(Yicai) March 29 -- At a time of sluggish sentiment in foreign trade, some of the most successful Chinese exporters rely on online tools to pick up trends abroad and secure demand to increase sales.

It is becoming key for merchants to design products based on Big Data provided by cross-border e-commerce marketplaces as well as popular topics on social media platforms overseas, Yicai learned from several sellers.

Inspired by social media trends, Juqiao Composite Technology shifted its focus to pickleball paddles in 2020 when the sport was relatively niche still, Chen Kangtao, general manager of the Xiamen-based firm, said to Yicai. The effect was direct as the company's export revenue surged by half last year from 2022, the GM added.

The demand for pickleball equipment has jumped in the US as the number of players expanded to 36 million as of early 2023 from 4.8 million in 2021, according to statistics from the USA Pickleball, a national pickleball organization.

However, the hype is slowly fading. Although orders for pickleball paddles have slightly declined this year compared with a year ago, Juqiao is not worried at all as the company has already started preparing for its next bet. Inquiries for padel rackets on e-commerce platforms have risen significantly this year, Chen revealed. 

Although total orders are down this quarter, Juqiao is confident about achieving its revenue target of around CNY70 million (USD9.69 million) for the whole year, thanks to two upcoming products, namely padel rackets and beach ball rackets, Chen said, adding that this means that export revenue could increase by around 40 percent again.

Yang Jing, a manager of CNMC, said to Yicai that the orders of the small mechanical equipment supplier surged by 50 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier. "We simply cannot keep up with the orders." The reason behind the big jump is a new product, a small forklift, that the Shandong province-based company started to offer this year. Before this, the firm's cash cows were small excavators and loaders, resulting in annual sales growth of around 50 percent in the past two years.

"We need to develop new products based on changes in market demand. Otherwise, we would be done once the excavator market becomes saturated," Yang explained.

Strategies in Developed and Emerging Markets    

Successful merchants are flexible and cater to the different needs of each market, especially taking the varied requirements of developed and emerging markets into consideration.

Clients in Europe and America are more willing to accept novel designs so Chuanhan Auto Accessories Manufacture usually brings its products to these markets first, said Wu Dongfang, operations director of the Henan province-based maker of external parts for pickup trucks. But once sales pick up and supply chain costs decrease, Chuanhan starts to introduce the products to emerging markets, including India and the Middle East, Wu added.

One of the big hit product categories is pickup truck tailgates. On Alibaba.Com, sales of such components that serve as the entrance to the truck bed jumped by more than 136 percent this month from a year ago, according to Wu.

Since European and American clients tend to be quality-conscious, and innovation-driven, but not so price-sensitive, Chuanhan offers them products with better materials and rich functionality, per Wu. Although these orders may not be big in volume, profit margins are generous.

Meanwhile, clients in emerging markets care more about the prices so Chuanhan brings them lower-priced products while expecting to sell more. Profit margins are often 5 percentage points lower in the Middle East and Indonesia than in Europe and the US but the total profit is "still considerable" due to larger sales volumes, the director said.

It is relatively difficult for newcomers to enter the automotive aftermarket in Europe and America due to the mature nature of these markets, Wu said, adding that the firm is focusing on emerging markets this year. By early February, Chuanhan already received several orders from clients in India, Indonesia, and the Middle East. Once the prices were negotiated, they placed orders promptly, she added.

Sports equipment maker Juqiao is preparing to gradually expand its export business to Europe, Australia, South America, and Southeast Asian markets, per Chen. So far pickleball is mostly popular in North America, padel in Europe, while customers in Latin America like to buy inflatable beach balls.

Moreover, since the demand for more environmentally friendly products has widened in European and American markets, Juqiao is developing rackets using recyclable basalt fibers, a type of cost-effective and strong material that can be seen in some bicycle wheels.

 "Next year, we plan to merge the production lines of different products into one, integrating them into a larger factory," Chen concluded.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Emmi Laine