Subversion Of Low Cost - Processing Trade Type Clothing Enterprises: How To Play Their Own Brand

Guangdong is the largest clothing production province in the country, but in the first half of this year,

In fact, the "low cost and low profit" mode of processing trade has given Guangdong a once spectacular sight.

Focus one: do your own brand or continue to do the OEM?

Question: in the direction of export or domestic marketing, 60% of enterprises maintain a cautious wait-and-see attitude.

Private brands are more invested and more risky, and still continue to do OEM.

Weapon: we can take the way of walking on two domestic markets, so as to relieve the pressure of rapid pformation.

At the same time, it needs an adaptation process to make its own brand. First, we can explore the domestic market through the way of helping the mainland brand to do the OEM. First, we can sell our products to the wholesale distribution market, so as to understand the preferences of domestic consumers.

Liu Yueping: at present, the order of the domestic enterprises will be basically completed in the second half of the year, and the basic sales volume in the second half of this year has been determined.

According to our investigation, 48.8% of the enterprises have stable orders, 36.6% of the enterprises have a decrease in orders, a drop of about 20%, and only 14.6% of the enterprises have maintained an increase in orders, with an increase of around 10%.

In addition, the situation of export enterprises is even more worrying. 42.9% of the enterprise orders are seriously lacking, and 47.6% of the enterprise orders still have certain guarantee (that is to maintain the third quarter or so), and only 19% of the enterprises express abundant orders.

The survey also shows that, in the direction of export or domestic marketing, 60% of enterprises maintain a cautious wait-and-see attitude, 16% of enterprises choose to increase the proportion of domestic sales, while 24% of enterprises insist on making exports, but they also hope to increase product value added by increasing R & D design, and improve sales and competitiveness of products by means of updating and updating, so as to reduce the impact of raw material cost and labor cost.

It can be said that the current garment industry in Guangdong is in a critical period of pformation and upgrading. Powerful enterprises have adopted their own brand strategy in the course of development, and combined with technological pformation, equipment upgrading, management upgrading and other means, so as to achieve the improvement of profit margins, and the industrial benefits will also gather further to powerful large enterprises. But weaker SMEs are vulnerable to the problems of capital chain breaking due to the weak competitiveness of products, and this phenomenon will inevitably continue.

Zhang Hanji: as the cost of raw materials and labor increases, the enterprises in the Pearl River Delta are running at high cost. The enterprises that have the ability to survive will have more and more advantages, and enterprises with no ability to run continuously will be eliminated by the market.

At present, a number of small and medium-sized enterprises have not been able to get orders, and factories are in a state of loss.

In my opinion, a key reason for not getting the order is that there is a problem in the location of the factory. In the end, whether you aim at the brand or the wholesale channel, which requires the company to have a clear position.

Relatively speaking, the brand's enterprises will have stronger endurance to survive, and they will be able to make quick profits, but they will also easily decline soon.

Our enterprises began to consider the pformation of domestic brands after 2008, and now they are gradually shifting their focus to the domestic market to reduce their dependence on overseas markets, and gradually carry out branding operations to increase profit margins. Only in this way can we have a way out.

Tu Zheng Yin: since the financial crisis of 2008, we have started two factories, one for export and one for domestic brands. The two legged walk is also an initiative to adapt to the practical needs of market development.

In our view, the domestic market has a large consumer group of 1 billion 300 million, so the future trend is not processing, but innovation and service.

However, we must not rush into pformation without making any research.

Some enterprises with pformative consciousness first adopt the way of exploring the domestic market through the way of helping the mainland brands to do the OEM. Some foreign trade enterprises first sell their products to the wholesale and retail market, so as to investigate the requirements of domestic consumers for their dress styles and quality.

For Guangdong clothing enterprises, the process of branding is a process of gradual change, which takes time and accumulation.

When we choose to sell domestic brands, our enterprises are also exploring the way by means of e-commerce.

Focus two: how to achieve differentiation in brand positioning

Problem: many small and medium-sized enterprises have been pformed into domestic sales and started to build their own brands, which has become a trend in the Pearl River Delta.

According to statistics, at present, the clothing industry in Guangdong already has thousands of brands, with a large number, but the location is identical, the phenomenon of homogenization is very serious.

Weapon: the brand without differentiation is not viable.

To pform a brand, first of all, we need to return to the essence of clothing. Only when we design well, can we make a good brand. At the same time, we can also make use of the strength of the specialized market to carry out brand incubation, that is, to test the brand in the professional market first, and then enter the shopping mall or terminal store after the brand hatching is mature.

Zhuang Zequn: each factory has its own DNA. How to make proper positioning of its own brand needs to pform itself according to its own expertise.

At the very beginning, we made OEM processing for the international second tier brands, so we maintained a higher level in terms of technology settings and personnel matching, so we made a high-end market positioning for our brand in the pition period.

My experience is that if enterprises want to develop branding, first of all, they should have R & D capability. The key is not to have their own brand, but to build their own design team.

At present, our company has 9 designers and three echelons in the structure of talents. Although the cost of manpower is high, it is necessary to make brands.

The price range of our products is in the price range of 1000-4000 yuan, emphasizing on the manufacturability. Therefore, we also employ designers who have many years of experience in France, thus laying a good foundation for us in technology and talent.

Now there are many small and medium enterprises that make brands. The biggest problem they face in pformation is the lack of R & D design capability. For example, some low-end processing OEM factories have been producing products without any designer teams, nor do they have enough innovative R & D capabilities. Therefore, even making brand names will have great risks.

If we want to succeed in pformation, we need to return to the essence of clothing. Only when we design well, can we make a good brand.

Tu Zheng Yin: the way to make a brand is not easy. Therefore, in the process of pformation, enterprises need to consider how to take their own road in the market.

For example, we decided to locate parents and children's clothing, which required men, women's wear and children's clothing to be assembled to find a way of their own.

Because there are at least ten famous brands in the country for single men's clothing, so is women's clothing.

Now, we are selling children's clothes and sweethearts, and selling clothes for two times, thus forming a new consumption point, and making children's wear and men's wear at the same time.

In addition, the need to invest in a brand is very high, because a brand from producer, to distributor, to the consumption platform needs to be constantly promoted to enhance its popularity.

In this regard, in order to reduce the risk of investment, the main choice is to start in the professional market such as the white horse clothing market.

The advantage of starting a brand from a professional market is that there are spectators with stage and easy to do so as to achieve the purpose of incubating brand. Now we have more than 100 franchisees in the whole country.

Li Xiaoqin: many small and medium-sized enterprises have been pformed into domestic sales and started to build their own brands, which has become a trend in the Pearl River Delta.

According to statistics, at present, the clothing industry in Guangdong already has thousands of brands, with a large number, but the location is identical, the phenomenon of homogenization is very serious.

In fact, clear positioning is the key to brand development, otherwise the brand without differentiation will not be viable.

We started our own brand very early and positioned it as a luxury brand.

A very important reason is that in the next 5-10 years, luxury brands all over the world are very optimistic about the Chinese market, so there is a great potential business to make themselves into a luxury brand.

Luxury brands are mainly in the high-end market. Therefore, the designers we hire are all very experienced designers in France, focusing on the two aspects of fashion business and fashion leisure. The fashion business is aimed at the female market, while fashion leisure can meet the needs of high-end white-collar women in various occasions.

Cheng Jiuzhou: in Guangzhou white horse clothing market such professional circulation channels, engage in its own brand started very early, at present, its own brand shops have reached 90%.

Some brands hatched in the professional market from the very beginning, gradually mature, and then left the professional market to enter the shopping mall or terminal stores. For example, the listed Kaiser and Gloria were hatched from the white horse clothing market.

There are many brands in the market, but the differentiation is not obvious. Therefore, in the pformation of small and medium-sized garment enterprises, there is still a need to locate users according to market demand.

In this respect, the advantage of incubating brand from professional market is: reducing the cost input, being able to enter the market in advance and get user feedback, which is a feasible way for small and medium-sized enterprises to brand.

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Focus three: how to make up the short board of channel management

Problem: channel construction and management are very strange for the enterprises who are accustomed to foreign trade, because it is necessary for them to cooperate with the distributors and to go deep into the two or three tier cities to manage the terminal.

A mature system of effective management of distributors is hard to establish quickly in a short time.

Weapon: in the early stage of brand building, enterprises should consider more about how to attract distributors. The most direct and effective way is to increase the Commission and give more benefits to dealers.

Fast replication is not good because terminal channel management is prone to problems.

You can try to enter the professional market channel first, then gather the popularity through the cooperation of the major shopping malls or wholesale markets, and draw relevant experience.

Zhang Hanji: in the initial stage of pformation, we also did direct camp terminal stores, but later we felt that the industry chain of our own channel was too long, and our management ability was very weak. At the same time, it was also faced with the pressure of rising rent cost, so eventually decided to give up the direct stores, and now it is mainly made by agents to do terminal stores.

In fact, the channel is the biggest challenge for us to do the habit of foreign trade enterprises, because it is necessary for us to cooperate with the distributors and go deep into the two or three tier cities for terminal management. This is a challenge for us. A mature system of effective management of distributors is difficult to establish in a short time.

Li Xiaoqin: many export processing enterprises are ready to open up the domestic market, which requires them to have enough market power to establish their own channels, and only by means of the first level agency can not be done.

In the early stage of brand building, enterprises should consider more about how to attract distributors. The most direct and effective way is to increase the Commission and give more benefits to dealers.

In addition, enterprises can not expect to generate much returns at the beginning of their brand management. Their initial goal is to occupy the market rather than to make profits.

In fact, the process of enterprises occupying the market is the process of establishing their own channels, and this takes a very long time.

Isabel has been doing it for 10 years, and now it is still a direct and franchise mode. The head office is responsible for the single store franchise, and it will not cooperate with the two level wholesalers. This will form a flat channel, so as to achieve cost savings in manpower and financial resources, and then make the cost saved to the terminal franchisee.

Our experience in brand building over the past years shows that rapid replication is not good in the development of brand building, because terminal channel management is prone to many problems, such as problems related to services and inadequate management, which will affect the reputation of the whole brand.

We have more than 60 kinds of terminal stores now, and we expect to increase another 30 this year. Our main energy will be in strengthening internal rectification and training.

Zhuang Zequn: in the past, when the enterprise did export sales, as long as the product was good, but now it is domestic, the establishment of the channel and the construction of the management system need to adapt to each other.

For example, we have to choose the shopping mall and mode, some of the shopping malls may have some grey areas caused by relationships, which all need to face.

Therefore, we will first choose to do the direct store mode, and do a good job of further development.

In order to reduce risks, we first try to enter professional market channels, and then gather popularity through shopping in major shopping malls or wholesale markets, and draw relevant experience: what are suitable for the mainland market, how to grasp seasonal, how to cooperate with distributors, how to control market tempo and how to adjust prices, all of which need to accumulate relevant experience continuously.

Band aid

Brand is not copied.

The Pearl River Delta region is an important area of clothing production in China. Intensive small and medium-sized enterprises once created the "made in China" miracle. Now, these small and medium-sized garment enterprises are encountering high pressure caused by high inflation, such as labor, raw materials, logistics and so on.

Because at the bottom of the value chain, their profits are very small, and enterprises often lack core technology, private brand and marketing channels, so bargaining power in the market chain is very low, and the pressure of rising costs is hard to pass on.

Faced with these difficulties, many enterprises began to pform their own brands, hoping to improve their profit margins.

But in the process of pformation, these former OEM enterprises only have the production capacity. What is most lacking is the most important two sides of the brand production chain: innovation R & D capability and market development capability.

From the "world factory" to "made in China", and now is gradually changing to the "Chinese design" process, a pragmatic Guangdong garment manufacturer is turning to the brand.

However, the creation of brand is not a low-cost replication.

Although there are thousands of private brands in Guangdong, when they talk about the problem of "Shanzhai design", these brands ask rhetorical questions: "what a big copy of the world article, not to mention clothing?"

This is precisely the crux of the problem: Although China is a large garment country, its original design power is horrible.

A senior fashion designer who has been in Guangzhou for many years has revealed that designers of many local clothing companies or brand enterprises are not real designers. Basically, every day they work as professional portraits. They only do one thing: copying! Lots of plagiarism simplifies design time, saves costs and keeps up with the trend. At the same time, it also reduces the quality and loses the development potential of the brand itself.

In contrast, the value of many world brands lies not only in products and services themselves, but also in the value of cognition, that is, the design and quality behind consumers' recognition of brands, which is the fundamental reason that can bring high added value and solve the problem of profitability.

Although the former OEM factory has realized that only brands have tomorrow, most small and medium-sized enterprises are still trapped in the vicious cycle of low cost plagiarism.

In fact, brand strategy and low cost duplication are contradictory and unified: brand road is subversion to low cost Road, but for most enterprises, low cost is the blood source of brand strategy. After all, clothing brand strategy first solves the problem of profit to ensure continuous investment.

However, learning is not a simple copy. It can be learned from our neighbor, South Korea.

The popular Korean version of clothing comes from not copying, but improving design.

They learned from France and Italy and made their own improvements, thus setting up a distinctive style of Korean clothing and walking out of a simple way to copy plagiarism.

In order to really get out of the brand strategy, the domestic garment manufacturers must first solve the problem of being unable to rely on plagiarism, instead of settling down to build up their style and improve their original design ability, so as to get out of a road of success that truly belongs to them.