Export of Cases and Bags Increases Robustly

By Lily Wang

Chinas case and bag producers have seen increasing export orders in recent days， as foreign market demands continue to recover.

40% market share of the world

Data show that in the first five months of this year， Chinas case and bag exports amounted to USD 12.7 billion， accounting for approximately 40% of the global market.

In a case and bag export company in Pinghu City， Zhejiang Province， more than 1，000 workers are working hard in the workshop to produce orders. The person in charge of the company said that recently， the company shipped approximately 20 containers to foreign markets each day and that the peak shipment was approximately 40 containers a day. However， at the same time last year， the export amount was less than 10 containers each day.

The person in charge of production of another case and bag company in Pinghu said that the companys 10 production lines are running at full capacity. The order production plan has been extended to the end of September.

Zhou Jiazheng， a representative of the foreign trade and economic cooperation department of the Pinghu Municipal Bureau of Commerce of Zhejiang Province， said： “From the feedback from the market， export orders are relatively abundant， and the export growth of the citys case and bag industry has exceeded 50%.”

Li Wenfeng， Vice President of China Chamber of Commerce for the import and export of light industry products and arts and crafts， said：“exports to major foreign markets in the case and bag industry， including the United States， the European Union and Southeast Asia， have been growing fast； the main domestic production areas， such as Guangdong， Fujian， Zhejiang and Hunan， have seen rapid growth in production. Looking to the future， case and bag exports are expected to continue this rapid growth trend.”

Industrial concentration leads to larger sales volume

As a large case and bag-producing country in the world， China has more than 20，000 case and bag companies， producing a third of the worlds cases and bags， and having a huge market share. With the rapid development of the case and bag industry in recent years， the number of Chinas case and bag companies has been increasing. At present， the companies are mainly concentrated in Guangdong， Fujian， Zhejiang， Shandong， Shanghai， Jiangsu， Hebei and Hunan. Industrial concentration has lifted up the sales volume of the case and bag industry.

According to the report entitled“Analysis of the Development Prospects and Trends of the Case and Bag Industry in 2022”， the domestic case and bag industrial chain has exhibited serious polarization： first， Chinas case and bag products have weak brand power and low added value. The unit price is generally below RMB 500. Second， overseas brands dominate the high-end product lines of the industry， with unit prices between several thousand and tens of thousands of yuan. The gap between the high-end and lowend industry chain provides a good opportunity for domestic brands such as Oiwas and 90 Points. Case and bag products with a price of between RMB 300 and RMB 1000 sell well.

Compared with the long-term brand development and experience accumulation of the international case and bag industry， Chinas case and bag industry started quite late. However， with economic globalization and Chinas growing economy， Chinas case and bag companies have better brand awareness， and can make business upgrades and reshape the brand value. The whole industry is embracing a new developmental opportunity in the postpandemic era.

As a major case and bag producing country， China has formed a complete industrial chain including raw material suppliers， case and bag manufacturers and retail brand operators. Chinas production and export of cases and bags rank first in the world， but China has few famous brands. It will be inevitable that Chinese case and bag companies develop self-owned brands based on their own production advantages.

Clear integration between online and offline operation

The global case and bag industry scale has been growing slowly at a single-digit rate.

According to Euromonitor， the CAGR for the global case and bag industry during 2006-2019 was 4.24%. The industry value reached its peak of USD 153.576 billion in 2019.

In 2020， the economy faced large downturn pressure due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The consumption for travel-related products has been limited， leading to a slide in the case and bag market scale. In 2020， the case and bag market volume decreased by 20.02%.

As the global pandemic is well controlled and the tourism market is slowly recovering， the global case and bag market is also recovering. Chinas case and bag industry currently ranks first in the world in terms of growth rate.

Insiders of the industry say that China is the worlds largest case and bag producing country， but the concentration of leading companies is low. It is far from the time for fierce competition. There are normally three types of operation models for industry： OEM， ODM and brand operation.

Chinas case and bag industry started late and has few brand operations. It lacks competitive self-owned brands， but brand awareness is taking shape.

Young consumers focus more on the style and fashion of the brands. They have less enthusiasm for international brands and more acceptance of national fashion products. Such changes in consumption patterns has brought about developmental opportunities for domestic case and bag products. It is expected that domestic case and bag market will have a large growth space.

In addition， in the era of new retail， digital transformation has been empowering supply chain management， and further releasing the capacity of the case and bag industry. As consumershabits change， the trend of online and offline business integration is becoming more and more evident in the case and bag industry. With the customer demand as the direction， the industry has formed a vertically-integrated business model featuring digital design and production， digital operation and management， and digital warehousing and logistics.

After digital operation is applied to the whole industry， production will be performed based on customer orders and the data will shared between factories and logistics. The whole process from order production to logistics will become transparent， which will reduce the risks of stockpiling and raw material cost fluctuations. Meanwhile， this will also lead to rapid feedback to customer requests， big data analysis at the terminal， and making quick responses and adjustments in the design and production sectors. The production will accurately be tailored to the personalized needs of customers and improve the conversion rate by following the new trends in the case and bag market.

Cross-sector innovation empowers the growth of brands

People in these modern times have more diversified and personalized needs for case and bags. As people born after 1995 grow up and gain greater consumption power， they will become the backbone of online consumption. This group of people have distinct consumption habits as they pursue practical use and more personalized national fashion products. Such consumption patterns have formed a unique culture for the group. “Buy what you love” has unleashed a huge consumption potential， and this group is favored by large fashion brands. In order to cater to young consumers， large case and bag brands have launched customized and IP-linked products to win the loyalty of young consumers through accurate marketing.

In recent years， the product and marketing innovation triggered by crosssector joint branding has reinvigorated the case and bag industry. The brand 90 Points have launched scene-based case and bag products by working with film and TV IP collaborations like Wandering Earth and the Grave Robbers Journal， exhibiting fashion style with Chinese characteristics； Bromen joined hands with Disney in an IP deal to meet the personalized product needs of young users； OIWAS has had successful cooperations with Coca Cola and Snoopy to inject fashion elements into its brand. There is no doubt that cross-sector co-branding has become a trump card， and the combination of classic IP and brands is even more eye-catching. The collision of different cultural circles not only breaks through the dilemma of product homogenization， but also strengthens the emotional link between brands and young consumer groups.

Industry insiders pointed out that the steady growth of per capita disposable income will provide a basic driving force for case and bag consumption； and branding and scale production have become the general trend in the industry. The brand power of Chinas case and bag companies has gradually improved， and the markup rate has steadily increased. Therefore， the next decade will be a golden era for the development of Chinas case and bag industry.