, and smart firefighting as soon as possible. To continuously improve the ability of intelligent systems to quickly respond to major security incidents.

In the post-pandemic era, the textile and apparel professional markets need to continue to work hard on the establishment of offline channels, accelerate online layout, build an omnichannel marketing system, and deepen the integration of online and offline marketing. Meanwhile, establish a smarter and more precise supply chain channel to accelerate the transformation and upgrading of the industry.

Make Full Preparation for Risks Prevention

When the coronavirus pandemic hit, the strong professional market and enterprises will have a stronger ability to resist risks and adapt to changes. As market competition intensifies, the Matthew effect among markets and textile and apparel enterprises may become more and more obvious. For the traditional professional market and small and medium-sized enterprises, whether to strengthen their own platform construction to enhance value-added service capabilities, or to be included in a larger cooperation platform and seek win-win development opportunities in cooperation, has become a serious consideration for every owner of market and enterprises. For leading professional markets and well-developed enterprises with sound development foundations, accelerating resource integration, establishing cooperative alliances, continuously optimizing and expanding circulation channels, and further demonstrating their status and influence have become necessary actions in the post-pandemic era.

Under the pandemic situation, the textile and apparel professional markets have taken emergency measures with the help of local governments, such as reducing merchant rents and speeding up online sales. After the pandemic, there will still be a process of recovery and stabilization in various professional markets.

In the post-pandemic era, the local textile and apparel professional markets must re-examine the market's original strategic layout, merchant structure, channel resources, and factor inputs, and further think about the positioning, function, role and future development direction of the professional market; establish a closer and more precise supply chain linkage mechanism based on the online market and industrial big data centers; carry out in-depth cooperation between large and small enterprises, and jointly build a risk prevention system for the industrial chain.