As imported brands such as ZARA, H&M, and GAP have entered China one after another, they have quickly captured the market of young people. Smith Barney and Semir have been defeated successively in the competition with these imported products, and have completely become third- and fourth-tier brands. However, after overseas street stores such as ZARA and GAP opened their doors to domestic supermarkets on a large scale, the prices are not friendly to young people.
Picture source network
However, the creative genes of domestic independent fast fashion brands have never been lost.
In fact, the domestic developed e-commerce system is also cultivating a new generation of Criticize the “back wave” of fast fashion brands. Last week, Taobao also announced the upgrade of its iFashion brand and the launch of the “IF” plan. In the next three years, relying on the “IF Plan”, Taobao will cultivate 100,000 new iFashion featured merchants.
The term “fast fashion” has pointed out this tonal clothing There are two characteristics that a brand must have: it must be produced quickly and it must be trendy. For example, the day after Jack Ma and Faye Wong sang on Mac, some merchants were selling T-shirts with lyrics sung by Jack Ma.
The current “fast fashion” is not only the unilateral design of merchants. , but also need to have a keen perception of the market. If there is any e-commerce platform that knows the C-side best, it must be Taobao, which started from C2C.
Now Taobao has become the only company in China that can carry China’s fast fashion The forward position of the banner.
1
The inevitable decline
The decline of Smith Barney and Semir is actually lamentable. For many people born in the 80s and 90s, if they wanted to become a “trendy” ten years ago, Smith Barney and Semir must have been the best choices.
For a long time, “not taking the usual path” and “wearing The two advertising slogans “whatever is what it is” have captured the minds of a large number of consumers. And these consumers are also the main group of current consumers. If they are sensitive enough to the market, Smith Barney and Semir should still have a great chance. At least, they will not have any room for resistance in the competition with the three foreign companies.
Semir’s latest semi-annual report shows that the number of offline stores nationwide decreased by 947 , net profit fell by 97%. It is no exaggeration to say that the epidemic accelerated Semir’s decline. Metersbonwe is not much better. The company’s half-year operating income showed 160 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 40.64%, and the net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company was close to negative 480 million yuan.
Picture source network
In fact, at that time, domestic The e-commerce world has been in turmoil. Taobao alone had average monthly transaction data exceeding 10 billion that year.
In 2012, Smith Barney ushered in its first Waterloo, and Smith Barney has opened 5220 offline stores. Since then, Smith Barney has been in decline while closing stores.
Picture source network
Whether it is Smith Barney, Semir, or the short-lived Vancl Eslite, in fact, decline is inevitable.
After the decline of Smith Barney and Semir, if we really want to say that there are any clothing that have successfully transformed Among enterprises, perhaps only Li Ning is worth mentioning. But after abandoning the label of a national sports brand, “Li-Ning, a national trend” has also become the choice of a small group of people.
In fact, in the era of information explosion, everyone has different hobbies. The information received is different, the circles are different, and the people with the same aesthetics are themselves a niche, which is the so-called “thousands of people, thousands of faces.” Under such a general background, the target group of a brand will not be too large. Therefore, it is almost impossible for current fast fashion brands to open large-scale stores.
This is also the reason why China’s fast fashion position has gradually moved online in recent years. After the transfer, the apparel industry has exceeded 2 trillion yuan, half of which comes from online, especially Taobao, which has become the forefront of trendy fast fashion.
If asset-heavy companies such as Smith Barney and Semir represent China’s fast fashion The 1.0 era and the 2.0 era must be led by small and medium-sized merchants on Taobao.
2
The forefront of fast fashion 2.0
In contrast, Taobao’s iFashion The 30,000 small and medium-sized merchants in the Clothing Trend Center launch 600,000 new products every month, with annual sales of� has been closed. The group has suspended the payment of rent for stores in North America and has revised the lease terms with the owners. The current monthly rent arrears reaches 115 million yuan (approximately HK$900 million). GAP said that since February, the company has evaporated approximately US$1 billion in cash and expects to have only approximately 750 million yuan in cash by the end of the financial quarter next week.
GAP’s situation in Hong Kong is not optimistic either. Starting from late July, it will gradually close 5 of its 8 branches in Hong Kong, including Hysan Mall. store, Tsim Sha Tsui flagship store, K11 MUSEA store, etc. Relevant stores have posted notices and launched final sales.
Uniqlo parent company’s net profit fell 42.9% in the first three quarters
Uniqlo, which is very popular among Hong Kong people, cannot escape the impact of the epidemic. Parent company Fast Retailing (6288) announced its results for the first three quarters as of the end of May this year. During the period, comprehensive revenue and operating profit were 1.54 trillion yen (approximately HK$111.6 billion) and 132.3 billion yen respectively, down 15.2% and 46.6% year-on-year respectively. , both fell. Profit attributable to owners of the parent company was 90.6 billion yuan (yen, the same below), down 42.9% year-on-year. Fast Retailing said it will revise downward its comprehensive performance forecast for fiscal year 2020.
For Japan’s Uniqlo, cumulative revenue in the first three quarters fell 14.6% year-on-year to 598.8 billion yuan, and profit fell 18.1% year-on-year to 79.1 billion yuan. In terms of overseas Uniqlo revenue, revenue in the first three quarters of the current fiscal year was 673.5 billion yuan, down 17.9% year-on-year, and operating profit fell 58.5% year-on-year to 51.8 billion yen. Although the overseas business recorded revenue declines and operating deficits in all regions, in the Greater China region where the epidemic is gradually easing, revenue and profit increased year-on-year in May. Coupled with the excellent performance of online stores in various regions, the pace of recovery is high. than expected.
Fashion brand Zara’s parent company and Spanish company Inditex announced its results for the three months ended at the end of April, with revenue during the period of 3.3 billion (euro, the same below). It fell 44% year-on-year; the net loss was 409 million yuan, compared with a profit of 734 million yuan in the same period last year. Inditex said Zara will close 1,000 to 1,200 physical stores in 2020 and 2021.
Inditex said it will invest 900 million euros per year in the next three years to accelerate its online business transformation strategy and focus on large branches, while planning to close smaller branches. . According to reports, the number of its closed stores will account for 13 to 16% of the total stores. The company also said that adjustments to its branch network and online business are expected to enable the company to achieve long-term sales growth of 4 to 6% annually.
The Chinese market has long exposed problems
Not only have been affected by the epidemic, in fact, since last year, Forever21, OldNavy, Superdry Many fast fashion brands have announced their withdrawal from the mainland and Hong Kong markets. Data shows that after the number of major fast fashion brands’ stores in China reached the peak of expansion in 2017, the situation took a turn for the worse in 2018. The top ten fast fashion brands opened 415 and 473 new stores in the mainland respectively in 2016 and 2017. The growth rate of new stores increased from 14% in 2017 to a sharp drop of 44% in 2018.
The epidemic is only a “trigger”, and there are already “hidden worries” in fast fashion in the mainland market. On the one hand, major fast fashion brands have focused on the demand for fast fashion among mainland young people. In recent years, they have flocked to the mainland market and expanded rapidly. Many brands have even regarded the mainland market as the core growth point of overseas markets. Mainland China accounts for a high proportion of revenue, which has led to market saturation and intensified competition within the industry, and the market elimination rate has also increased sharply.
On the other hand, the rapid development of the mainland’s e-commerce industry has impacted traditional offline sales. Brands that fail to adjust the mainland’s e-commerce sales model are facing elimination. At the same time, with the improvement of consumption power and the increasing demand for personal identification, mainland young people’s demand for fast fashion has shifted to requirements for quality and personality, and national fashion and affordable luxury brands have emerged.
In any case, the impact of the epidemic on fast fashion brands is also a reshuffle of the industry. Smaller brands may have difficulty in being eliminated. For leading fast fashion brands, this is a good opportunity to integrate stores and adjust strategies.
</p
