Cangzhou Botou City and surrounding counties and districts have gathered hundreds of upstream and downstream enterprises of cold-rolled forming machines, forming a complete industrial chain including R&D design and production and manufacturing. Series report “Cross-border e-commerce acceleration” Today, let’s look at the leading cross-border business enterprise Cangzhou Zhongtuo Company relying on industrial clusters to build a centralized procurement center, saving time and effort for customers and taking a new path for cross-border e-commerce.
When the reporter was interviewing Zhongtuo Company, he happened to catch up with two foreign merchants who came to purchase. In less than half a day, the merchants paid the deposit and the two parties signed the contract smoothly.
Indian merchants: When we go to other factories, they show us catalogs, but we can’t see the real thing. Here we can see so many equipment, and there are many upstream and downstream products.
Not only can you buy equipment, but you can also buy upstream and downstream products, which is exactly what merchants value. The person in charge, Xu Lianxing, introduced that the cold-rolled forming equipment operated by the company is a machine that makes metal sheets into specific cross-section profiles, which is widely used in the construction field. Because of the high cost of products and the need for customization, unlike traditional cross-border e-commerce where buyers and sellers can trade without meeting each other, customers often have to come to the site to see the products.
Xu Lianxing, head of Cangzhou Zhongtuo Cold Forming Equipment Co., Ltd.:
When customers come to China to purchase, they not only purchase our machinery and equipment, but also purchase raw materials, finished products, and supporting products. They have to travel to various suppliers across the country. After finding the customer’s pain points, satisfying and solving the customer’s pain points is our selling point.
Botou City, where Zhongtuo is located, and the surrounding counties and districts have gathered hundreds of upstream and downstream companies of cold-formed forming equipment, forming a complete industrial chain including R&D design and production and manufacturing. Relying on this industrial cluster, Zhongtuo cooperated with companies on the chain to build a 6,000-square-meter centralized procurement center, where all of our products were unveiled together, saving customers the trouble of finding products.
Make the entire ecosystem of the product. We package all the purchased products and all the problems that customers have to face, one-stop procurement, one-stop supply, and one-stop solution.
Azerbaijani merchants: It is so convenient to buy things here. You can buy everything you want to buy, and all the problems you encounter can be solved.
We make money together and work together. Zhongtuo took the lead and further expanded its popularity and influence on the cross-border e-commerce platform. The benefits of relying on the industrial cluster are more than that. In 2023, Zhongtuo Company and Siemens signed an agreement to provide customers with remote assistance, intelligent maintenance and other services. In this process, Zhongtuo is responsible for the production of core control systems, and asks brother companies to produce other parts according to their respective advantages. This strong combination model also makes the products more competitive.
Zhongtuo partner Sun Liang: Zhongtuo has very high requirements for product quality, (which can) allow us to produce higher standard equipment and also make our company competitive in the market.
In 2024, Zhongtuo’s export sales reached more than 200 million. This year, they are ready to make new achievements in the field of cross-border e-commerce.
Xu Lianxing, head of Cangzhou Zhongtuo Cold Forming Equipment Co., Ltd.: We actively connect with some cross-border e-commerce foreign trade comprehensive service companies in Shandong and Shenzhen, bring them in, and continue to empower the development of our industrial belt.
Accurately find customer pain points, take the lead in building a centralized procurement center, and find ways to save customers time and effort. In this process, Zhongtuo “is not fighting alone”. The company focuses on using the “cooperation” thinking, relying on the “big tree” of the industrial cluster, and cooperating with other companies in the industrial chain to form an export model of upstream and downstream collaboration and rapid response to orders, so as to leverage and gather strength to create competitiveness in the field of cross-border e-commerce.