人民日报关注：一把油纸伞日销百单，杭州企业国潮“出海”展现中国制造魅力

This article focuses on Guochao (Chinese style) products, a combination of Chinese cultural trends and Chinese manufacturing, emerging as a new highlight of China's foreign trade exports, and summarizes actionable takeaways as follows:

1. Guochao exports are currently growing rapidly, with multiple product categories already successfully breaking into global markets. An oiled paper umbrella maker based in Hangzhou sells nearly 100 units a day via cross-border e-commerce, while a Zhejiang-based Chinese-style fabric manufacturer posted over 40 million yuan in export revenue in the first five months of this year. From January to May, Zhejiang province exported 61.99 billion yuan worth of cultural goods, a 12.2% year-on-year increase, marking strong overall growth.

2. Three core lessons behind successful Guochao exports: manufacturers need to proactively upgrade manufacturing processes to achieve intelligent production; they should integrate traditional Chinese culture into product innovation to launch offerings that meet contemporary consumer demand; and they need to leverage cross-border e-commerce to open up new export channels.

3. Current industry challenges include product homogenization and lax quality control among some players. Long-term growth requires deeper exploration of cultural connotations and consistent improvements to product quality.

Guochao exports have become a new growth driver for China's foreign trade, with strong global demand for Chinese-style products creating abundant new opportunities for brands. Key takeaways are summarized below:

1. Consumer trend: Neo-Chinese aesthetic fashion is rising globally. Apparel, silk, ceramics, beauty and other products featuring traditional Chinese cultural elements are gaining increasing acceptance overseas. Guochao brands have already gained traction in both emerging and mature markets, and the industry as a whole maintains double-digit growth, with strong prospects.

2. Product development: Brands should pursue innovation while inheriting culture. They can develop co-branded collections through collaborations with museums and cultural IPs, integrating traditional culture with contemporary trends and consumer demand. They also need to upgrade manufacturing processes and build out integrated full-industry-chain systems to guarantee product quality, avoiding homogenization caused by simply stacking cultural elements.

3. Channel development: Brands can actively test cross-border e-commerce retail export models, connect directly with overseas consumers with customs support, and open up entirely new export paths.

Guochao exporting is a clear high-growth opportunity in the cross-border e-commerce space, bringing abundant new opportunities for all types of cross-border sellers. Key insights are summarized below:

1. Market opportunity: Overseas consumers have strong demand for products featuring traditional Chinese culture, with growth headroom across categories including Chinese-style apparel, silk, ceramics, cultural and creative products, and domestic Chinese beauty brands. Guochao products have already entered markets across the Middle East, Africa, Europe and other regions, and the industry is growing rapidly: Zhejiang's cultural goods exports rose 12.2% year-on-year in the first five months of 2024, pointing to large room for further expansion.

2. Policy and channel support: Government agencies including customs currently support cross-border e-commerce retail exports. Cross-border e-commerce directly connects manufacturing and end consumers, lowering the entry barrier and smoothing the path for sellers entering the Guochao export space.

3. Risk warnings and actionable lessons: Sellers should avoid two common pitfalls: creating homogenized products by simply stacking cultural elements, and neglecting product quality in pursuit of short-term gains. They can learn from the Hangzhou oiled paper umbrella cross-border e-commerce model, and the approach of fabric manufacturers that develop products tailored to Chinese-style aesthetic demand.

The wave of Guochao exports has brought new growth opportunities and clear transformation directions for Chinese domestic manufacturing factories. Key takeaways are summarized below:

1. Production and design direction: Overseas markets hold strong demand for products with traditional Chinese cultural elements, such as jacquard fabrics tailored for Chinese-style fashion, silk products, and traditional cultural and creative products, all of which see substantial order volume. Factories can adjust their production and design layouts accordingly to enter the Guochao track and capture incremental growth.

2. Insights for digital and e-commerce transformation: Factories should proactively push for digital and intelligent upgrades in production processes. The model of Suzhou Huajia Silk, which built an automated silkworm breeding system and a full-industry-chain system to guarantee quality, offers a useful reference. Factories can also proactively embrace cross-border e-commerce to connect directly with overseas consumers: the Hangzhou-based oiled paper umbrella maker Anruosu Technology, which sells nearly 100 units per day via cross-border e-commerce, is a successful case study.

3. Key considerations: When developing products, factories should not simply stack cultural elements. Instead, they need to dig deeper into cultural connotations, invest heavily in product quality, and avoid falling into the trap of homogenized competition.

Guochao exporting has become a new trend driving the high-quality development of China's foreign trade, with clear industry growth momentum that brings new market opportunities for all types of service providers. Key takeaways are summarized below:

1. Industry growth trend: Guochao products that combine traditional Chinese culture with Chinese manufacturing are posting fast export growth and hold large market potential. In the first five months of 2024, Zhejiang province alone exported 61.99 billion yuan in cultural goods, up 12.2% year-on-year. A growing number of traditional manufacturers and brands are starting to lay out Guochao export strategies, driving sustained growth in demand for related services.

2. Core customer pain points: The Guochao export industry currently faces two widespread pain points: First, most manufacturers lack capability for digital upgrading and cultural product innovation, leading to serious product homogenization and substandard quality among many players. Second, many enterprises lack access to overseas channel resources and compliant operational experience for cross-border retail exports.

3. Direction for solutions: Service providers can tailor offerings to meet demand, including production digital transformation services, cultural IP matching and collaboration services, cross-border export compliance operation guidance, and brand global marketing services. These offerings help enterprises solve development pain points and capitalize on the industry's growth opportunity.

The growth wave of Guochao exporting has brought new growth opportunities for cross-border e-commerce platforms and clarified their next operational priorities. Key takeaways are summarized below:

1. Market demand and opportunity: A large number of Guochao product manufacturers and brands need to directly reach overseas consumers and expand retail markets, as demonstrated by the Hangzhou oiled paper umbrella case: enterprises have strong demand for convenient cross-border export channels, and the Guochao category has already become a new incremental growth driver for platforms.

2. New actionable initiatives for platforms: Platforms can launch dedicated recruitment programs for Guochao merchants and open exclusive Guochao category sections to attract sellers of Chinese-style apparel, silk, ceramics, cultural and creative products and other related categories. They can also coordinate with customs and other regulatory authorities to provide compliance guidance and support for exporting merchants, lowering entry barriers and compliance costs for sellers.

3. Risk mitigation direction: Platforms should strengthen quality control for the Guochao category, guide sellers to explore deeper cultural connotations and launch high-quality products, remove homogenized low-quality offerings, protect the overall reputation of Guochao categories in overseas markets, and support the long-term healthy development of the segment.

Guochao exporting is a new industrial trend emerging in the high-quality development of China's foreign trade. It demonstrates new characteristics and exposes emerging problems, offering important reference value for research on industrial upgrading and foreign trade transformation. Key takeaways are summarized below:

1. New industrial trends and business models: Guochao exporting is the product of deep integration between traditional Chinese culture and Chinese manufacturing, and has become a new growth pole for China's foreign trade. In the first five months of 2024, Zhejiang's cultural goods exports grew 12.2% year-on-year, far outpacing the industry average. The sector has developed a mature development model, with three core paths: upgrading manufacturing processes through technological innovation and intelligent transformation, developing high-quality supply through cultural collaboration and innovation, and expanding new channels through cross-border e-commerce retail exports.

2. New industry problems: Two prominent problems plague current industry development: Some enterprises only simply stack cultural elements when developing products, leading to serious product homogenization; other players prioritize short-term gains and refuse to invest in improving product quality, which undermines the sector's long-term development.

3. Development insights: For the sustainable future of Guochao exporting, enterprises should dig deeper into the connotations of traditional Chinese culture and improve product quality internally, while building brands and expanding diversified channels externally, to achieve the dual goal of unimpeded trade and cultural exchange.