How Does The General Costume Agency Get Out Of The Predicament In Today'S Environment?

With the intensification of market competition, many subjective and objective conditions that led to the emergence of regional general agents have changed a lot. The necessary conditions at that time have been redundant today. So what is the way out for the general agent of clothing?

The brand is a new clothing brand that has been pformed from wholesale to a long time. Its incumbent boss is L, the younger generation's second generation.

L took the lead in the pformation of enterprises soon after taking over. In order to build up the terminal network and reduce the capital risks brought about by the pformation, after the pformation of the enterprise, in addition to building a model market for self built stores in the base area, all of the dealers in the early stage set up a more intensive terminal network quickly with the help of agents. The agents used a number of old wholesale agents with better quality and brand awareness, and at the same time added a group of new agents as substitutes for the old agents who had been cut off.

L has successfully opened the store to a large part of the country in the shortest possible time by using the rapid expansion capabilities of agents and huge funds from franchisees.

But soon, L found the problem, that is, management can not keep up with the market, the management of the fake hand agents can not be done more finely, many policies can not be completely landed, and many promotions and promotions can not be implemented in a proper way, making the enterprises want to exert their strength, but they can not help them.

With the increasingly fierce competition in the apparel market, more and more garment franchisees and agents complain that business is becoming more and more difficult, and the operating cost is rising. The sales volume is getting harder and harder. The content of the competition is becoming more and more sophisticated, and the demand for the garment products itself is getting higher and higher. Under the influence of such a big environment, many clothing brand manufacturers that have adopted the double sales mode have taken the road of "flat channel" reform, holding high the banner of winning the terminal, and coming to the clothing dealer's fate in order to reduce the cost of the channel and strengthen the control of the terminal.

This phenomenon has been described by many people as: the agent has dragged the big "child" with hardship, and was ruthlessly taken away by his "biological parents".

According to the channel strategy of manufacturers, the "flat channel" can be divided into two situations. One is that some manufacturers directly cancel the agency, increase the proportion of direct battalions, and the other is to abolish the regional general agent, and manufacturers directly face the end customers (distributors).

As a regional general agent, on the one hand, we must bear the pressure from manufacturers. On the other hand, as the downstream terminal customers become more and more full and their profit margins are becoming smaller and smaller, the demand for independence is getting stronger and stronger. Therefore, as the distributor of the sparks in the clothing market, we are now in an awkward situation of being depressed.

Therefore, in the past one or two years, many general agents (hereinafter referred to as the "total generation") have been in a dilemma. They are always making decisions and trying again and again. How do they always get out of this predicament?

Since the general agent produced in a special period needs to explore the way for the future, it is necessary to understand briefly the reasons for the total generation and the problems that need to be solved at present.

Simply speaking, regional general agent is a concrete manifestation of extensive management in the early stage of clothing industry. Since its birth, it has given him great freedom and many missions.

First of all, the total is the manufacturer's logistics center in the regional market.

Because China's vast territory, logistics distribution network is not perfect, and the regional total generation is basically in the local market pport hub, therefore, through the total generation of large single products into small single distribution to terminal customers, can give manufacturers and retail customers to save a lot of distribution costs and human resources.

Secondly, the total generation is the outsourcing of manufacturers' sales.

Most of the previous clothing manufacturers did not have their own mature sales force, and some even had no sales staff. Therefore, the regional total generation is the sales leader of the manufacturers in the local market, and completes a series of actions independently such as investment promotion and distribution.

Moreover, since the total generation is generally rooted in the local market for many years, the accumulated network of relationships can not be replaced by any garment manufacturer. Even in the Chinese market, even some multinational companies have to admit that the relationship is crucial.

Therefore, when stationed in some important outlets, the total generation relationship often plays a decisive role.

Third, the total is the manufacturer's regulator.

Many garment manufacturers, especially women's clothing enterprises, have limited funds and shipments at the initial stage of their business.

In general, the total generation of customers has certain financial strength and sales network, so in this case, the total generation of customers will become the mainstay of some production enterprises and their overall performance.

Fourth, the total generation is the management platform for manufacturers in the regional market.

Also because of the vast territory of the domestic market, if the brand manufacturer is responsible for the management of terminal network and the later maintenance, the brand manufacturers need to spend a lot of manpower and financial resources. Some enterprises have reached hundreds of thousands, even millions and millions of enterprises, and the maintenance personnel are also exhausted.

But the terminal customers are always complaining, a rare time a year to see the company.

The total generation is responsible for the regional market, and it can find the problems in the regional market in a more timely manner, and deal with them in a shorter time, and is more economical.

Fifth, the total is the risk buffer for manufacturers and downstream end-users.

The risks mentioned here can be divided into two levels, one is operational risk, and the other is whether the clothing business is making money. In addition to sales volume, it is inventory. Therefore, in terms of sales targets and inventory, the total generation can solve the pressure of some upstream manufacturers and downstream end customers through mutual adjustment in the region.

The other level is operational risk. The garment industry is influenced more quickly by the western mature operation concept. Although the overall operation strength and the quality of the employees in the industry are relatively low, almost all the brand manufacturers are already asking the end customers to do the image store, and publicize the franchise.

In fact, brand monopolization and franchising not only raise higher requirements for terminal outlets, but also more importantly require more stringent demands on brand enterprises themselves.

For example, we need more precise positioning, richer product lines, better image and so on.

Then, when brand manufacturers do not fully have these abilities, they rush to join them. The operation risks of the monopolies on the two sides are relatively large. At this time, some of the total generation seems to be non-standard, and a more flexible way of operation has given the whole distribution chain a buffer process.

The role change has become a pressing matter of the moment. With the intensification of market competition, many subjective and objective conditions that led to the emergence of regional general agents have undergone great changes. The necessary conditions at that time were redundant today, and the tasks that need to be completed at the time can now be completed through his own way.

For example, the rapid development of the logistics industry in recent years is obvious to all. Many brand manufacturers have gradually established and improved the sales team after nearly ten years of market baptism, and have completed the initial accumulation of funds and so on. All the factors are changing. In addition, many regions are not aware of the problem before the crisis comes, and have not adjusted themselves in time, so many problems have also been highlighted.

The crocodile shirt has entered the mainland market for many years, and for a long time, it adopted the regional general agency mode.

Since 2006, Lin Weishan, the new chief executive, has made adjustments to this mode: phasing out the agency and increasing the number of outlets.

As the executor of this decision, Liang Feng, general manager of Guangzhou branch of crocodile, explained: "it is hard to find a better regional agent, because many agents are relatively short, the brand is ours, and we need to make the crocodile shirt continue to be a hundred years brand."

In Liang Feng's view, the most obvious drawback of agent system is that agents will have problems in the disposition of goods.

For example, if you shop a shopping mall, you need 1 million yuan worth of goods. Agents usually only shop 200 thousand, so there will often be broken code, the volume is not enough.

"If the company makes the 1 million of its own counters, we may lay 2 million of the goods, so the sales will be easy to rush out."

With a series of standardized, scientific and systematic market means to enhance franchisee's store image and performance, for most of the current Chinese agents, they still do not possess this awareness and ability, conscious and competent, but they use this capability to increase the total revenue by using more brands instead of increasing their total revenue by improving the benefit of a single brand.

"Self run" will invest more in the brand image, many agents will have such an idea, "brand is the company, too much investment in the image, it is better to invest more money in goods", so in the shop decoration will also Jerry built, it needs to spend 50 thousand yuan of decoration, he only spend 20 thousand.

And in terms of brand culture, agents will not pay much attention to the training of franchisees.

Liang Feng said.

Another advantage of self run mode is that sales promotion is more uniform.

Liang Feng said: "the agency discount is very low, and the discount should not be discounted, which is a damage to the brand image."

The crocodile shirt resumed the general agent in North China, and the process was relatively smooth.

Because the agent at that time had already obtained the authorization of a foreign brand, they had put their main energy on that brand, "if the crocodile shirt is handed over to them, it will be unfavourable to the brand development."

Liang Feng said.

Another main reason for the abolition of regional agency is that market competition is becoming more and more intense.

The former general agent is only responsible for the development of the next level agent dealers, and the management of these two tier agents is less.

With such a level of development, the competitiveness of the brand will be greatly weakened when it reaches the terminal.

"For example, the total agent of a garment is 100 yuan, the dealer at the next level is 120 yuan, the dealer will consider profitability again, the price will rise again, so there are too many levels, and when it comes to the terminal, it will not be competitive."

Liang Feng explained.

The four direction of the total pformation is the popularity of self catering stores. Many leisure wear brands such as Giordano, Baleno and so on are now doing direct operations. More than 70% of the market in the country is directly operated. Only in remote areas will they consider the general agent.

Giordano now does not set up provincial agents at all, unless the province can directly run the province directly.

"Giordano has no longer developed two tier agents, the two tier agency has not much profit.

The original clothing profit is high, the shopping mall is not so ruthless now, the three level agent still has money to make, now can not.

What is needed now is agents that can develop terminals instead of batch ones. "

Liang Feng, who is well versed in domestic clothing marketing, said.

Wang Lei, the general agent of Zorro's family in North China, has already set up a self run store.

"We can change the decoration and personnel, but it is very difficult to change people's quality and ideas. It is not the first place to open a self run store to promote the brand in one area."

Wang Lei believes that the involvement of self run stores is conducive to shaping the brand image and expanding franchised stores after the recognition of a regional brand.

In addition, by managing self operated stores, operators can feel the hardships and find problems in order to better manage franchisees.

In addition, self run stores can also serve as training bases, and regularly call franchisees to private shops for training.

The branch has said goodbye to the function of the general generation. Although the practice of setting up branch offices by clothing brand owners has been in practice for a long time, the functions of the branches have quietly changed in recent years.

The original regional branches are generally synonymous with local agents. They earn the same Commission as the general agent.

The crocodile shirt divides the mainland market into several major regions and sets up branches in each region.

"The branch company at that time played only the role of the bridge. It was only an office, which was mainly responsible for coordinating and communicating with the lower level agents and distributors."

At that time, the head of Beijing branch was the general agent in North China.

"Because our headquarters in Guangzhou is too far away from Beijing. Sometimes management is out of line."

After recovering the original agent in North China, now the crocodile Beijing branch has a retail department, doing retail business, and developing terminal stores.

Acting multi brand professional agencies surfaced. Guangzhou road and a professional clothing brand agency, now acting Switzerland high.