Wiseman's Multi Brand Thorny Road

Zhuhai's Limited by Share Ltd has put the ball into the stock exchange. In May 5th, the SFC issued the application of the Wiseman IPO which was originally scheduled for 6.

Wiseman's self positioning is in the women's clothing industry. BELLE 。 The superiority of the BELLE model stems from its successful development of the integration of more than 20 sub brands, which is also hard work for many peers. Wiseman has such ambitions, but he has not crossed the line. In May, the failure of the sprint board was exposed by the media in the uncertainty of its multi brand strategy development.

Leaving aside the question of whether the prospectus submitted at that time is complete, let's first trace back to the way of multi brand exploration by Wiseman, trying to find its way in the development of multi brand strategy.

"Making BELLE into women's clothing industry and becoming a multi brand women's holding group" is the direction that Xie Qiuhe, chairman of Zhuhai's Wiseman dress Limited by Share Ltd (hereinafter referred to as "Wiseman") has been seeking and adhering to for many years, and he praised BELLE model as a model for implementing multi brand strategy.

BELLE is China's largest women's shoe retailer. Through the acquisition of M & A and sales agents, the BELLE shoe industry has completed the mid and high-end brand market coverage, making the number of its brands more than 20. The product range covers from leisure to nobility, from conservative to fashion, aged 18-45 years old lady. For different themes and prices, BELLE has two or more than two. brand Optional. At the same time, BELLE takes the concept of "channel to promote brand". In the shopping malls and department stores, Belle stores as the center of different brands.

Consumers did not pick shoes that were desirable in Belle. They could go to Staccato and his special counter. If not, there were other choices in the shopping mall, such as sun Da, Zhen Mei Shi, Baitu, Teenmix and so on. Because of the effective strategy of brand complementarity, BELLE occupies six seats in the top ten brands that occupy 38% of the Chinese women's shoes market, with a gross profit margin of 65%.

The advantages of implementing multi brand strategy are obvious: to maximize the possession of the market, to cross the consumer coverage, and to reduce the risk of business operation. Even if a brand fails, it has little effect on other brands, such as defending the main brand in the price war, taking those minor brands as small units, hitting the competitor's brand quickly, helping to kill the competitors, and at the same time, the leading position of the main brand is intact.

But the multi brand strategy also has its limitations: high cost, enough high-quality brand management talents, perfect inter departmental management coordination system, and a certain scale of brand building resources. From this perspective, the multi brand strategy applies only to those enterprises with certain strength.

　 Search for multi brand fleet

Female consumers do not like the fact that there is only one brand in their closet. clothes The multi brand mode is suitable for the development of women's clothing at this stage. In addition, multi brand is also conducive to the game between brand enterprises and shopping malls and training professional managers.

Brand is the special mark that enterprises make to distinguish their goods from other enterprises, and is the most obvious external manifestation of corporate image. In the process of developing brand, enterprises not only have brand names, but also introduce multiple brands in the same product category, which is called multi brand strategy.

The multi brand strategy in modern sense can be traced back to P & G in 1927. Richard Deupree, who was just now president of P & G, introduced many brands to solve the relationship between the new soap brand "Jiamei" and the traditional brand "Ivory soap" in the same market. Since then, in less than a century, many brands have made great progress, and a number of well-known enterprises have embarked on the road of multi brands.

The brand age of domestic garment enterprises began in 1994, when the market demanded more than the supply, the threshold of brand operation in clothing industry was very low, and the market demand for brand was not high. Since 1999, the clothing industry has entered the era of brand market segmentation, differentiation and brand concept. Ladies and gentlemen, Adam, Wiseman, YOUNGOR (600177, stock bar), Shan Shan, Baleno, Bosideng, Mei bang, Parker and so on, more and more clothing enterprises begin to seek for multi brand development.

Founded in 1998, Wiseman began to operate only one brand of W.S.M. Later, they realized that if only one brand were built, the market share would be limited. It would be very difficult to achieve a substantial increase after reaching a level. So we began to explore many brands in 2004. The company's top executives say that despite the test, Wiseman's idea of adhering to multi brand strategy remains unchanged.

In the view of Deng Huajin, deputy general manager of Wiseman, making women's clothing, single brand is difficult to meet the consumption requirements of female consumers. Female consumers love their colorful life, do not like their own wardrobe only one brand of clothing, multi brand mode is suitable for the development of women's clothing at this stage. In addition, multi brands are also conducive to playing games with the market and training professional managers.

"If an enterprise has only one brand and its brand is stronger, it can only take a special counter in the department store, but if there are ten brands, it can take ten counters, and the sales area in the shopping mall and the channels to contact with customers will be much more. Multi brand means that enterprises can go to sea like a joint fleet, adding more bargaining chips to the mall. " Deng Huajin said.

This is very obvious in BELLE. BELLE is usually set up on the first floor of shopping malls. On the one hand, shopping malls can find companies like BELLE. There is no need to worry that half of the counters will be empty. Naturally, there will be many favorable conditions such as low points and no decoration. On the other hand, the cooperation between enterprises and shopping malls is more initiative. All the counters in the enterprise will be removed.

Deng Huajin said that many brands can better train professional managers. If an enterprise has a brand, then the brand director is only one. If there are ten brands, each brand can have a brand director and a design team. The brand and brand can be compared with each other, and the formation of healthy competition can provide more opportunities for professional managers and teams. The team is steady, and the whole fleet can withstand wind and waves when it comes to sea.

"Making a brand should have several conditions. It is not only a trademark, but also has its own designer team, its own channels and its own stores. If they do not have their own franchised stores, they are only wholesale, but they are not trademarks at all, but at best they are trademarks. There are many ways to develop multi brand strategy, not necessarily from scratch, from scratch. It takes a long process to consider the acquisition and merger of competitors' brands. Deng Huajin has seen all kinds of experiences in the development of Wiseman's brand. {page_break}

The way of multi brand of Wiseman is not smooth sailing. In order to implement multi brand strategy, Wiseman has registered one hundred or two hundred trademarks as reserves, and has established W.S.M, two, ART, W.S.M HOME, four brands and acquisition of EASTERLY brand. But for various reasons, only three brands, such as Wiseman, Wiseman's house and Aesop, are still in operation.

"From scratch, you are groping for yourself. Before 2004, we had "Wiseman" and "Wiseman two". At that time, "Wiseman" asked Li Xiang and "Wiseman two" to invite Irene Wan to endorse: 2005 began to have 'ART'. Because of the objective conditions, we need strong teams and resources to support several brands. At that time, we did not have this condition, so "two" and "love her" were all turned off. Deng Huajin recalls.

Deng Huajin acknowledges that the operation of multi brand operation resources of enterprises will be more dispersed, and the management difficulty will be increased. Managing a brand and operating multiple brands will be different for human property management and team management. Correspondingly, management costs will also increase. In the early days of many brands, when the brand awareness and the reputation of customers are not high, the investment of enterprises is still huge.

　 Merger and self-propelled brand parallel

Children are not necessarily born or adoptive, especially those who are poor in quality. In order to complete the multi brand strategy shorter and quicker, we adopt the way of acquisition and merger.

In the later stage, the high level of Wiseman began to change his mind. In 2009, the company acquired Shenzhen's Aesop language, and no longer pushed the brand itself. "Children are not necessarily born or adoptive, especially those who are poor in quality. In order to complete the multi brand strategy shorter and faster, we adopt the way of acquisition and merger.

Generally speaking, there are three ways for enterprises to implement multi brand strategy: first, to create new brands. This is one of the most frequently used ways. The advantages of new brands are strong plasticity, brand positioning, brand style, price and other aspects of the development of flexible, no need to be limited by historical factors; disadvantages are low brand awareness at the beginning, high cost of brand promotion, long growth process.

Two is the joint venture advantage brand. By means of capital operation or mutual cooperation, one or more brands that are comparable to the original brand strength of the enterprise and relatively well-known industry will be returned to the door, and the brand competitiveness of both sides will be promoted simultaneously through the complementary advantages between the original brand and the joint venture brand. Then, we will try our best to combine the new brand portfolio with our competitors to embezzle the market share of the leading brand.

The three is to incorporate inferior brands. Some of the brands that once were important in the industry were dim due to the mistakes or reactions of ideas, products, markets, channels, etc. These brands have a certain brand awareness in the minds of consumers. If their brand advantage is precisely what these brands lack, and enough confidence to bring these "sunset Emperors" to a comeback, enterprises can consider incorporating these brands through capital operation, and then endow them with new blood and new vitality to recreate their value.

Deng Huajin said that Wiseman will expand the brand by combining acquisitions and self promotion new brands to integrate procurement, logistics and supply chain, and design and market sales separately. "Now Waissman is the three team," Waissman (W.S.M) "," Waissman W.S.M (HOME) "and" Aesop "(EASTERLY), from design to sale completely different. Background services can be shared, and there is communication among brands, but design, marketing and marketing teams are independent. Examination is also independent.

In a media interview in 2008, Wiseman concluded that through many years of multi brand strategy, Wiseman absorbed many lessons from it, mainly reflected in four aspects: unclear system planning, conflict between brands, insufficient reserve of talents, and no synergy effect.

In an interview with our newspaper reporter, Deng Huajin said that Wiseman had improved the above problems. At present, it is clearer for the three brands to sell to whoever sells, how to sell and how to sell.

At present, there are several differences between the three brands that Wiseman owns. First of all, the core customers are different. The design style of Waissman (W.S.M) brand is located in simple and modern fashion. It embodies the characteristics of mature and noble, romantic lady, and integrates personality fashion and color jumping elements. The brand design style and color coverage are more comprehensive, which can fully meet the female clothing consumer demand of this age group.

The design of viesman's home is positioned as a lively young woman's dress with a unique personality. It takes the fashionable style and unique color as the focal point. It also has the fresh and leisure style of the girl's dress and the sweet fashion style and color matching.

Aesop's brand style is positioned in the national fashion fashion of Spanish culture and oriental culture. It mainly aims at the pursuit of the Spanish dynamic style and the passion and collocation of the young women with individuality. The brand consumer group has obvious group type, with the majority of students and freelance groups. Secondly, in terms of channels, Wiseman is mainly in a second tier city business district. The main part of Wiseman's house is to enter the three or four line city, and Aesop mainly enters the two or three line city. Wiseman is mainly in direct camp. Because customer groups are different, channels are different. There is no obvious competition between the three brands.

"Including investment in research and development, advertising and human property, we will invest two hundred million yuan to the brand within two years after the listing. We have strong research and development capabilities. At present, there are about 120 designers and ODM designers. Each team has about 60 designers. Deng Huajin said that their marketing channels in Southern China were very steady and their foundation was relatively deep. They spread the marketing network from south to north, from east to west, with Southern China as their base.

At present, the three brands are about more than 400 stores, and will increase to about 650 in the next two or three years.

Deng Huajin believes that Wiseman's multi brand strategy has been relatively stable. In the future, new brands do not have to be strictly differentiated from existing brands. If the other side has a mature team and channels, even if the style positioning has 80% overlap with Wiseman, it has nothing to do with it.

"We hope to find a brand more similar to Wiseman, or more mature than Wiseman, at a price higher than that of Wiseman, which can go into shopping malls with Wiseman. Mergers and acquisitions are relatively fast. We don't need to start from scratch. We now tend to look for designer brand, original, design style, insufficient funds, and difficult to make bigger in a short time. We hope we can cooperate with it. Or if some entrepreneurs want to retire, and their children are unwilling to take over, we can cooperate to buy.

　 Three military rules for enterprises to create their own brands

1. brand positioning. "Good brand positioning is half the success of a brand". Brand positioning is to enable consumers to clearly recognize the brand characteristics and the core value of the brand. We must focus on brand positioning in product development, packaging design, advertising design and so on. For example, Shu Fu Jia's brand positioning is "sterilization". For many years, Shu Fu's advertisement has always been "bactericidal", and through deepening consumer's memory again and again, we can finally achieve the goal of "removing bacteria" to choose Shu Fu Jia.

2. strategic planning. Enterprises should enhance brand image through brand planning and strategic planning, improve consumers' awareness and loyalty to products, and establish a good brand image of enterprises. First of all, quality strategy is the key and core of implementing brand strategy. Quality is the life of product. Strict quality management is the first condition for developing, maintaining and developing famous brand. Secondly, market strategy is the basis of implementing brand strategy, and market oriented strategy must be set up in implementing market strategy. From product development to marketing, we must firmly fasten the theme of market change and satisfy the needs of customers to the greatest extent. {page_break}

3. vigorously publicize. For small and medium-sized enterprises, it is very important for consumers to identify their brands in a short period of time through publicity. In the process of publicity, we should highlight the brand positioning and core value, identify the emotional intersection between products and consumers, so that consumers can have a sense of cognition in the shortest time.

In short, in the process of choosing brand strategy, enterprises should take full advantage of their own advantages and characteristics to choose the most suitable business development. Only in this way can we succeed in brand management.

　 The clothing brand will be washed up in the future.

According to the survey of Hongye information company, about more than 2000 brands are eliminated every year in China's clothing market. On average, 6 brands will be eliminated every day, and the average life expectancy of each brand is only 4 hours. In the 2000-2005 years, the life expectancy of the top 500 clothing brands in China is only about 1.5 years. For the top 50 brands in the world, the average age is 52.5 years, and even some foreign clothing brands have a history of 100 years.

"In the next 5 to 10 years, the industry of Chinese clothing (000902, stock bar) will go through the process of industry integration. At present, the concentration of men's clothing is higher than that of women's clothing. Men's large brands, such as YOUNGOR, reporting birds and seven wolves, are more concentrated than women's. There are more brands of women's clothing. There are more than 1000 women's clothing brands in Guangzhou and Shenzhen. So many brands will definitely have a good fortune in the future. Just like the appliance industry, there are hundreds of air conditioning brands before, but now the top five brands of air conditioners account for more than 50% of the market, leaving only a few brands like GREE, Haier, beauty and CHIGO. " Deng Huajin said.

In his view, the transition from free competition to oligopoly is an inevitable trend of the industry. This is to see who has the ability to become an oligarch of the industry. They are working hard to create conditions and make use of the opportunity of industry integration to create a leading industry. Because many small brands, small companies may not be able to withstand the storm. This is both a challenge and an opportunity. The key is to see who can catch it.