Old state-owned enterprises are starting to "start up internal businesses" and are using Alibaba International Station to achieve new speed in digital foreign trade

Large companies often give the outside world a stereotype of lack of flexibility, but in this old state-owned enterprise in Changzhou, Jiangsu, there is a trend of internal entrepreneurship with the help of digital foreign trade exports. In the past two years, the excavators, loaders and other products of SINOMACH Heavy Industry Group International Equipment Co., Ltd. have doubled their digital foreign trade export performance with the help of Alibaba International Station.

Wang Chuanming, Chairman of SINOMACH International Equipment Co., Ltd., introduced that “Since the establishment and operation of the website on Alibaba International Station at the beginning of last year, and the receipt of the first order at the New Trade Festival in March, the company’s digital foreign trade exports in 2022 have exceeded RMB 11 million in just one year . ” What is more worth mentioning is that from the beginning of this year to now, in less than half a year, SINOMACH International’s cross-border e-commerce exports have exceeded 31 million , almost tripling the total for the whole of last year.

Photo: Wang Chuanming, Chairman of SINOMACH International Equipment Co., Ltd., communicates with Mexican customers

Since November 2021 , the company has transferred 4 people from the marketing department to form a temporary digital marketing department, and all the staff are part-time to expand the "experimental field" and test the waters of cross-border e-commerce. Now 17 months later, the team has been upgraded to a digital marketing department with 8 full-time employees.

The achievements of internal entrepreneurship have been fully recognized by the company. At present, the digital marketing department has been set up as a "new special zone" in the company, and many special zone support policies have been given. In this new special zone, not only is there an independent office, but the attendance time is also different from other departments. The old state-owned enterprise, which originally had a unified work start time of 8 a.m., allows the digital marketing department to work at 9 a.m., but the off-work time remains unchanged. The original intention of changing the attendance time is that due to the special nature of digital foreign trade , the employees of the digital marketing department will also stay online on Saturdays and work flexibly.

Wang Chuanming said that unlike traditional foreign trade channels, online orders are of high quality. This is not only reflected in the higher profit margins of online orders than offline orders, but also in the good payment quality of online customers, who can usually pay in full on delivery. In contrast, competition for orders in offline channels is fierce, and credit sales are common. Currently, nearly 80% of SINOMACH International's online customers come from Alibaba International Station.

Photo: SINOMACH International Corporation’s factory

Wang Chuanming believes that strong replicability is also a major advantage of cross-border e-commerce. He gave an example, saying that with the successful experience of the first international station store, it was natural for them to open a second store. At present, the two stores have different business directions. The first store focuses on its own engineering machinery products; the second store uses the digital selection tools of cross-border e-commerce to select popular products, and then find suppliers in the market to sell them. The dual-wheel drive of brand management and trade management is its consistent business philosophy.

Breaking new ground in cross-border e-commerce is not always smooth sailing. Wang Chuanming said that in the early days of internal entrepreneurship, in order to protect the interests of existing agents, the digital marketing department was set up in a "difficult mode" from the beginning, and worked hard to open up new growth poles in new markets, new brands, and new products.

It is under such conditions that the cross-border e-commerce team has continuously brought new gains to the company. Not only has it opened up the European and American markets that the company has never entered before, but it has also opened up new markets that have previously performed well but have since shrunk. This year, the cross-border team received an order from Africa on Alibaba International Station. Next, during the time window for the first batch of goods to be delivered, the digital marketing department sent business personnel and service personnel to the site to follow up with its own local service advantages such as assembly training. Not long after, this customer placed another large order of US$1.2 million .

  Photo: African customers of SINOMACH International enthusiastically take photos with the excavator

SINOMACH International Equipment Co., Ltd. has more than 30 years of export experience. Previously, the company's domestic trade and foreign trade accounted for about 7 to 3; now that foreign trade is developing better, this ratio has reversed, and foreign trade has become a more important market. In foreign trade business, new technologies in digital foreign trade are bringing new speed to this traditional enterprise.

Wang Chuanming admitted that the company had previously experienced an overall decline as the industry changed, but now, with the growth of industry exports, the company has recovered and grown faster than the industry average. In 2022 , industry exports rose by 20 % , and SINOMACH International grew by more than 40 % . This process of transformation took SINOMACH International just over two years.

In Wang Chuanming's words, the initial trial of cross-border e-commerce was a test field, and the company was still solving the problem of whether to believe it or not. Now, the company's perspective has changed. How much imagination space there is in cross-border e-commerce is worth waiting and seeing.

Old state-owned enterprises

Intrapreneurship

Alibaba International Station