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Bringing anti-radiation clothing to future mothers
By Zhao Tingting (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2008-09-11 13:58

New sales channels

Due to limited start-up capital, Xu first chose the emerging e-commerce channel instead of traditional sales channels of department stores or direct-selling shops.

"I found the turnover of e-commerce websites, such as eachnet.com was fairly high. I think publicizing Tianxiang on the Internet will be faster than traditional advertising means and cost less", Xu said. Tianxiang has 41,327 e-commerce outlets so far.

And as well, she invited European suit-dress teams to design Tianxiang clothing in accordance with market research results and fashions. Fashionable and colorful Tianxiang soon won customers' recognition.

After opening the market, Xu begun to contact dealers, entering into department stores and establishing direct-selling shops. And two years ago, she began to cooperate with M18 and TVSN, two mail order operators to broaden Tianxiang's sales channels. Tianxiang has become a supplier to 5,017 terminal online dealers and over 10 category direct-selling dealers.

Extending production lines

The product cost of Chinese garment companies rose 15 percent in average in the first half of this year, the labor cost 30 percent, and the material cost 9 percent, according to the China National Garment Association.

Higher costs and marketing expenditure and fiercer competition in the anti-radiation clothing market leaves Tianxiang with thinner margins, Xu said.

In order to offset the pressure of higher materials, the company intended to merge a tinsel supplier and also upgrade its products to reduce costs.

Meanwhile, Tianxiang brand has been extended from pregnant women's clothing, creating new products such as anti-radiation underwears for future fathers, clothing for children and suits for white-collars.

Anti-radiation underwears for future fathers have become a new profit growth point for the company as their monthly turnover grows by more than 20 percent.

Xu and her employees are confident about their business as they believe that all computer users are potential consumers of anti-radiation clothing.


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