CORITON: From now on, No oil will be sold in Europe, but only Medical Carts

CORITON has been focusing on medical carts for more than 10 years. A large part of its sales in Europe is actually selling oil.

Europe is one of the world’s largest medical device markets. The market for medical carts is also huge. However, CORITON, which has been deeply involved in the medical cart industry for more than 10 years, who is a leader in China’s medical carts; So far, Europe’s market share is actually very small. Normally, a cart with a price of 100 Euros will be sold to agents in Europe for 300 to 500 Euros. It seems profitable, but considering that the air freight of each cart will cost 200 to 300 euros, a large part of the company's sales to customers is actually freight, which is oil. This has also led to the fact that although the quality of the company's products has been close to that of European products, and the ex-factory price has a great advantage, after being shipped to Europe, the price has no advantage, and it is even more expensive than local European manufacturers.

This problem has plagued Golden GUO, the general manager of CORITON for many years. During this period, he has been hoping to find a large European agent to help stock up in Europe, reduce logistics costs, and open up the European market. But the reality is cruel. Compared with traditional medical equipment, the overall market size of medical carts is still small, and the purchase volume of each customer is not large. Moreover, most of the carts purchased by customers are used for their own medical equipment, and they are not interested in developing carts as an independent business. It is precisely because most customers have small purchases that no one wants to ship them by sea. They generally choose to ship by air with the medical equipment. This results in high freight costs, and it is even better to directly purchase locally in Europe.

In November 2019, Golden GUO, general manager of CORITON, who participated in MEDICA in Germany, recalled the situation of each German exhibition and said to the overseas sales team, "Every time at MEDICA, our booth is crowded with people. Europeans praise the cost-effectiveness of our products, I feel that there is a big order coming, but every time after returning to China, why these customers basically disappear without a trace, and only a few keep in touch? Where is the problem?"

This is indeed the case of CORITON, which has invested hopefully in Medica Germany for many years, has achieved the No. 1 market share in the export market of medical carts in China, but relative to the huge overseas market, overall overseas sales in European and American is still small. How to break the situation in overseas markets, especially the European market, has been a question Golden has been thinking about for many years. "If we can't find a suitable agent, let's start our own company in Europe, build a warehouse, and lower the freight!" In the end, Golden decided to take the most critical step to open up the European market, although he knew that the labor force in Europe is expensive and the regulations requirement is high ; But the huge European market gave him hope; as China’s first batch of veterans to go abroad to explore the medical device market and establish overseas offices, he also has the confidence to do well.

Golden is a vigorous and vigorous person, as well as an engineer-born person who can do his own work. Immediately after returning to China, he started to form a team and contact friends and resources in Europe. The company’s co-founder Samuel Lam and Marina Yang , the general manager of Bosen, a classmate who has been doing logistics in the Netherlands for many years, immediately started the preparations for the Dutch company. Soon to establish contact with the local foreign investment bureau, innovation center, law firm, and accounting firm. Although in 2020, the progress is very slow due to the severe impact of the new crown epidemic, Mr. Guo has not shaken his determination to establish a European company . "Even if it doesn't work, I have to pop a bubble first!" In the end, the company found Qi Hui, who had settled locally, joined as the general manager. He also rented an office and warehouse, opened a bank account, tax number, import and export. In August 2020, after more than 8 months, the registration of the Dutch company Umedwings Netherlands B.V. was finally completed.

On October 22, 2020, the first batch of products from 6 manufacturers jointly by Umedwings, including ventilators, monitors, infusion pumps, laryngoscopes, and CORITON carts, went to warehouse smoothly after paying Dutch value-added tax and customs duties. Golden happily said to the international sales team, “From now on, CORITON will not sell oil in Europe, and it will really start selling medical carts!” The original air freight cost between US$200 and US$300 was changed to bulk shipment by sea. It only takes about US$20.

After getting to know Umedwings, several friends of Golden said to him, "We also want to establish a showroom and warehouse in Europe to open up the European market, and see if we can use your company to help?" Golden suddenly realized, "Yes. Ah, why not share this with the company to help you explore the European market? Our own problem is actually a problem of many small medical device companies. Together, we can not only save overseas office costs, but also share customer resources with each others to develop the market quickly.” Therefore, the concept of sharing the European office is clearly on paper. Together, everyone uses the shared office to build a shared showroom, a shared warehouse, and a shared after-sales service to open up the European market together! Through the shared showroom, the products are placed at the door of European customers, and they are displayed for 365 days to open up customers; through the shared warehouse, the products of multiple manufacturers are concentrated and shipped by sea to save freight; and the shared after-sales service solves customers' worries.