Chinese Clothing Brand Enterprises Seek To Break Through The Big Store Mode

Some time ago, the brand Me & City of the United States is closed in the flagship store in Huaihailu Road, Shanghai, which covers an area of more than 2000 square meters. For a while, the clothing industry discussed the fashion store's fashion model.

Big shop trend

The big shop is a form that caters to the psychological changes of consumers. People's consumption of clothing is not more embodied in material needs, but in spirit, it is necessary to have some space and style to satisfy these spiritual needs.

　　 international brand ZARA, H&M, UNIQLO (UNIQLO) and so on are not new in China. In fact, as early as several years ago, the domestic clothing brand has already opened up the trend of big shops.

In 2005, the domestic casual wear giant, mates and bang Wei, had already waded through the "big shop", and opened the first 5000 square meter shop in Hangzhou, Zhejiang. Its store is spacious and magnificent. The main product is rich in shops, which effectively enhances the brand image, which is a delight to the industry. At the end of 2007, the brand opened a larger scale of 10000 square meters in Nanjing West Road, Shanghai's main base, and its store opened up.

In 2008, when the United States was listed, the company said its 68 listed shops were listed as flagship stores and image stores, of which 31 were direct flagship stores and direct store image stores, 37 were flagship stores and strategic franchise stores. It shows that the state of America loves the big shop mode.

Industry experts said that the store can not only enhance the overall image of the brand, but also promote market expansion and attract more franchisees. In addition, big stores have a deterrent effect on the local market and competitors, and will play an immeasurable role in promoting the sale of enterprises in the local market.

Obviously, it is not limited to the United States to see the brand of these advantages.

In 2007, men's clothing brand seven wolves raised 800 million yuan fund in the capital market for Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Xi'an and other places, and planned to develop 20 "seven wolf wolf men's living hall" with an area of more than 800 square meters. Zhao Naichao, director of the seven wolf channel center, said that the overall situation of the seven wolves "men's living hall" in 2006 is very good. The large shop with thousands of square meters is likely to be the future direction of the seven wolves.

Zhou Shaoxiong, chairman of the seven wolves, said that the life hall will mainly focus on the big cities, on the one hand, the performance of the image, on the one hand, the exploration of the pattern. (micro-blog) Living museum needs population density and consumer support. In his view, the big shop is a form of pandering to the psychological changes of consumers. People's consumption of clothing is not more reflected in material needs, but in spirit, to meet these spiritual needs, we must have some space and style.

Chen Guoqiang, deputy director of the China Garment Association Industrial Economics Research Institute, also told reporters that the brand opening shop is not simply a reflection of the product, but more importantly, the creation of a lifestyle in a larger scope, so that consumers can experience.

Another famous men's brand, wedding bird, is also hard to hide. In 2010, Wu Zhize, chairman of the newspaper bird bird group, told the media that the strategy of the birds is to rush to the battalion, push the series and open a large store, especially in large shops. The company will pay more attention to the development of big stores and flagship stores.

The 2011 Annual report shows that the company achieved operating income of 2 billion 28 million yuan in 2011, an increase of 61.23% over the previous year, a total profit of 433 million yuan, an increase of 47.46% over the same period last year, and a net profit attributable to the parent company was 368 million yuan, an increase of 51.66% over the same period last year. In this regard, Huachang securities company analysis said that the company's revenue and performance exceeded expectations, one of the reasons is in its channel expansion, the company's channel expansion growth rate of about 20%, raising the price of about 10%, and because the company opened a large store, the area grew more, at present, the company has 133 stores.

In 2009, the famous designer brand CABBEEN (Cabbeen) opened a 630 square meter flagship store in Quanzhou, Fujian, which is divided into two levels. It is a "Cabbeen club" which combines clothing, culture, leisure and friends gathering functions.

In May 23, 2011, the domestic sports brand Anta flagship store opened in Beijing's first store. This is the first and largest flagship store in China except the headquarters image shop. The total area of the flagship store is 1083 square meters, which belongs to the six generation of Anta's comprehensive store. Among them, a collection of products including Anta sports, life, children's wear and so on. The store's focus is on the concept of "Anta sports city", whose main purpose is to let consumers see a variety of sports artworks there, experience the joy brought by sports to life, and understand Anta's brand culture. "The first flagship store has a very important significance for Anta product sales and brand connotation." Anta Sports Products Limited brand President Zheng Jie said.

In September 28, 2011, YOUNGOR (9.54, -0.01, -0.10%) rebuilt its flagship store in Dongdan, Beijing. This is the third decoration of YOUNGOR flagship store since it opened in 2002, and its 6 brands are all settled in Dongdan. However, before and after 2010, YOUNGOR has opened more than 1000 square meters of large brand stores in the Bund, Hangzhou, Yanan Road, Xi'an and Harbin in Shanghai.

But is the store really that good?

Big shop cautious?

Whether or not to open a large store and how to open a large store depends on the actual situation of different brands in their development stages. After all, any kind of model is not universally applicable.

Many brand flagship stores are located in prosperous business circles. Their business area is hundreds of square meters, or even thousands of square meters. They are decorated luxuriously and have abundant products. They become an important channel to display brand image and disseminate brand culture and corporate culture. These flagship stores, located in prosperous business circles, benefit from the strong flow of people, and often increase sales of brand products.

Experts in the industry believe that the importance of brand opening is more important than sales. First of all, real estate appreciation is more insurance than stock futures. Secondly, the use of flagship stores to attract investment from the three tier markets is more effective, and visible live advertisements have more impact than TV advertising. Brand business design chain expert duxia believes that the current domestic market, consumers to determine whether a brand has the strength of the basis is very simple, that is, through the visible terminal store brand evaluation. Few people will really go through other information channels to see exactly what brand strength is.

Even so, it does not mean that all brands are suitable for big store mode. Whether or not to open a large store and how to open a large store depends on the actual situation of different brands in their development stages. After all, any kind of model is not universally applicable.

Recently, media reports reported that Nike flagship store, located in Nanjing West Road, Shanghai's bustling business circle, was closed because of the rent rising. Later, SEPHORA, the leader of the international cosmetics retailing industry, will become the "new owner" there.

It seems that not only domestic brands, but also international brands have their own helplessness in setting up shop. Li Kailuo, an economic research expert of China's famous fashion industry, thinks that the disadvantage of big shops is that the cost of product development is very high. Clothing brands only talk about brand culture, for example, there are no more than one hundred clothes in the PRADA store, and the store must have a complete range of products. Fashion luxury brands earn 80% of the added value in the face of 20% of the consumer group. And big stores can not do this, requiring complete goods, ready to sell a large number of styles to 80% of the consumer group. Among them, product categories, inventory management, turnover rate of goods, retail technology management and other aspects are complex and changeable. In case of poor coordination, there will be stock squeezing. The most important thing is that the high cost of shops opened in big shops will result in a low level of efficiency.

However, today, with the rents of shops raging, it is doubtless a serious challenge for the brand to bear the rental cost of large stores. In 2011, the number of Anta stores was reduced from 8200 to 7800~8000. Zhang Tao, vice president of Anta group, said in an interview with the media that there was a strategic reason for the slow pace of opening up shops, but also because of the pressure of rents rising.

"Many flagship stores are basically operating at a loss." Chen Xiangjiang, an agent of a sports brand in Quanzhou, Fujian, has counted an account: at present, the stores that are open on two or three commercial streets in the city, the rent of a square meter is generally 500~800 yuan, assuming that the area is 300 square meters, and the annual rent is 2 million ~300 yuan. Many stores can only sell millions of yuan in one year's sales, excluding the costs of labor, taxation, water and electricity, and so on.

The seven wolves who used to favor the big store mode knew how to balance the timing and skills of opening big stores. During the period from 2007 to 2008, according to the needs of brand development, the seven wolves launched some policies to encourage big stores to open strong stores. After that, they were trapped by high rent and high cost. Zhou Shaoxiong frankly, the cost of raw materials has increased rapidly, and the financial crisis has caused great pressure on the development of the seven wolf channels, thus slowing down the expansion of scale. In terms of channel expansion, the seven wolves postponed the previous expansion store plan in 2009.

At the same time, when the market was depressed, the seven wolves adopted the strategy of delaying the "big client system" and "the living hall promotion system". Because the "living hall system" needs to rent large areas, and high rent, construction design fees and other expenses will become a big expenditure. Therefore, the seven wolves did not blindly expand the business scope of the living hall, and used the delaying strategy to cope with the more stagnant environment.

Of course, the removal of rent and other aspects of the test, big shop in other aspects of the brand has higher requirements. For example, for the management of large stores. Compared with ordinary shops, the management system of large stores is more complex. Its operation system, personnel's target management and incentive system, data analysis system of goods, and service promotion system are different from general stores. Besides, the number, theme and series of products are different from those of ordinary stores. If a store reaches an area of several thousand square meters, how does the brand highlight its theme, how to display its seriation, and whether there are enough products, which not only puts forward certain requirements on the store, but also challenges the product development. In the final analysis, the store is testing the comprehensive operation capability of the brand.

Whether it is the closure of flagship stores or the closure of flagship stores by Nike, it does not reflect the advantages and disadvantages of the big store model itself. The mode is not good or bad, the key lies in the brand enterprise according to the actual situation to make the strategic choice suitable for brand development.

As Wang Wenzong, chairman of Ordifen International Group, said, "opening a large store is not the only development mode of a brand. Making your own characteristics will be more meaningful than blindly demanding big shops. " In Wang Wenzong's opinion, although a large store can display brand momentum, it will increase operational risk accordingly. "In the early stage, we have invested more rent and other costs. If there are any problems in the later stage, it will be too late to recover. There is nothing wrong with the brand's mentality of being bigger and stronger, but I feel that it is more meaningful to make our own characteristics than to ask for a big shop. "

Chen Guoqiang said that the operation of the big store is not simple, and behind the big shop is the industrial chain, including product supply, logistics and finance. If a brand's industrial chain structure is not built, the large shop will inevitably fail to support it. As for the US bond closed flagship store, Chen Guoqiang thought it was not the failure of the big store mode.

In addition, it is worth mentioning that the appearance of big stores is the result of competition. With the development of the times, if today's big shops remain at the level of attracting consumers through visual impact, they will inevitably enter a blind alley. How to improve the profitability of single store, optimize the service and carry out meticulous management is the way for the brand to ponder. After all, spending so much manpower and material resources and financial resources can not bring certain benefits.