Ningbo Consinee: Building a Strong Business, One Order at a Time
Success often comes from being a recognized expert in your field. For Ningbo Consinee, narrowing their focus has enabled them to develop this expertise. “Unlike other yarn manufacturers, we are very focused. We have fewer products, we carefully design and develop each one, making sure they are special and offer good value to our customers,”said Boris Xue, Chairman.
Founded is 2000, Ningbo Consinee grew from a small mill into one of China’s strongestfancy yarn suppliers. The company’s superior quality and leading edge innovation has helped them win orders from international luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton, Prada, Armani, Salvatore Ferragamo, Ermenegildo Zegna and others.
“By paying attention to the nuances of the raw materials we can produce the best products."
Smaller but Better
Positioned as a high-end fancy yarn supplier, Consinee is very careful about which customer they work with. “Many companies want to sell in big volume. We don’t. We want to work with professionals,” Mr. Xue explained.
“We focus on working with high-end companies, many of whom are not very big, but they have worked in this industry for many years and they are the leaders in their fields. They have a good sense of what’s good and bad. They are dedicated to bringing good products to the market,” he said. “Those are the companies we want to work and grow with.”
Management makes the Difference
Consinee has more than 3000 customers globally. It can be very complicated managingproduction for this many different clients,” said Mr. Xue. To boost efficiency, the company has invested heavily in implementing the latest information management systems.
In Consinee’s state-of-the-art factory in Ningbo, each different yarn is given an RFID tag. “We trace every process. Then we just need to scan the code and we know which yarn it is and what [process] has been done. Many companies don’t bother to do this. However, with so many clients that placing small orders, this system is extremely important for us,” he explained.
“We now know much more about the world market through being at SPINEXPO and we’ve been able to present our products to key buyers in the U.S."
Good Materials are the Foundation of Good Products
“By paying attention to the nuances of the raw materials we can produce the best products,” said Mr. Xue. His company uses mainly high quality wool or cashmere from China. “For example, different wools have different viscosity. This reflects on the products by giving them different hand feels.”
To ensure a stable supply of good quality raw materials, Consinee works with farms in the Northern part of China. In recentl years, the company started to invest in a farm so that it could have direct control over its raw materials. “Good raw materials are the foundation of good products. This is something too important to overlook,” said Mr. Xue.
“To help our customers, we take the responsibility to control price fluctuations of raw materials. We buy and stock the raw material in advance in order to leverage volume prices, settle our account in Euro and U.S. dollars and lock in the exchange rate in advance. It is a very hard business with so many uncertainties. However, we want to offer our customer a consist price,” said Mr. Xue. Consinee’s efforts paid have off as the company is able to control the price fluctuation within ±1.5% throughout the year.
Good Product, Good Marketing
Consinee is also very proactive in terms of marketing. One of their strategies is to participate in high-end trade fairs in order to reach out to key buyers. Their favorite is Spinexpo, where they have had a strong presence for several years.
“I think Spinexpo New York Show provides a good platform for “MADE IN CHINA” yarns to enter into the world’s largest market. We now know much more about the world market through being at Spinexpo and we’ve been able to present our products to key buyers in the U.S.,”said Mr. Xue.
“Don’t look down on small orders. When all those small orders add up, they become a big order. That’s how we’ve built up a good business,” he advised, “one small order at a time.”
