Before The Sports Brand Shop Is Planned, Brand Clothing Enterprises Are Trapped In "Shop Tide".

Due to Sports With the fact that the number of thousands of stores in the supply company is being used as reference, the number of stores in China's clothing companies will still have room for growth in the future. "We expect that in the next three years, their sales revenue and earnings growth will still come mainly from the rapid expansion of the channels."

Including the Anta, 31st, Lining and other domestic sports goods brand, all of them have formulated the "Wan Dian plan" early.

Shop tide

Although the NBA playoffs are no longer available, Yao Ming rockets teammates are still busy.

In May 23rd, the team leader Luis Scola came to Beijing to speak for him. brand Anta's publicity is different from that of its first visit in 2008. Scola, the third time to come to China, has been very familiar with it. "I want to feel more about China." He said.

But how much can a foreigner feel "China"?

In 2008, Scola was still surprised to find his favorite products in Anta store. This time, he came to the Anta Beijing head shop, which occupied 1083 square meters, and it was already the six generation of Anta's comprehensive store, which included all the products including Anta sports, life, children's wear and so on. In 2008, the sales volume of Anta was 4 billion 630 million yuan, and now this figure has reached 7 billion 408 million yuan.

So to speak, Anta After catching up with Lining and becoming China's most popular sporting goods brand, last year, the company sold nearly forty million pairs of shoes and more than 5 million pieces of clothing and spread it out equally. Every fifteen Chinese people own a Anta product.

Huge store clusters support such figures. "This year, Anta plans to expand Anta stores, children's stores and sports life shops to 8200, five hundred and one thousand stores respectively, plus Fiat store is expected to increase to three hundred by the end of the year. Anta stores will have the opportunity to break through 10000 stores." Ding Shizhong, chairman and CEO of Anta's board of directors, said. That is to say, Anta will enter the era of "Wan Dian".

The company's total number of stores will reach 7263 in the first half of 2011, with 336 new products in the first half of the year, and 133 new children's wear shops and two new flagship stores, bringing the total number of children's clothing and flagship stores to 487 and five, respectively, according to the communique. Future Ltd will maintain its expansion rate of six hundred to eight hundred stores a year. Judging from the current situation, the company believes the target can be achieved by the end of the year. In addition, the company's management plans to open three hundred children's clothing stores every year, and plans to increase the sales of children's clothing to 10% in 2012. From the above data, we can see that by the end of 2011, the total number of shops opened at 31st level was eight thousand.

Similar to them, there are many domestic sporting goods brands. Lining, PEAK, and so on have developed the store plan early, and plan to expand the number of stores to 10000 in three to four years.

Thanks to their outstanding performance in sponsorship such as winter Olympics, World Expo, world cup and Asian Games, their performance increased by more than 20% last year, and the scale of the terminal has broken through the scale of "seven thousand stores".

It is not just those sporting goods companies that decide to make a lot of fuss about the number of terminals. Not long ago, nine Mu Wang was officially listed. In the prospectus of the company, the company said it would use the 1 billion 320 million yuan of the 1 billion 650 million yuan raised from the plan to build the marketing network.

Busen, a previously listed menswear company, also said that 52.47% of the funds raised will be used in marketing network construction projects, and more than 20 direct flagship stores will be added to enhance profitability and enhance control over sales channels.

Orient Securities analysts believe that channel construction is becoming the focus of China's clothing brand. Because of the fact that there are thousands of stores in sports goods companies, the number of stores in China's clothing companies will still have room for growth in the future. "It is estimated that in the next three years, their sales revenue and earnings growth will still come mainly from the rapid expansion of channels."

origin

One of the reasons for this trend is the huge and alluring Chinese market, as well as China's huge economic consumption class. With the saturation of China's front-line market capacity, a large number of China's 234 tier cities have become the focus of the next step of the clothing brand. The process of China's urbanization has provided a broad platform for their market expansion and channel sinking. "At present, the huge capacity of the domestic 234 tier market has created the impulse to start shop, and it is very necessary to build a large scale brand business in the local market when the market is gradually maturing and the purchasing power continues to improve." Li Kailuo, director of the China Apparel Association's market expert committee and director of the International Institute of industrial economics.

At the same time, after thirty years of reform and opening up, the wealth structure of Chinese society has gradually manifested as a gradual increase in the social status of China's middle and lower classes, a marked increase in the number of middle and rich and middle class, and a large number of young upstarts who are also showing "conspicuous consumption". In contrast to the wealth structure of Chinese society, the distribution of China's market structure is also a huge gourd shape. In the next twenty years, who can become the main prosecution of the "Chinese style gourd market", who will create the new economic Mecca in the business ecosystem? He said.

It also requires companies to spread out more networks to adapt to the new changes in China's market structure.

Liu Yueping, President of Guangdong clothing and apparel industry association, also agreed that "this new round of expansion is the embodiment of scale economy. Extensive mode of development is still the main performance of industry competition. Stores, outlets, channels and terminals have become important resources for enterprises."

In the view of enterprises themselves, mastering this resource may have mastered the biggest profit in the whole Chinese apparel industry chain.

Because, "fabric dealers and manufacturers sell brands at cost of around 15%, and brands sell 15-45% to their general agents according to their brand value. The total agent increases the price of 20-30% to retailers, and retailers increase sales after 30-150%. If you sell in the mall, the final price increase may be more, in 100-1000% ". Liu Hanlong, an enterprise strategy consultant and marketing expert, said: "the most profitable link in the clothing industry is the monopoly sales link with huge brand influence."

"The role of pure wholesale in circulation is getting lower and lower, and its front-end value has been cut down by the rigid cost rise of the manufacturer. The value of the back end has been gradually split by the brand or retailer, and the profit margin of the enterprise has been getting lower and lower, so it has begun to develop towards the retail terminal". Cao Yitang, an investment expert who acted as a strategic person in the company of nine herd Wang and Mei bang, also said, "control the store resources and increase the profit margin."

In other words, the closer one is to consumers, the more valuable it is. But the pain that many Chinese clothing companies are suffering is that they can't find a good stage to show their brand. Zhou Shaoxiong, chairman of the seven wolves, said.

Therefore, "seven wolves do not want to become one of the largest garment manufacturers, but to become China's largest clothing retail business." Zhou Shaoxiong once said that the implication is to transform clothing manufacturers to channel brands.

Therefore, the company chose to improve the channel as a breakthrough. After three years of transformation, seven wolves have been constantly innovating in channel construction and so on. At present, the number of terminal outlets has reached more than 3000. Zhou Shaoxiong said that for today's seven wolves, it is more robust and important to upgrade the market and channels in a more comprehensive way than blindly expanding other products. Now put the research and development in the cabinet. When the time is right, push it again. "

Zhou Shaoxiong positioned 2011 as the "image integration and upgrading year" of the seven wolves, hoping to create new opportunities in terminal management and channel transformation, and invest more capital and energy in the terminal.

The experience of nine Mu Wang confirms Zhou Shaoxiong's view. Before the listing, the company's business revenue increased steadily with the increase in the number of stores. "The company pays attention to the construction of marketing channels, and the sales terminals increase year by year, from 2325 at the end of 2008 to 2710 at the end of 2010, and the main business revenue continues to grow." Zhang Jingchun, the company's chief financial officer, said. {page_break}

Dead hole?

Analysts believe that the majority of domestic clothing brands for the needs of the market layout, seize the blank line of the three or four line market. As the local market gradually matures and the purchasing power continues to improve, it is very necessary for large scale distribution of brand businesses.

At present, the natural growth rate of China's garment industry is 15%. If it can not reach this figure, it will be difficult for the brand to survive and develop in the fierce market competition. So in the new round of horse race, no one dares to lag behind.

However, there are numerous examples of failures in expanding stores, such as the famous ITAT.

ITAT, jointly invested by China Alliance Group Overseas Investment Co., Ltd., Morgan Stanley and Lanshan, China, has a reputation. Its self proclaimed "zero cost, zero inventory, zero rent" low cost mode of operation is also very popular in the industry, and has become the object of being advertised.

ITAT has three kinds of stores: international brand clothing club stores, department store clubs and fashion shops. After fast track, as of the end of 2008, ITAT group has more than 700 stores.

However, because the product quality is not high, the brand awareness is low, the distribution of the stores is unreasonable and the sales promotion means are single, the speed of the fall of the clothing commercial star is just as unawares as when it is born.

Take Jilin Province as an example. ITAT group has entered Jilin province since 2007. "A total of seventeen stores have been opened, including eleven international brand clothing stores, five department stores and one fashion shop." But by 2009, there were only thirteen normal operations. And the business area is decreasing.

Today, ITAT has long been a hot spot in China's clothing industry.

"The consequences of blind expansion are excessive burning, unrealistic shops and crazy advertising, which increase operating costs and make them indebted." Brand strategy expert Li Guangdou said.

Earlier, there is also a Hongkong apparel listed company, Wei Wei international, which survived the Asian financial turmoil in 1997 and the SARS crisis in 2003, but was on the road of expansion in 2008.

In terms of investment strategy, he has always been a radical style. Before and after the financial crisis in 2008, the company actively expanded its retail network in Hongkong. In the mainland, we choose a more rapid way to expand stores. At that time, there were 516 stores in eighteen provinces and 92 cities in the country, double the number in 2003.

However, during the recession of 2008, the continuous expansion of the network not only failed to bring scale benefits, but made the company's capital chain increasingly tense. Eventually, the debt repayment encountered difficulties and led to liquidation.

Liu Bingyun, President of Shenzhen's horse racing investment, said that the retail chain industry must maintain enough cash flow to maintain its high speed and normal operation. "The faster the expansion is, the greater the external impact, the more difficult it is to control the risk". "If the money is used too much for expansion, the demand is weak, and it is easy to suffer."

Even the seven wolves who have always been the important work of the channel have been embarrassed by the expansion. Also in 2008, the net profit of the seven wolves in the high-speed expansion fell sharply by 18.9%. "The company's profit is not up to standard, mainly due to the increase in fees such as opening stores and advertising." Wu Shanghao, an analyst with CIC's textile industry, said.

Although the financial crisis in 2008 is an important reason for these companies to encounter difficulties in channel expansion, it is undeniable that behind the "horse race enclosure", the market accommodation limit and marketing management level are all interrogation about the terminal expansion of clothing brand. In the short term, large-scale expansion of terminals will bring more cost burden to enterprises and bring more challenges to management and management. The "Wan shop era" reflects not only the expansion of market capacity and the enhancement of brand strength, but also the acceleration of market integration and the amplification of operational risks. Li Kailuo said.

Dismantle

Moreover, more importantly, although the financial crisis has gradually extended, the industry situation is not optimistic at all.

Affected by the rise in cotton prices last year, domestic garment enterprises are under great pressure.

The 2010 annual report of listed companies disclosed in the end of April showed that most enterprises mentioned the cost pressure of raw materials. In fact, from September to early November last year, cotton prices rose steadily, from 18 thousand yuan per ton to thirty thousand yuan, or about 70%. At the same time, prices of oil and rubber also led to a 20% rise in the cost of raw materials for shoe companies.

It is reported that: "under the double squeeze of rapid increase in production costs and market shrinkage, the winter of domestic small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises has arrived unexpectedly, and a large number of garment and footwear factories are in a semi shutdown state, and a few enterprises have begun to fail."

At the same time, the sewing cost of processing a down coat in 2009 was 28-30 yuan, and now it has risen to 40-45 yuan. Luo Weiming, chairman of Shanghai Dragon Textile Co., Ltd., said that he had given wages to workers three thousand yuan a month, and the sharp rise in human cost obviously made him feel headache.

The first quarter of the seven wolves also showed that the company's management fees increased by 61.66% as compared with the same period last year, due to the increase in wages and salaries of employees. Xiong Xiaokun, a light industry researcher at CIC, said that the gross profit margins of the first quarter were down 0.24 percentage points to 40.63%. "After the Spring Festival this year, in order to recruit enough workers, many enterprises have increased the wages of workers, even if there are still insufficient employment." Analysts say.

Wang Qian, editor in chief of China's first textile network, said that the recruitment of clothing enterprises was only seven to 80% in the past year, or even less than 50%. Enterprises could only raise staff salaries substantially. On the basis of a substantial increase in salary last year, the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River delta generally had 20-30% wage increase this year, showing a continuous rigid upward trend.

Increasing profitability has become a top priority for clothing companies to get rid of pressure.

PEAK has clearly raised the price of its products. Xu Zhida, chief operating officer of the group, said that in the fourth quarter of the company's order meeting, "the price given to the agents should have an increase of 10-15%, of which the price increase of footwear is about 10%, and the clothing category is 15%." Hongxing Erke said, "we plan to increase the price of 15-18% this year."

The seven wolves also plan to raise the price of the product by about 10%. However, Zhou Shaoxiong said, "growth can be divided into two categories: one is horizontal growth: to seize the market and increase channels; the other is vertical growth, that is to increase the efficiency of single stores. This is one of our urgent tasks at the moment. " Li Qiming, general manager of Shan Shan, also said, "brand operation ultimately needs to talk about the profitability of a single store."

Lining is also planning to do so. The company has even said that it will integrate some of its poor stores in the future to boost its performance by raising the sales revenue of single stores. The number of stores may be as high as five hundred to six hundred.

By comparing the number of Lining stores and revenue growth in recent years, sporting goods observer Ma Gang believes that there is still room for improvement in the sales revenue of Li Ning Co's existing stores.

This approach is in line with the view of Zhou Kaiqing of the industry. "The size of the shop is eight thousand or ten thousand, which is just a figure. There is no essential difference for the businessman. Even if these brands can develop into a "Wan shop" scale as scheduled, it is still a regular profit model. He said, "to seek better profits and raise single store profits is a matter for the brand to consider."

The question is, how do we do that?