According to the “Financial Associated Press” report, affected by the epidemic, the textile and garment industry as a whole was under pressure in the first half of the year. For the second half of the year, “retaliatory consumption” became a “hot word” in discussions. In response to the consumption situation in the footwear and clothing industry, a reporter from Cailian News recently investigated five Fujian brand clothing stores located in Xiamen’s well-known department stores: Septwolves, Jiumuwang, Anta, 361 Degrees, and Xtep. They found that offline stores “shopping more and buying less”, store feedback The information is either “not as good as last year” or “worse than in June”, and rarely has “year-on-year growth”. Online data shows that Anta, which has relatively mature e-commerce channels, saw sales in July drop by 37.25% compared to June. The chain reactions caused by the epidemic have superimposed, and there was no “retaliatory rebound” in the third quarter.
Offline stores “shopping more, buying less”
From September 13th to 14th, reporters from the Financial Associated Press went to Xiamen’s well-known department stores and surrounding areas to conduct research. A store manager said that currently, The department store’s traffic volume has recovered significantly, but the “Three Days Hot Sale” event held by the department store in August was not as crowded as the same period last year. Observations have found that the stores of five listed Fujian-based footwear and apparel companies, including Septwolves, Jiumuwang, Anta, 361 Degrees and Xtep, all have a situation of “shopping more and buying less”.
Relevant personnel of 361 Degrees said that the store’s sales in July were far less than those in June. They only picked up in August due to promotional discounts. At the same time, consumption was concentrated in the mid- to low-end. Li Ning’s first store manager said that the store’s customer traffic began to recover in early September, and the third quarter is expected to increase by 30% to 40% compared to the second quarter, while stores in another district have experienced an overall decline.
File related personnel said that the number of consumers in a certain store in August dropped by about 44% year-on-year. Due to discount control, the store did not carry out major promotional activities, but did carry out “celebrity co-branded models”, “customer friend circle maintenance” and other promotion activities.
In response to the above situation, the relevant person in charge of Jiumu Wang told reporters from the Associated Press that the season change between summer and autumn in Xiamen is not obvious, and travel demand before the National Day usually drives clothing consumption. Moreover, the sales situation will also be different in different regions due to climate and other reasons. Overall, sales are recovering and rising. Since we are currently cooperating with Focus Media for promotion, it is difficult to predict the specific situation.
However, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, textile and clothing retail sales have generally recovered. In July 2020, the total retail sales of textiles and clothing nationwide reached 88.9 billion yuan, a decrease of 2.5% compared with the same period last year. From January to July, the total retail sales of textiles and clothing nationwide exceeded 595.9 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 17.5%. Clothing, footwear and hat consumption accelerated its recovery in August, growing by 4.2%, the first positive growth this year.
Online channels “weak rebound”
A reporter from the Financial Associated Press compiled the semi-annual report data of the above-mentioned five Fujian brand clothing companies and found that the net profit attributable to Anta Sports shareholders in the first half of the year fell year-on-year. The profit attributable to Xtep shareholders fell by 46.5% year-on-year, the profit attributable to 361 Degree equity holders fell by 17.8% year-on-year, the net profit of Jiumuwang fell by 36.75% year-on-year, and the net profit of Septwolves fell by 80.36% year-on-year.
Affected by the epidemic, online sales of shoe and clothing companies generally increased in the first half of the year. Among them, Jiumuwang’s online sales increased by 31.91% year-on-year; Anta’s e-commerce sales increased by more than 50% year-on-year; however, 361 Degree’s e-commerce business Revenue from sales of online exclusive products decreased by 25.3%. Septwolves and Anta did not see specific disclosure of online sales data in their semi-annual reports.
“Normally speaking, online revenue should rise in the first half of the year for both leading brands and small and medium-sized brands. 361 Degrees Online Revenue The decline largely reflects its lack of emphasis on e-commerce and insufficient use of new e-commerce models.” Cheng Weixiong, an independent analyst in the footwear and apparel industry and general manager of Shanghai Liangqi Brand, said previously.
It is worth noting that Anta’s online sales performance is quite “dazzling”. The Taobao statistics section of Anta’s Taobao online sales shows that sales in February were the bottom of the first half of the year, at 1.40 100 million yuan, and then gradually rebounded until it peaked at 590 million yuan in June. However, the decline in July fell back to 370 million yuan, a month-on-month decrease of 37.25%, and in August it was 395 million yuan, a month-on-month increase of 6.78%.
“It is not ruled out that the 618 big promotion will lead to a concentration of consumption. However, the normalization of the epidemic will be partially revealed, and the impact on the shoe and clothing market will be shrinking. The impact of the epidemic also has a linkage effect, and all walks of life will be affected. To a certain extent, it suppresses consumer spending.” Cheng Weixiong told a reporter from the Financial Associated Press, “The main battlefield for domestic shoe and apparel companies is still offline stores, and online e-commerce such as live broadcasts, social groups, and micro-commerce are just supplements, not spring.”
In addition, Cheng Weixiong further explained the reasons why there has been no “retaliatory rebound”. First, it is currently in the transition period between summer and autumn, and the winter peak season is still Not coming yet. Second, the positive impact of the epidemic may affect the autumn order fair. The reduction in orders will lead to an overabundance of old products and insufficient freshness. Third, Fujian footwear and apparel companies generally fall within the mass consumer price range, and high-end footwear and apparel companies such as Adidas frequently offer discounts to compete on price.
Financial Associated PressReporters have noticed that Adidas’ official Taobao flagship store offers 50% off designated products, and there are even products with a “limited time discount of 15% off”. A “men’s and women’s classic shoe” with an original price of 699 currently sells for only 267 yuan, which is close to Anta and 361 Degrees. Prices of mass sports shoes. </p
