It is said that in 1902, the Qing Dynasty was not yet dead, but the great powers had already opened the door to China.
A man named Bai Xihe from Xuchang went to Qingdao to do business. He saw German businessmen using cheap steel needles to exchange women's hair, processing it and selling it to Europe at a high price.
After returning to his hometown, Bai Xihe told the villagers this secret.
This is the origin of wig making in Xuchang.
Xuchang has a population of more than 4 million and a long history. Those who love the Three Kingdoms must know this place. Is it the most famous in modern times? Well, it may be Fat Donglai...
In later generations - referring to 2023, Xuchang's wigs have become a big business. Six of the top 10 wigs in the world come from here, and it is called the "Wig Capital".
Among them, there is one person who is the most representative, his name is Zheng Youquan.
He had worked as a private teacher and a brigade cadre, and was educated. In the 1990s, he founded the Xuchang County Hair Products General Factory with more than 30 fellow villagers, and later opened a company and founded the wig brand "Rebecca".
It is internationally renowned, has a large market in the United States and Africa, and has been successfully listed.
In recent years, competition in the wig industry has become increasingly fierce, and market expansion has hit a bottleneck. Zheng Youquan thought of using e-commerce channels, but the results were not very good.
This time 99 took the initiative to invite, it was like pie in the sky, he went to Beijing to visit in person.
…………
Yao Yuan bought four hotels from Wanda, and the one in Beijing was the first to be delivered.
The location is in the CBD Central Business District, adjacent to China World Trade Center, Soho Modern City, etc. It is an absolutely prime location. After buying it, the hotel immediately came in handy. The group has many business activities every month and there are too many people coming and going.
Zheng Youquan stayed here.
"Mr. Zheng!"
"Mr. Zheng!"
In the evening, he came to a private room, and everyone inside stood up to greet him. Zheng Youquan nodded. Even though he was nothing in the capital, he was a rich man, a representative of the National People's Congress, and very influential locally.
His net worth is more than 2 billion, which is about one percent of Yao Yuan's.
Zheng Youquan is the oldest, the others are middle-aged, some are young, and the youngest has just turned 30 years old. They are all the head companies of Xuchang wigs, and they are usually competitors, so they don’t dare to say anything here.
After waiting for a while, the door was opened, and Liu Weiwei walked in. Everyone was about to say hello, but when they saw another one coming in from behind, they were suddenly surprised and happy.
"Mr. Yao!"
"Mr. Yao! You have always been my entrepreneurial idol and I finally met you today!"
"I really didn't expect you to come in person, oh..."
"Okay, okay, you're welcome. Let's sit down and talk."
Yao Yuan pressed his hand and sat down first. Everyone took their seats one after another, and several eyes stared at him without blinking, as if they were listening to the holy teachings.
“This time we simply put it into bringing goods abroad.
Nowadays, live-streaming of goods is very popular in China, but since we have the Belt and Road Conference, we naturally have to respond to the call and send our high-quality products out.
It’s called trade when there is back and forth. If it’s unilateral, wouldn’t it be taken advantage of?”
"Hahaha!"
"That's what Mr. Yao said!"
What he said was not funny at all, but you have to obey in this situation. How dare you not laugh when your boss tells a joke? You have to laugh even if you scratch your crotch. You are not Yu Huanshui.
"We are selecting products across the country, and we have chosen you after a long selection. When Liu Weiwei handed me the plan, I was quite surprised, because I really don't know much about wigs, so I'd like to thank you all for your hard work and let's talk about it carefully.
chat."
"You're too kind!"
"We will be satisfied if we can see you once!"
They continued to flatter each other, but where should they start? Zheng Youquan is the oldest, so he should talk first.
I won’t go into details about the specific industry development. To put it simply, wigs were first prosperous in Shandong. Firstly, there is a tradition left by German businessmen, and secondly, it is across the sea from South Korea.
Yes, just like persimmons, they are Korean.
They come to China to collect wigs, process them back, and sell them to Europe and the United States at high prices. However, domestic companies, relying on their strong involution capabilities, have already killed off the Koreans and occupied the largest share in the international market.
Xuchang is the leader among them.
There are 5,000 production workshops with more than 200,000 employees, and exports reached US$1 billion in 2016.
Rebecca's company alone employs 11,000 female workers, and its income is quite high.
"One of the problems we are facing now is insufficient resources."
Zheng Youquan said: "We used to be poor, and there were no women in the village who dyed their hair. Their hair was black and shiny, and it was the highest-end hair.
Not permed or dyed, pure natural, good quality wig, the cheapest one costs more than a thousand.
Later, it didn’t work anymore. More and more people dyed their hair, and the hair volume became less and less. We couldn’t get any good hair at home, so we had to go overseas to get it.”
“Where overseas?”
"India!"
Another person added: "It is no exaggeration to say that we Chinese people have the best hair. India is not nearly as good, but it is relatively good. They have a large population, the origin is easy to find, and the cost is low."
“Why is the cost low?”
"Well……"
Several people showed a hint of embarrassment at the same time, but still said: "Most Indians go to temples to perform an activity, which you can understand as 'sacrifice their hair to the gods.'
Those temples have specialized hair shaving services, where all the hair is shaved off, and then sold to Indian hair dealers, who then sell it to us. Although the hair has been resold, the overall cost is still relatively cheap."
"You mean, Indians don't even know that their hair is being sold?" Liu Weiwei said happily.
"Uh, yes, it can be understood that way."
"..."
Yao Yuan also heard it very interestingly. Wigs are so unpopular. Who else would know all these twists and turns if you don't make them?
“What is your current share?”
"Including Xuchang's wig industry, it accounts for 30% of the European and American markets, and more in Africa, where it accounts for 50%."
"Where's the profit?"
Everyone looked at each other, and Zheng Youquan said: "Our Rebecca revenue last year was 1 billion, and the profit was about 120 million. This is also the second problem I want to talk about. At present, the cost of cross-border logistics and overseas sales is relatively high, and the European and American markets
Expansion is slow.”
"..."
Yao Yuan was noncommittal, pondered for a while, and said: "Our mall has expanded overseas and established an international logistics system with warehousing in the United States and Europe.
Your wigs can be hung in the mall, and our logistics is absolutely fast and reasonable.
What I want to do is use TikTok promotion + shopping guide, consider it my personal test of the waters, and treat it as a friendly gift. Each of you will choose two products, and I will handle the marketing."
"Thank you, Mr. Yao!"
“Thank you so much!”
The few people were naturally grateful, so Yao Yuan asked them to toast a glass of wine and left without even eating the food, leaving Liu Weiwei to deal with it.
…
As he said, what comes and goes is called trade.
And TikTok is the best promotion platform.
In later generations, in addition to large items such as cars, electrical appliances, and coffins, many unexpected domestically produced small commodities have quietly captured overseas markets.
For example, there is a company in Ningbo that produces a kitchen grinder for grinding pepper and other spices for cooking Western food.
For such an inconspicuous gadget, millions of units are sold overseas every year, with sales of more than 20 million U.S. dollars, and one in every three American households is using their grinder.
While Yao Yuan is bringing in foreign products, he also wants to use TikTok to let domestic products go global.