Source: CBM Weibao

In order to understand the impact of novel coronavirus outbreak on baby and maternity enterprises, on 5th Feb., a survey was conducted by CBM Weibao in the major communities of CBME and the official WeChat public account. We collected 518 questionnaires only one day. In spite of limited samples, the data reflects the real situation of the current industry status to a certain extent.

We appreciate all the practitioners who participated in the questionnaire. Your feedback may help us to understand the impact of the 2019-nCoV on CBM industry more comprehensively and objectively.

1.Position of Interviewees

60.2% of the interviewees in the baby and maternity industry who participated in the survey were boss or leaders, and 27.8% were enterprise managers. As leaders of enterprises, they have clearer understanding of their own internal business, which ensures the objectivity and authenticity of the survey data.

2.Type of Interviewed Enterprises

This survey covers all parties in the chain of CBM industry. Among them, brands account for 31.25%, retailers 35.54% and agents 22.78%. Among the brands participating in the survey, the brands of washing and nursing products and toys accounted for 19.12%, infant food accounted for 17.56%, and sanitary and nursing products accounted for 14.71%.

3. Impact of the 2019-nCoV on Enterprises

The survey found that 55.60% of the interviewed enterprises were affected by the 2019-nCoV and underperformance, but they were still able to cope with it; 19.69% of the enterprises believed that the current epidemic had little impact on the development of the company, and their performance was the same as that of the same period last year; 13.90% of the enterprises had increased the market demand and sales during the 2019-nCoV. Further observation of the data shows that the enterprises with increased sales are mostly agents and retailers.

4. Difficulties Faced by Enterprises at Present

The survey found that the biggest difficulty that enterprises are facing presently is the cash flow problem, accounting for 54.07%, followed by the mood stability problems of employees, accounting for 42.44%, and the third one is the overstock of inventory and the risk of falling prices, accounting for 40.69%.

In addition, for stores, affected by the 2019-nCoV, stores are unable to normally operate, and the decline of consumers is also a realistic problem. The direct difficulty faced by brand owners and manufactures is that their employees are not in place and cannot carry out production. Of course, under the 2019-nCoV, the mentality of the CBM industry is also worthy of attention, with 14.53% of the interviewees may be in a mental state of collapse at present.

5. Measures at Present

Face to the Novel Coronavirus outbreak, 69.2% of them have not found effective measures and solutions. However, it is gratifying that 30.8% of the operators have found some ways to minimize the impact of the epidemic, and even to achieve sales growth during the epidemic.

6. Post Epidemic Strategy

Although many CBM enterprises are currently constrained by the Novel Coronavirus outbreak, 56.7% of the interviewed enterprises are thinking about their business strategies after the epidemic. And19.7% of the interviewees have found operation direction for the future. However, 23.2% of the interviewees hope to survive this period and didn’t think about the future development of the enterprise right now.

7. The Impact of the Epidemic on Business Income

As for the impact of the 2019-nCoV on the revenue of enterprises in 2020, 28.19% of the interviewees said that it is impossible to estimate at present, 17.76% of the interviewees predicted that the revenue will decline by more than 20% this year, and 14.67% of the operators thought that the revenue will rise.

According to the editor, for the enterprises whose performance declines and influence degree cannot be estimated, the development of them in 2020 is still worth looking forward to. After all, only a month has passed in 2020, and the government's measures also show its determination to overcome the epidemic as soon as possible. Of course, the reduction of losses also requires efforts and wisdom of the enterprises themselves.

8. The Impact of the Epidemic on the Industry

How will 2019-nCoV affect the development of CBM industry? 45.56% of the interviewees think that it will have some impact in the short term but will not change the long-term development of the industry. 40.15% of the operators believe that it will change the development pattern of the industry, and there will be a round of reshuffling of the industry, while 12.74% of the operators believe that they still need time to find out.

Many CBM enterprises are unprepared to the sudden outbreak of 2019-nCoV. It seems that we didn't expect the outbreak to come so fierce and last so long. We found that different types of CBM enterprises are in different situations.

For manufacturers and brand owners, they are faced with the shortage of raw materials, the inability of factories to start, and the inability of products to be transported due to the impact of logistics. These problems have a direct impact on the revenue of enterprises in the early 2020. In addition, while the income is affected, the various costs of these enterprises are still increasing, such as rent, social security, employee wages and so on. This is also why in the survey, a lot of brand owners said that the company's performance is declining at present.

On the other hand, the epidemic has also improved the revenue of some enterprises, most of which are channel business owners. In fact, we know that behind the improvement of performance, these enterprises are under great pressure. In a time of personal danger, many CBM stores are still insisting on opening stores and providing door-to-door service for consumers, but this also means that they expose themselves and their employees in danger place. Some channel providers told the CBM Weibao that during the epidemic period, no money to make at the beginning, but not to live up to the expectations of consumers. Many products sold in the store are just-in-need for the CBM consumers.

Under this situation, people working in CBM industry show different professional qualities. Some people are actively looking for a way out, while the others are only in depression; some people are thinking about business strategy after the epidemic, while the others are only focusing on the immediate difficulties. Quoting a paragraph from Mr. Shen Yuqing's saying in CBME retail group, I would like to share with you: business is like a marathon, business managers should have a long-term vision, it's just like playing "Go", take one step, pay attention to three steps, and predict ten steps.

In general, the impact of the epidemic on the CBM industry is not as serious at first thought. According to the survey, only about 10% of the enterprises are unable to survive, and most of them have the strength and confidence to survive the crisis.

Finally, all the friends in CBM industry affected by the epidemic, let's wait for a moment. Spring is coming.