■ Dongguan Huawang Toys Co., Ltd - exclusive producer of “Peppa Pig”stuffed toys, whose workers had been engaged in producing products immediately after the Spring Festival
On the the fifteenth day of the first month of lunar year, General Manager of Dongguan Huawang Toys Co., Ltd Zheng Huadong led over 120 staff to spend the Lantern Festival in the factory, which officially announced the start of the work after the holiday. In the past several months, about seven to eight container trucks left the factory every day, carrying the pink Peppa Pig toys to other places around the country.
“The goods for the first quarter of this year have been sold out in advance. Because of limited space, we have to redecorate the factory and make good use of every corner.” said Zheng Huadong. In 2018, Huawang produced 12 million toys for “Peppa Pig” series, creating the new record of production. Last year, Huawang successfully signed the second authorization agreement of Peppa Pig.
The goods for the first quarter have been sold out in advance
In the workshops of Huawang, every working embroidery machine and the sound made by the decoration workers beside awaken the Peppa Pig, the online celebrity around the world. According to the introduction by Zheng Huadong, every embroidery machine costs over 200,000 RMB. In order to produce the Peppa Pig toys, he bought over 3 million RMB of equipment at one time. Now the decoration is also for creating a better home for the Pig. “I have to prepare all things well for Peppa Pig.” said Zheng Huadong.
To meet the market demands during Spring Festival, Zheng Huadong had accelerated the production two months before the Festival. Though the goods were prepared in advance, the demands for the pink Pig from the market still went beyond Zheng’s expectation. “The goods for the first quarter this year have been sold out in advance, as well as the spare stock.”
Thanks to the movie Peppa Pig 2019 and advertising video What is Peppa Pig, the “online celebrity” Peppa Pig hit the public again. The sales volume of Huawang this January doubled compared with the same period of the previous year.
Zheng Huadong stated that currently the production orders of Huawang have been scheduled to May. Two factories in Yongzhou, Hunan and Qinzhou, Guangxi are now making great efforts to produce the goods. Last year, the company produced 12 million stuffed toys of Peppa Pig. The production volume is expected to double this year.
After the products get popular, all kinds of problems such as product quality could be caused easily. Zheng Huadong believes that the raw materials and technique are the keys to quality. In terms of raw materials, Huawang always cooperates with the suppliers through cash settlement. If not, then the hidden cost would be higher, which will be shifted to the quality of raw materials. For technique, the procedures like machine embroidery, silk screen, piece cutting, cotton filling and handwork are all supervised by Zheng Huadong.
The second authorization agreement was successfully signed
Back in 2014, Zheng Huadong spent four months to sign the agreement with the copyright owner of Peppa Pig, receiving the exclusive right to produce stuffed toys of Peppa Pig in China. After that, all Peppa Pig stuffed toys in Chinese market come from this company.
After getting the authorization, Zheng Huadong organized the R&D team to change the cartoon image of Peppa Pig into stuffed toy. Before long, water testing was conducted in the market.
There was a strong market reaction. Huawang continuously accumulated over a thousand customers, and they all wanted this Pig. To solve the problem of production capacity, Zheng Huadong also established a manufacturing supplier system in the country, outsourcing part of the manufacturing.
At the same time, Zheng Huadong also found that the largest markets for Peppa Pig came from the first-tier and second-tier cities. Because the land costs are high in these places, Zheng Huadong was so considerate that he helped the buyers solve the problems of warehousing, allocation of cargo, logistics. “If the customers say they want the goods in one week, then we deliver the goods in one week.” said Zheng Huadong, “This can only be realized in Dongguan, a place with complete industrial chain and facilities. Dongguan’s logistics facilities accelerate the products made in Dongguan to flow to other places in the country.”
Since then, the number of clients purchasing Peppa Pig from Huawang reaches several thousand. Huawang also has grown into an operator integrating design and development, manufacturing, sales and cargo allocation.
According to Zheng Huadong, Huawang just signed the second agreement for exclusive authorization (2019-2021) with the copyright owner of the animation Peppa Pig. “The authorization fee goes up compared with the first time. But it is still cost-effective in line with the authorization situation in the previous three years.” said Zheng Huadong.
Words from entrepreneur
Improve the strength of company with the support of IP
How long will Peppa Pig be popular in the market? Zheng Huadong always considers that what will be left after Peppa Pig leaves.
Before getting the authorization of Peppa Pig, Huawang is just an unknown toys manufacturer in Dongguan. Rooted in Dongguan for a dozen years, the orders received by Huawang were also fragmented. “We received the orders regardless of the volume, and our bargaining power was at the average level.” said Zheng Huadong.
“After running the Peppa Pig project, we have learned a lot, which also brings much intangible fortune to the company.” said Zheng Huadong. Peppa Pig enables Huawang to accumulate a batch of stable customers, and form its R&D, sales, logistics and technology teams, which lays solid foundation for the transformation of Huawang.
Zheng Huadong told the journalist that Huawang prepares to launch over 10 kinds of new products this year. These products are all designed by the designers of the company, and will be promoted to the national markets through thousands of existing clients of Huawang. “Many clients have over one thousand physical shops, so we are confident that our production volume will be doubled this year.” said Zheng Huadong.
He believes that today we are in the era where the product is the core, the channel and IP are the support, so the company can develop based on IP authorization. Zheng Huadong said, it is necessary to understand the identity of IP and its prospect before choosing every IP to produce every kind of product. “No one knows what will be like after 100 years. But in the next twenty years, the channel will be still powerful and dominant. Good IP and product cannot score a success without good channel. Because channel defines efficiency and price.” said Zheng Huadong.
For its unique vision in IP, Huawang has gained several popular IPs in recent years, such as Octonauts, Peter Rabbit, Care Bears. Besides, supported by channels and resources accumulated by Peppa Pig, Zheng Huadong is now cultivating other animation brands.
Source: timedg.com
