Every morning at five o'clock, with the piercing sound of a "whooshing" towing, the tranquility on the road was broken, and the day of the thirteen lines in Guangzhou was awakened.
The owners of these trailers went to the thirteen lines to catch up.
Guangzhou Thirteen Lines was designated by the Qing government to specialize in foreign trade monopoly institutions, after more than 100 years of development, here has become one of the well-known clothing trade markets in the country, and Hangzhou Four Seasons Green Clothing Market divided up half of the clothing e-commerce.
As an important component of half a country, here are also its own operating rules:
Every morning at 5 or 6 o'clock, a large number of shops open, and businesses from all over the country with various accents come to "pick up the goods".
Stores open during this period do not do retail, and there are requirements for the amount of goods, such as "one hand" (qi code, 1 piece each), "package" (qi color qi code, 5 pieces each).
If there are too many goods, after selecting the style and paying the money, the store will open a "take list" to the buyer, on which there will be the location of the store (pick-up point), mark the style, the number of pieces, the number of yards, and then the buyer will go to the outside of the building to find a "doll (contractor, is the mover)", the other party will pick up the goods according to the above information, a package of 10 yuan.
Subsequently, these goods will be sold to different sellers throughout the country with orders, and gradually constitute a clothing trading empire of thirteen lines.
In this clothing empire, women's clothing is the most famous. When the "network batch" (network wholesale) was exuberant, countless Internet celebrities were looking for money here, selling on behalf of each other, and getting rich overnight by making women's money, and the stall rent rose with it, achieving a stall legend.
And today, the protagonist of our story is this group of women who support the thirteen lines and their rivers and lakes.
Text | Yang Jia
Edit | Outstanding
"The women here are not simple, rich, beautiful, capable."
Liu Qing gave her thumbs up, which was her view of the thirteen lines after 3 years of being a porter in the thirteen lines.
3 years ago, Liu Qing didn't think so. At that time, 41-year-old Liu Qinggang sent a pair of children to enter the university, from his hometown in Henan to guangzhou with her husband to work as a porter, carrying a bag of goods, you can earn 10 yuan, husband and wife can earn up to 300 yuan a day.
Figure | The "porter" who is responsible for moving out a large number of goods ordered by the customer carries a package of goods for 10 yuan
Although he has been bombarded with successful quotations that "women rely on themselves to be the queen", and often forwards many chicken soups that rely on their own souls, Liu Qing, who came out of the countryside of Henan, believes in his bones, "How can women be so strong if they want to run a family?" ”
Her incomprehension reached its peak when she first entered the New China Edifice.
New China Tower is the most famous office building in the "Thirteen Lines" area, consisting of 5 floors underground and 43 floors above ground, of which minus 2 to 3 floors are rented in the form of stalls, which is one of the most well-known women's clothing wholesale markets in China.
Figure | New China Building, one of the most famous buildings of the Thirteen Elements
"Well-known" is also faithfully reflected in the rent of the building.
According to the boss of the nearby street stalls, the most popular stall floor of the New China Building, the rent of more than 400,000 yuan a month, time is money is expounded to the fullest, the sentence "women as men, men as cattle" is reflected here.
Everywhere Liu Qingmu looked, it was a scene of "the women in the store had the final say, and the men squatted aside to play their hands": after the woman in the store opened the order, she turned her head and shouted, or entered a message on the mobile phone, and soon a man appeared with a plastic-wrapped dress, and there was no thanks and unnecessary language throughout the whole process.
Wang Hong, a porter who came a year earlier than Liu Qing, was not surprised, and she "enlightened" Liu Qing and said, "Others are different from us, people are big bosses, don't worry about us." ”
Then Wang Hong leaned on the flat burden and looked at the New China Mansion in front of him with envy and said, "If you can make a stall in it in the future, then the day will be better, as for men and not men, is that important?" ”
Figure | The crowd in front of the New China Building
Wang Hong likes the domineering of the women here.
Most of the people guarding the store are female bosses or women who have been working for many years, and they are familiar with the industry black language, "Boss, where to do it?" One hand or one package? ", three words to penetrate the bottom of the guest.
They will also generously pull their clothes out of the shelves, compare them on their bodies, confidently say, "My clothes are absolutely no problem", and even decisively refuse some "seemingly uneconomical" door-to-door business.
There are also some women with full bosses, who will take their clothes and say to the male clerk who comes to do part-time promotions, "If you can't sell out, you will deduct money", which also makes Wang Hong see the posture of a big woman for the first time.
Now 3 years later, Liu Qing, like the original Wang Hong, is not strange.
In these 3 years, with the rise of e-commerce and live broadcasting, the thirteen lines began a round of wealth-making activities.
Figure | In the crowded streets of the thirteen rows, porters are waiting for business
In this round of wealth-making activities, there is no shortage of myths about women getting rich.
For example, the boss lady who came from South Korea to be an Internet celebrity alone earns tens of millions of dollars a year; there are little sisters with poisonous eyes, repeat customers are endless, and they buy houses and cars in 3 years; there are also online shop owners, relying on here to get goods, opening several branches, and walking on thousands of packages of goods every day.
It was also in these 3 years that Liu Qing figured out the rules of the thirteen lines.
In the thirteen lines, all the shops are called stalls, most of the stalls are mainly engaged in women's clothing husband and wife shops, where you can plate a stall to make a fortune, 400,000 rent is only the most basic standard.
If you want to survive in this clothing wholesale market, you also need to have your own designer pickpocket (borrow the design to make an original version), and then go to the factory to produce, when you encounter a hot model, you also need to spend money to book a production line, which often requires tens of millions of funds.
If there is no money, in these myths of sudden wealth around women, they can only play a "supporting role" - or a little brother who squats in the store to deliver goods and packs, shuttles through the boss of the goods, the control staff on the floor, or the porter like himself.
These rules eventually converge into one sentence, "Here, it's hard to turn over without money." ”
Every year at the end of December, the 13-line clearance season is held.
In the past, the clothes that had to be taken with one hand, the whole batch, and at least the one would be marked with a very low price, and with 200 yuan, you could buy thousands of dollars of the same cotton clothes in the mall, and 100 yuan and 3 pairs of jeans were hung on the hanger to be randomly selected.
At this time, the little sister in the shop is no longer a lofty attitude.
They will take the hand clapping board, stand at the door of the store to recruit customers, and even shout, "sell when you see money", see hesitant customers, they will also get together to take the initiative to introduce, enthusiastically ask, "Take a piece of it, go?" ”
Figure | Holding a hand clap to attract the customer's little sister
Whenever this time comes, Liu Qing will find a time when he is not too busy, change into his clothes, go to the stall to pick and choose, and feel everyone's enthusiasm.
She likes to put her hands behind her back, walk around in front of the hanger, and after seeing the clothes she particularly likes, she asks her little sister in "black words", "How to take this one?" In the thirteen lines, the boss uses "take" instead of buying.
After waiting for the other party's offer, she made a judgment and decided to "bring or not to bring one piece". Then the little sister will pack the clothes and hand them to Liu Qing, before leaving the store, the little sister of the other stall will greet Liu Qing, "Come and see." ”
Liu Qing liked this feeling, and in other words, she would definitely not be able to get the warm hospitality of the little sister.
"The thirteen elements have a strict rank, and I am the lowest level," Liu Qing said, and Liu Qing's eyes looked at the densely packed porters outside the building.
These porters come from Henan, Sichuan and other places, with a cart can start work, after standing firm, they will bring a large number of male labor from their hometowns, and may replace Liu Qing, who relies on her husband to receive life at any time - as a woman, she is not popular in the team of porters with more men and fewer women.
Figure | Every day, the thirteen lines transport out thousands of tons of clothing
Therefore, Liu Qing often felt helpless, looking at the independent women in her eyes in the building and sighing, "They are all women, why is the difference so big?" ”
Liu Qing has also tried to think about the reasons for these differences.
She had observed the hands of the women in the stalls, some of which had thick keys and deep lines, and she recognized that those hands, like herself, had been working hard.
Liu Qing dropped out of school after graduating from elementary school and went to work along the coast with his relatives at the age of eighteen. She worked as a back cook, washed vegetables in the cold winter, her hands were soaked in cold water, and then cracked, leaving thick calluses, and later entered the factory, went home to take care of the housework with the children, and her hands were even rougher.
In the end, she concluded, "It was her bad birth that she didn't have that luck."
To some extent, Liu Qing's observations and guesses are correct.
Most of the people who do business in the thirteen lines are Chaoshan and Hubei people, most of whom were born in the countryside, went to the garment factory early, saved money and then took young people from their hometowns.
After more than ten years of development, it has formed a situation based on regional culture and intertwined, not only many stalls can transfer goods, but even kinship, and it is difficult for outsiders without doorways to integrate into it.
Yu Jie, who has been doing business in the thirteen lines for many years, shook her head, "The thirteen lines are so exaggerated to do business."
But her experience to some extent echoes the "nepotism" market - as a Chaoshan woman who "does not easily marry out", she married a Hubei man, whose family has laid several stalls in the thirteen lines, often transferring goods to low prices, and joining hands to squeeze out those newcomers who have no roots.
Figure | The low price at the time of clearance
Sister Yu thought for a moment, "Of course, it is not so easy to mix in the thirteen lines, and it is not enough to have money." ”
When Liu Qing did not understand the doorway of the thirteen lines, she also tried to "break the rules", she wanted to get closer to the thirteen lines and become a woman in the stall, but the attempt quickly failed.
Liu Qing, who is older, out of shape and has no connections, can only work as a porter with her husband, unable to meet the requirements of the stall's "skilled little sister (young woman who has been sold)", nor can she communicate with customers freely to find a sales job.
So Liu Qing decided to become a consumer and integrate into the thirteen lines. When she saw the young man who had come to pick up the goods, dressed in fashionable clothes, carrying large black plastic bags full of fashionable clothes, she also wanted to buy clothes for herself and her daughter, and for her, this was the fastest way to enter the thirteen lines.
She took advantage of the time to drag the goods, walked into the stall, chose a skirt for her daughter, "snow white, a lot of Internet celebrities to wear", the hand just touched it, and did not ask the price, the little sister who sold the goods at the stall said coldly, "No retail, 10 pieces to take", Liu Qing left with a red face.
Figure | The "little sister" of the thirteen lines always wears the latest and most fashionable clothes
Later, she heard from her friend that there was a building next door that could be retailed, so she looked for a day, changed into clean clothes, and walked into the building next door.
But the other party demanded, "can not reduce the price, a single piece of sales to add 20 yuan more, can not try on, first invoice and then take the goods, not allowed to return and exchange", a variety of conventional unspoken rules, let Liu Qing give up the plan to buy clothes, "In case it is not appropriate, is not a waste of money?" ”
In addition, the people in the mansion live in mansions, and they can only live in the urban village where they can't see the light during the day; the women in the mansion can order a takeaway, they can only eat the cheapest stir-fry, and even bring their own rice...
These differences made Liu Qing clearly feel that the thirteen lines were divided into a pyramid structure: he was a person at the bottom of the tower, working in the thirteen lines, but he did not belong here and could not enter here; while the tower body was a little sister, a merchant who came and went, and maintained the operation of the entire thirteen lines.
As for the spire, Liu Qing felt, "It should be those bosses." ”
The boss, Sister Yu, doesn't feel like she's a spire.
She has 3 stalls here, and the goods sent out every day have to be pulled by truck, but she still feels anxious, and her little money can't make a big wave in the thirteen lines.
In the thirteen rows, it was difficult to climb up, but it was easy to fall, so easy that as long as they closed the door for a few days, the high rent could crush them.
She leaned out and greeted the other stall owners, "How are you?" ”
The boss on the other side sat in the clothing pile to pack, and from time to time replied to the message on his mobile phone, "How much can I do?" It's not about working for a landlord. Sister Yu turned back, "See, the spire is the landlord, they are just sitting and waiting to collect money." ”
When Yu Jie first came to thirteen lines ten years ago, the rent of the stalls in the most famous New China Building was about 100,000, "But now? A little better is 300,000 a month, water and electricity are expensive, and every day after three o'clock in the afternoon, it has to close, there is no business. ”
Figure | At four o'clock in the afternoon, the first floor of the New China Building has been full of doors, and the monthly rent of a random stall in the building is 6 figures
High rents are just the tip of the iceberg.
"Do you know how many stalls there are in the thirteen lines?" The shopkeeper Li Wei asked rhetorically, saying that he stretched out his finger and drew a circle, "There are no less than 10 wholesale markets like the New China Building near here, adding up to more than 20,000 stalls..."
A large number of clothing wholesale markets and stalls, resulting in serious homogenization of clothing.
In order to avoid serious homogenization, many stalls have hired designers to make their own original models. These designers each need to produce 1 version per day that can be sent to the factory to barely maintain the speed of innovation in the store. Most of the sources of design inspiration are foreign originals, online pictures, and even peer stores.
"You make a new one in the morning, and in the afternoon the store next door can arrange production." Therefore, in many shops that focus on "original", there are notices on the walls that read "No entry is allowed to enter".
But originality does not solve the problem of thirteen lines.
The daily shipment of the entire thirteen lines is calculated in thousands of tons, the proportion of original is negligible, and the original input cost is huge, which needs to be plated, production lines, and many stalls sell the same clothes, and have to embark on the road of price war.
Figure | There are also many shops along the street
"Even sometimes, the profit of a piece of clothing is as low as 3 or 5 yuan", Li Wei broke her finger to calculate the account, the little sister in the store, the cost of raising designers, water and electricity bills, factory deposits... Spread evenly on clothes, a stall needs to sell thousands of clothes a day to cope with high operating costs.
In order to survive, many wholesale merchants have also begun to do retail and one piece of distribution, "otherwise what to do?" Can only wait for 'death'. ”
'Death' has a special meaning in the thirteen lines, that is, hoarding a lot of clothes, depleting cash flow, and closing stores, which means that there is no way to make a comeback.
Figure | Clearance at the end of the year is the "self-help" of stalls
In addition, the internet has also made it difficult to do business.
But the web soon changed from a booster to a sword. Online shopping has hit the space of offline physical stores, and the main force of purchase has gradually changed from the owner of the physical store to the online store, and these online stores with purchasing power directly cooperate with the factory, compressing the physical stall business of the thirteen lines that do not have their own factory resources.
Many stalls that rely on a batch (from the factory) to sell and do not accumulate too many old customers have to face a grim reality: they and the big anchors have become competitors, in order to take the goods, they have to cooperate with the live broadcast, in a way that reduces profits to supply the anchors, and provide after-sales service.
Many big anchors rely on the purchasing power of fans to directly open the form of "no hoarding" to sell clothes in thirteen lines, and press the profit of clothes to an unprecedented low, and then sell them at a high price.
However, on the e-commerce platform, the protection of consumers has made the thirteen lines of wholesale start-up and "no return and no replacement" face a huge blow - these clothes marked by the anchor at high prices, the cost of return is borne by the stalls.
"This is disrupting the market", Yu Jie quickly expressed understanding, "doing business, that's it, you don't supply the anchor, what if the anchor goes to another home, what do they do when they go to the factory?" ”
Rent, labor costs, homogenized competition, and the monopoly of network traffic make every boss in the thirteen lines feel confused.
"If you look at it from that angle, it's really like we're sitting on the spire, grinding our butts."
In 2021, the owners of many clothing stalls received a notice with a red seal, and from May 1, the stalls did not allow live broadcasting and broadcasting.
At a time when everything can be live and embrace live broadcasting, this notice has been supported by many wholesale bosses - live broadcasting has squeezed too much profit, and the sales channels traditionally established by relying on offline wholesale have been impacted, and they will inevitably slide down.
"If order is established, maybe business will come back?" Ling Ling, who is a little sister in the thirteen lines, said that she looks good and can wear, so she pushes money hard, but the income she got is not as good as more than 2 years before, but she does not want to leave the women's clothing industry.
"You know, women's money is easy to earn", Ling Ling pretended to be old," said Ling Ling, "The thirteen lines (Heping East Road, specializing in men's clothing) do not make money here, you see the women over there, wearing is not as fashionable as this side." ”
Figure | Men's clothing streets are overcrowded, but the price is significantly lower than that of women's clothing
Ling Ling also has the heart to try to be the anchor, she heard that there was a little sister who sold clothes like herself before, because she seized the opportunity to do live broadcasting, and now she has her own team, turned over as the boss and bought a building, and the in and out are luxury cars.
Everyone in the thirteen lines has heard or witnessed such a myth of fortune. Every woman in the thirteenth line has also fantasized that the next mythical protagonist can be herself, and the road to wealth freedom is crowded.
"Do you want to change places?" In this sentence, I asked many women in the thirteen lines, they may be little sisters, may be porters, may be bosses.
They sighed in unison, "Change? Where to go? Where can there be such a business as the thirteen lines? ”