Donghai crystal sees online sales boom in post-pandemic era

CGTN | 31-Oct-2021

Crystal from Donghai County in east China’s Jiangsu Province has seen an online sales boom, as the county has been reaping the dividends brought by the vigorous development of live streams and cross-border e-commerce in the post-pandemic era.

In the January-August period, the county’s crystal has achieved online retail sales of 12.6 billion yuan ($1.97 billion), a year-on-year increase of 40 percent, according to data from the local government. Last year, the county’s crystal registered online sales of nearly 2.1 billion euros, while Austrian crystal accessories brand Swarovski was reported to see annual sales plunging by over 33 percent to 2 billion euros at its 125th anniversary.

That was totally different in 2012, when annual sales revenue of the company was 3 billion euros, while the sales revenue of Donghai crystal was just about 650 million euros. Hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, the crystal maker was also reported to lay off 6,000 employees and close 3,000 boutiques.

However, with COVID-19 disrupting traditional sales channels, the crystal industry in Donghai County is reaching more buyers via alternative ways of live streams and cross-border e-commerce platforms. Unlike the pictures for crystals that may be taken in a distorted way and cause buyers’ distrust, “the crystal’s gloss, fullness and its three-dimensional craftsmanship can be seen very clearly in all aspects” via live streams, said 29-year-old Sha Chao, an entrepreneur in the county. “Even if consumers have paid, they can return the product and get refund for no reason within seven days of receiving the parcel, just like a face-to-face transaction, which is very real,” said Sha.

Domestic platforms such as Taobao, Douyin and Kuaishou have all opened live streaming bases in the county. As more and more live streamers rush to the domestic platforms and having millions of fans, many have turned their attention to cross-border platforms with lower promotion costs and stronger consumption power of foreign buyers, according to Li Zishuai from Donghai County, who has run cross-border live streaming accounts with thousands of fans. “We have successively promoted in Malaysia and Singapore. Now, there are increasing people doing cross-border e-commerce live streaming, and we have moved to the European and American markets,” said Li.

The county, which is home to 3,000 crystal-processing factories with nearly 300,000 employees, opened a crystal cross-border e-commerce trading center in October 2019. Everyday at the center, about 100 live streamers host shows to introduce crystal products to buys from around the globe.

Feng Fei, deputy manager of the trading center, said the center organizes regular lectures about live streaming on social media platforms like Facebook. “We tell them how to manage the Facebook accounts, how to attract followers, and how to prevent their accounts being blocked.” Now, the county has about 73,000 online crystal stores, with products exported to Japan, Australia, countries in Europe, and the U.S., according to the local government.

The Chinese Crystal Arts and Crafts Mall in the county also sells to overseas markets. It now imports more than 1,000 metric tonnes of raw crystal from Brazil, South Africa, Madagascar and Russia every year, and exports the processed products to more than 30 countries and regions.

Famed as the country’s “Crystal County,” Donghai County has about 300,000 tonnes of crystal reserves, accounting for 70 percent of the country’s total crystal reserves. “Not only do we have the largest quantity of crystal but also the best quality,” said Chen Lin, president of the Donghai Crystal Research Association. “The crystal in Donghai has the highest purity. More than 99.99 percent of its content is silicon.” Although the local crystal reserves have long been restricted from mining, crystals from Brazil, Uruguay, Madagascar and other countries have been arriving in the county, making it China’s largest crystal market and the world’s crystal distribution center.