Chinese umbrellas occupy 70% of the world market share

Since the 1990s, China has become the center of the global umbrella industry, and many umbrella manufacturing bases have emerged. Of course, the most famous ones are Zhejiang and Fujian. It is said that at the end of the last century, Hangzhou, the country with the most intensive umbrella manufacturing industry, provided more than 1 billion umbrellas to the world every year. As early as 2007, the annual export volume of Chinese umbrellas has reached 900 million, and more than 70% of the world's umbrellas are made in China, and 70% of them are exported.

       The most well-known domestic brand is of course Hangzhou Paradise Umbrella. In addition, Meihua Umbrella from Jinjiang in Fujian, Hongye Umbrella and Fino Umbrella from Zhejiang, Rain Bird and Yusimeng from Fujian are also good brands.

Hangzhou has been famous for its umbrellas since ancient times. Hangzhou Umbrella Factory and West Lake Umbrella Factory are both time-honored brands. When traveling to Hangzhou in the 1980s, buying umbrellas was almost a must. The founder of Paradise Umbrella designed and developed China's first tri-fold umbrella. In the 1990s, he acquired the well-known Xihu Umbrella Factory and established the Paradise Umbrella Group.

      The success of Paradise Umbrella is related to quality and marketing strategy. It abandoned the state-owned enterprise model early, withdrew from the wholesale channel of state-owned department stores, and independently built channels directly into the malls, with high efficiency and greatly improved brand.

      The most famous work of Paradise Umbrella is the Bamboo Umbrella series, which has won two world-renowned design awards, Red Dot and International IF. As the name suggests, this product is made of bamboo. In addition to classic models, there are also constellations and zodiac series, which are very popular.

The development of the Fujian umbrella industry is mainly based on Taiwan. Taiwan's umbrella industry has a long history and a large export volume, and it still occupies a considerable share of the global market. Fujian has also gradually emerged from an early foundry to an independent brand.

      However, although China's umbrella industry is developed, profits are really low. In this large market, which accounts for 70% of the global market, the output ratio of the mainland and Taiwan is 7:3, but the profit has fallen slightly, becoming 3:7, which shows the meager profit of the mainland umbrella.

In recent years, many people are used to going to Japan to buy and buy. Rice cookers and toilet lids have been popular, and the same is true for folding umbrellas. Many people are keen to buy folding umbrellas worth more than 100 yuan in Japan, and praise their sturdy and durable styles. But in fact, the most important export destination for Chinese umbrellas is Japan. Umbrellas in the Japanese market are basically imported. The annual domestic output is only more than 6 million, accounting for only 7% of the total sales. Most of the folding umbrellas you bought in Japan are actually made in China.

       This is also quite embarrassing. Domestic umbrellas sold for a few hundred yuan in foreign countries are only tens of yuan in China. As the world's factory, China is no exception in the umbrella industry.