In the previous article, we talked about the MRO market overview and potential business opportunities for Chinese sellers. Now let's take a look at the Industrial Consumables (Consumable MRO) selection guide for you in detail. If you want to expand the industrial consumables market at Amazon Business's major sites around the world, how to select products is critical!In addition to this, we will also provide you with a profit analysis of recommended products and product compliance considerations for different regions. Without further ado, we immediately delivered a full range of dry goods.

The industrial consumables category includes labor protection, cleaning supplies, test and measurement, adhesives, manual & power tools, and commercial lighting. In this article, we'll focus on labor protection, cleaning supplies, and test measurements.

Labor protection equipment is a product or equipment equipped to ensure production safety and protect workers from work injuries or illnesses that may occur in different working environments or when carrying out dangerous operations. Therefore, it is mainly divided into two categories: personal protection and workplace safety protection.

Among them, personal protection can also be classified according to the object of protection, that is, different parts of the human body, including: facial protection, eye protection, head protection, full body protection, foot protection, hand protection, hearing protection, respiratory protection, etc.;
Workplace safety protection, on the other hand, includes environmental monitoring, safety alerts, workplace protection, emergency escape, and equipment protection.

In 2018, the global labor protection market was worth US$46 billion; it is estimated that the global personal protective equipment market will grow at a rate of 7% and reach US$65 billion by 2023. (Data source: BEROE) Factors such as industrial development, improved government regulations, and increased workers' health and legal awareness will all drive the increase in demand for personal protective equipment. In the US, for example, OSHA (US Occupational Safety and Health Administration) issues common sense standard requirements to prevent employers from putting workers in risky environments. Therefore, employers must purchase safety protective equipment in accordance with laws and regulations to protect the safety of employees, which also makes the sales growth rate in this category very impressive.

The industrial scale of labor protection products in China is huge, and a series of industrial agglomeration areas have been formed. Beijing has a large number of safety hat manufacturers, while Shanghai and Zhejiang have brought together a large number of manufacturers of safety shoes, protective gloves, hard hats, and masks. Guangdong Province has a strong foundation in the protective gloves, safety helmet, and mask industry. The quality of China's labor protection products has been recognized by the international market, and the output and export volume of some products rank among the highest in the world.

Due to the high degree of standardization of performance parameters, materials, and processes of labor protection products, such products are one of the most mature industrial categories on Amazon. On the other hand, the possibility of Chinese sellers succeeding in leading products has been verified by high-quality sellers recruited by Amazon Business, and excellent online growth indicates that more sellers will stand out.

Take Amazon's US site as an example. Safety earmuffs, flashlights, protective glasses, and nitrile gloves are all typical popular products. Business buyers in various industries, especially schools, manufacturing, construction, and government agencies frequently purchase labor protection products.

Compared with traditional offline channels, sales of labor protection products on Amazon have maintained a compound annual growth rate of several times. At the same time, stable demand also ensures that it is a category worthy of in-depth exploration and continuous investment by Chinese sellers. Combining current size, growth trends, and fierce competition, we have focused on the following products: welder masks, safety warning road cones, protective shoe covers, safety reflectors, protective reflective jackets, and safety knee pads.

In addition to volume, trends, and competition, reference profit margins are also aspects that Chinese sellers are concerned about. Take safety warning road cones as an example. Under the premise of the same material and specifications, the reference purchase price for Chinese sellers is only 2-3 US dollars/piece; on the other hand, the reference terminal sales price for a traditional retailer in the US is 40-50 US dollars/piece. This is an important reason why these products are highly favored by business buyers on Amazon.

Since most labor protection products are “consumables” and have a short service life cycle, it is recommended that sellers sell in multi-piece sets at the time of sale, which can also reduce the proportion of the cost of FBA delivery fees accordingly.

In order to ensure the quality and safety of labor protection products sold, governments and regulators around the world have introduced numerous certification standards and entry systems. Compliance certification has become a general trend in the upgrading of the labor protection products industry, and it is also the foundation for brand building.

Cleaning products are one of the most widely used categories. Whether they are corporate buyers such as the government, medical institutions, schools, manufacturing industries, etc., or households and individuals, they are users of this category. The sub-categories of cleaning products include: cleaning tools, cleaning equipment, industrial wipes, garbage disposal and cleaning products. Carpet cleaners, mops, dryers, trash cans, hand sanitizers, etc. are typical products for cleaning products.

For European and American countries where health awareness is popular, whether in public places or office areas, they will maintain high standards of environmental cleaning and disinfection. In the past five years, in the US, for example, the wholesale supply and wholesale industry of industrial cleaning equipment grew by 3.6%, reaching $29 billion in revenue in 2019 (data source: IBISWorld). Cleaning products are a category closely related to the prosperity of the commercial economy, so the US market also continued to grow after falling in 2008, and is expected to reach the highest sales peak in the cleaning products industry in 2019.

China's cleaning products industry is huge. Compared with labor protection products, the distribution of industrial belts is scattered. Zhejiang Jinhua (Yongkang) and Hebei Bazhou both have cleaning tools and cleaning equipment industry belts based on plastic products. In addition, small household cleaning appliances also have corresponding industrial belts in Cixi, Ningbo.

Take Amazon's US site as an example. The cleaning products category is the largest subcategory under the industrial, commercial, and scientific research categories. Almost all institutional customers of Amazon Business, whether they are the government, hospitals, schools, or enterprises and factories, have procurement needs for cleaning products. However, the demand for cleaning products varies from industry to industry. For example, construction contractors mainly need cleaners for floors, carpets, toilets, window panes, and furniture. Overall, tissues, hand sanitizer, trash cans, and stand-up vacuum cleaners are typical hot sellers on Amazon. Products that are purchased more by corporate buyers at one time also include garbage bags, special laboratory cleaning supplies, and commercial toilet infant changing tables. As a category that is absolutely in demand, cleaning products companies will usher in better development prospects if they have the ability to independently design and develop.

Product recommendations for Chinese sellers

Judging from product compliance, there are no mandatory requirements or design standards for cleaning products, but such products have a large number of patent restrictions in the US (for example: Rubbermaid has hundreds of patents in the US cleaning products market), so sellers are advised to do a patent investigation before going online. On Amazon, sales of such products are currently dominated by well-known self-operated brands, but there is no shortage of products suitable for Chinese sellers to participate, such as commercial non-slip rubber mats, disposable sticky foot pads, toilet paper holders, rubber cleaning brushes, trash clips, and liquid soap dispensers.

The sales profits of the above six products are also quite impressive. Among them, take disposable sticky foot pads as an example. Under the premise of the same materials and specifications, the reference purchase price for a single sticky foot pad by Chinese sellers is 1.5-2 US dollars; on the other hand, if a corporate buyer purchases this product through traditional offline channels and trading methods, it is basically 40-50 US dollars when referring to the price of a traditional retailer in the US. This type of product also has no obvious brand loyalty due to this price factor, so it is suitable for transformation to online sales.

In addition, cleaning products are also typical consumables, so after joining Amazon Business, you can try participating in wholesale stores and sell them in multi-piece sets, which is also a typical procurement method for corporate buyers.

As environmental awareness has increased, whether the product is environmentally friendly has also begun to influence the purchasing decisions of many corporate buyers, so sellers are advised to understand environmental protection laws in different regions when selling. For example, in the US market, it is necessary to know in advance whether the relevant products are subject to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or other environmental related certifications.

Test and measuring instruments are instruments or equipment used to detect, measure, observe, and calculate various physical quantities, material components, physical properties, etc. It is mainly divided into measuring tools, engineering surveying and mapping, physical testing, thermal instruments, environmental water quality, electronic and electrical engineering, and weighing. Among these, horizontal scales, push-pull force meters, pressure gauges, electronic bench scales, etc. are typical products for measuring and testing supplies.

The global market for test and measurement equipment is huge. Applications include automotive, aerospace and defense, electronics and semiconductors, industry, education, information technology and telecommunications, and healthcare. According to forecasts by Markets and Markets, the global measurement and testing instruments market will maintain a compound growth rate of 3.55% from 2017 to 2023, reaching US$32.3 billion by 2024. (Data source: International market research agency Markets and Markets)

United States
With a well-developed information industry, a high level of industrial technology and a large population, it is the most important market for measurement and testing instruments. In 2016, it occupied 47% of the global market share.

Europe
It has a rich industrial heritage and focuses on environmental protection and quality monitoring. It is the second largest market for measurement and testing instruments, accounting for 28% of the global market share in 2016.

Asia Pacific
The population is large, the manufacturing industry is developing rapidly, and the demand for infrastructure construction is strong. In 2016, it occupied 19% of the global market share.

From the supply side, China has become the second largest instrument manufacturer in the world. From January to December 2017, China's instrumentation industry completed a total export delivery value of 134.774 billion yuan, and instrumentation products were exported to many countries such as Europe and the United States. Moreover, instrument companies have also continued to grow, “going overseas” to acquire foreign instrument companies one after another. (Data source: China Instrument Network)

The industrial belt of test and measuring instruments, especially charged test instruments, is mainly concentrated in Guangdong and Zhejiang. Representative products such as oscilloscopes, multimeters, clamp meters, etc.; the industrial belt of measuring tools and engineering surveying and mapping instruments is mainly concentrated in Zhejiang Jinhua (Yongkang) and Jiangsu regions, representing products such as calipers, gauges, micrometers, etc.

The test and measurement categories on Amazon are highly compatible with the recovery and growth of the entire major industry. It has entered a period of rapid growth, and third-party sellers account for more than half. The main corporate buyers come from the automobile, construction industry, medical research institutions, and manufacturing. More and more Chinese measuring instrument companies are gaining access to overseas markets at a faster rate through Amazon Business, thereby obtaining capital to continue improving their products, continuously improving their brand strength, and winning more purchase orders.

Test and measurement devices are used at different stages of the product development lifecycle and are therefore increasingly used in the industrial manufacturing industry. In addition, engineering surveying and mapping in the construction industry is also a typical application scenario for this category. Many aspects of the construction process at construction sites require testing instruments such as laser levels, level scales, and thickness gauges for calibration and measurement. Looking at it now, take Amazon's US site as an example. The customer unit price for popular tests and measurements is relatively low, and professional attributes for industrial applications are not obvious; they also include digital multimeters, tape measures, etc.

Testing and measuring instruments have outstanding growth potential on Amazon, and the continuous enrichment of product selections has encouraged more buyers to complete online purchases on Amazon. In recent years, we have also seen the rapid rise of some Chinese brands in this category. They are closer to consumers through cross-border e-commerce to quickly obtain product feedback, continuously optimize products, and gradually be recognized by overseas buyers, so the test and measurement category is very worthy of the attention of Chinese sellers. In addition to the top products listed above, we have also selected products such as digital industrial borescopes, digital outer diameter micrometers, wire finders, adjustable DC power supplies, multi-function wall detectors, infrared thermal imagers, and electromagnetic field meters for your reference.

Compared with other MRO consumables products, test and measurement products have a certain technical threshold, and market competition has not reached a very intense level, so sales profits are also more attractive than other products.
Take the wire finder shown in the picture as an example. The reference purchase price for a Chinese seller is 6-8 US dollars; on the other hand, a traditional retailer in the US has a reference sales price of 50-60 US dollars for this wire finder terminal. If a Chinese seller sells this type of product as a close source of supply, I believe it will be favored by corporate buyers and obtain good profit margins.

Test and measurement products need to obtain relevant certification in many regions, so sellers need to understand what certification requirements are required in their market before launching test and measurement products.