Pathfinder 336 Million, Stock Is Like A Mountain. Clothing Enterprises Go To Inventory.

A war on inventory has been fought for nearly a year, how to control its inventory and turn them into cash flow instead of backlog in the warehouse. clothing Common problems faced by the company

Never has an industry such as clothing, product positioning is the most important. Once biased, like a negative person. Lining Will be mercilessly facing the mountains like falling down in stock.

Inventory is, of course, not only because of its own positioning and external environment changes, but also the eternal "Achilles heel" of clothing companies.

Almost entirely competitive clothing enterprises, timely adjustment of business strategy, how to quickly turn inventory to investors is the focus of attention.

With the stimulation of Tmall 19 billion 100 million's double eleven sales volume, the worries of the physical retail industry, especially the clothing industry, have deepened.

Some clues can be seen in the industry's fission, high-end women's wear posture has launched an email promotion, and also launched half off promotions in Tmall's flagship store, and the front line that is rooted in the three or four line market is also beginning to deliberate on its shop opening. Semir is willing to sacrifice its gross margin to throw away its inventory burden.

In the real store, half off of the offline sales in Shenzhen's Tianhong shopping center also attracted a lot of customers who came in the rain. Perhaps they came back from the war field where Maoming department store had just finished the 48 hour night business.

Entering the autumn and winter season, the apparel dominated online and offline retail system has entered a strong discount season, behind which is a tug of war between clothing companies and inventory.

With the rapid expansion of the new small listed companies, the new franchisee has become a master inventor, while the extension era of the old company has passed, and we need to make intensive efforts in brand building and innovation.

In this survey, we mainly chose all kinds of special clothing companies distributed in coastal cities and first tier cities.

It includes the high Growth Company, which are far away from the United States and Semir, search for the high-end men's clothing, the card Nu Di Road, the gem star company Pathfinder, the high-end women's dress posture, the professional dress positioning Georges white, and the representative of Waterloo, the garment industry. Semir 。

We start from the stock of major companies to find out how to use all kinds of skills to seize market space and defeat competitors when the apparel industry is in a recession.

From Beijing to Wenzhou, and then to Dongguan, Guangzhou in the south, it is the most dynamic trend of clothing companies.

The small companies in the industry are in the early honeymoon period, while the old ones are suffering from growing pains.

Epitaxy and internal inventory are challenging operators in this industry.

Search at the scene: what is the growth rate of 6 in a single season? Two yuan in advance.

Why did the gross profit margin fall by four percentage points in the first quarter and the rapid recovery in the two or three quarter? How did the front line of the three or four line market open up?

Located in the densely packed companies of various towns in Dongguan, we found the headquarters of 002503.SZ in Dao Jiao Town. It is the fourth largest taxpayer in Dongguan, and has become a famous local company since its listing. A rented office building with rent of about 1 million a year is located at the headquarters of the company's nearly 1000 people. Factory style office buildings display the latest exhibition hall layout of the search front brand.

In clothing Spin In the sluggish market, especially when the performance of Morima Mikuni's leading casual wear company declined significantly, it appeared in the dark horse's posture. Since 2011, the average annual growth rate of net profit in the single quarter has been over 63%. What makes the search engine shine in the competitive casual wear market? {page_break}

Dump stock to dealers

Start with the stock we most care about. Three quarterly reports reveal that the company's inventory is currently 369 million yuan, a slight decrease compared to the China Daily and a quarterly report.

Three quarterly earnings are 0.33, that is to say, 33 million yuan is required for every one hundred million business income. This level occupies the intermediate level in the 6 companies surveyed during this period, but it is lower than the 300005.SZ and 002656.SZ in the same expansion. The three quarterly earnings of the two companies are 0.54 and 0.64 respectively.

How to control inventory? Search at special manager Liao Gangyan said that the company is in the stage of full development of franchisees. On the one hand, the advantage of franchising is to put inventory problems in the major franchisees, and has nothing to do with the company itself. In the four seasons of the order meeting, the company processes production according to the order placed by the franchisee, and the company usually adds a little mobile stock to the order amount. On the other hand, the rapid expansion of the franchisee makes the company's inventory quickly digested, and the backlog of inventory is mostly from raw materials and products.

Unlike the United States, which completely outsource the intermediate production chain, the search is now on the way to design raw materials procurement - commission processing - channel joining, outsourcing the factory production to the foundries in Hunan and Dongguan, and the procurement of raw materials is still carried out by the company. Most of the raw materials come from Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Fujian, and are the partners of the company for many years.

When the gross profit margin dropped 4 percentage points in the first quarter of this year and the two or three quarter rebounded to around 34%, Liao Gangyan said that the decline in gross profit in the first quarter was due to the low price disposal of tens of millions of stocks at the end of 2011, which led to a decrease in sales margin. The rebound in the two or three quarter was partly due to the higher price of raw materials, but lower actual purchasing price.

Searching for the pricing model of the current product is cost plus, so the gross margin is relatively stable. Generally, the price of the next two quarters will be priced at the order meeting, and the price of raw materials will be estimated. Therefore, when the actual purchase, raw material prices will increase the gross profit of products.

There are discount promotions in the end of the season for dealers' inventory handling problems. A simple promotion method of "forty percent off, two, half off" is the most popular type of sales promotion. On the other hand, the company will only give advice and guidance on sales promotion, and will not interfere with the dealer's terminal selling price. It also takes a positive attitude towards dealing with the problem of over season inventory. The brand positioning of the front line makes it not afraid to "discount too much and affect the brand image".

　 Landmark shops in the three or four line Market

Speaking of the brand building of the company, Liao Gangyan said with great firmness: now, in particular, he has concentrated on doing things well. The brand positioning of the trend front will not change, and the pricing strategy will not change. In terms of sub brands, although Semir clothing has children's brand balbala, while American Apparel has created a high-end ME&CITY, Liao Gangyan said that the company will not create new sub brands for the time being, and focus on expanding the front-line market. In terms of brand image, the current spokesperson Nicholas Tse and Song Hye Kyo will expire next year. Ma Hong, chairman of the company, said he should renew Nicholas Tse instead of Song Hye Kyo. At present, the two endorsement fee is between 2 million -300 and the contract is generally signed for 2-3 years, and the cost of each activity is counted separately.

Although based on the development of the three or four line market, the brand positioning of the front line is not only cheap and practical, but rather "fashion to the countryside". Since 2012, the new franchised store has been required to achieve more than 200 square meters in principle. At the same time, it encourages franchisees to open multi storey shops to the "air development". The company continues to support franchisees to open large stores and open stores by giving credit lines, delivery shelves, lighting fixtures, subsidies and decoration, management training and other measures.

In Guangxi Baise, Anhui Ji'an, Shenzhen and other places have opened landmark large storefront, become a symbol of the surrounding business district.

Orders will be optimistic and lock in next year.

In the winter and next spring and summer, the order will be finished. For the order meeting, Liao Gangyan said that the situation is more optimistic. Previously, he has predicted that the net profit growth rate will exceed 40% this year.

For the prosperous online store, Liao Gangyan said that the company is carrying out the construction of online shopping mall, and is also on the platform of Taobao Tmall. At that time, the line and offline product line will be separated, and the focus will still be laid on the lower channel.

At present, in the rapid development of the epitaxy, we have gone through the brilliant path of our predecessors. The Metersbonwe which opened the first store in 1995 and the Semir dress founded in Wenzhou in 1996 has undergone a rapid extension stage. Now it is experiencing the bottleneck of brand management and internal management.

When competitors are busy coping with their own difficulties, the pace of searching for the new market has already begun. Executives feel that the company's internal management needs to be improved.

Pathfinder scene: 336 million stock is like the mountain, the sales rate drops 10 points.

The performance of the Pathfinder is in line with expectations, but huge inventory has also become a problem for outdoor leaders. The report shows that the company's inventory in the three quarter was 336 million

Due to the placement of various products such as tents, cooking utensils, kettles and outdoor clothing, the shops of the 300005.SZ shop seem to be particularly conspicuous despite their small overall size. Even on the 7 floor of the grand Xidan department store, customers can easily find it.

In November 15, 2012, it began to rain and snow in Beijing. The latest style of the assault clothing is placed in the front position of the Pathfinder store. clothes Stop before.

"Our new style of assault clothing is very waterproof and breathable. It is just wearing it now. Any rain and snow will be fine. The heat preservation effect is very good. Now many stores are selling fake clothing." According to the salesmen in the store, this assault clothing is the best product sold in the last month.

"Besides the beautiful style, our clothes are mainly more functional." Another salesperson began to emphasize the technological content of products. She told reporters that at present, the shops are all up to date, and the clothes in season are already off shelves. Some of the stock will be sent to several discount shops. {page_break}

Going to stock depends on 100 discount stores and electricity providers.

On the top 4 floors of block A, No. 6 Jin Qiu International Building, Zhichun Road, Beijing, the Pathfinder takes 3 of them.

In October 20, 2012, the Pathfinder announced the three quarterly report, operating income in the first three quarters increased 45.3% to 624 million yuan, and operating profit increased 78% to 115 million yuan over the same period.

Many analysts said that the performance of the Pathfinder is in line with expectations, but huge inventory has also become a problem for outdoor leaders. The report shows that the company's inventory in the three quarter was 336 million, an increase of 113.5% over the same period, while the annulus ratio rose by 266%. In this regard, some brokerage researchers believe that this is mainly from the autumn winter clothing store in advance.

However, 113.5% of the year-on-year increase in inventories obviously can not be explained only by seasonal factors. For this reason, Zhang Cheng, a pathfinder manager, explained to reporters that due to the expansion of the scale, many franchisee funds increased pressure, and many sales in the summer failed to recover in September. If these products were sold, the stock in the actual three quarter changed little in the past year.

Turning to inventory, Zhang Cheng told reporters that it depends on the rate of goods sold out. Last year, the sales rate of the Pathfinder is around 75%, and the rest of the goods will be sold at some discount stores next year. At present, the company has about 100 discount stores, accounting for 8% of the company's stores.

In addition, over season products will also be sold through e-commerce. Zhang Cheng said that for last year's sales rate of 75%, the proportion of e-commerce sales to inventory is not large. This year, the current sales rate is more than 60%, so the proportion of electricity providers will be increased.

The Pathfinder e-business branch is located on the 24 floor of block A, Jin Qiu International Building, and is located on the same floor as the office of Sheng Faqiang, the chairman of the Pathfinder. At present, the Pathfinder has cooperation with the main electricity suppliers in China. The Connaught brand of the Pathfinder is officially launched at the end of April this year. Sheng Faqiang said that arkano is a brand independent of the Pathfinder, the main leisure outdoor products, and its sales goods are different from those of the Pathfinder.

In the first half of 2012, the Pathfinder business income was 23 million 300 thousand yuan, doubling compared to the same period last year, and the order of electricity suppliers in spring and summer in 2013 was about 70 million yuan. At present, arkeno accounts for about 8% of the sales revenue of the Pathfinder, and hopes that the new brand will account for 30% in the future.

Zhang Cheng said, at present, other electricity suppliers sell mainly two kinds of products, the first one is over season products, and some discount will be made on the price, because there will be no impact on the products of the season. The second is that the Pathfinder will have some special funds for the electricity supplier to make the difference between online and offline.

Avoid vicious inventory to cope with the winter of industry

Sheng Faqiang, the chairman of the Pathfinder, said in an interview with financial weekly reporter that the Pathfinder is more transparent than other enterprises. This transparency is also reflected in the 2013 spring and summer clothing ordering meeting.

At present, the ordering of major clothing brands in China has come to an end, but clothing companies have shown extreme caution in ordering data. As of now, only the Pathfinder has made public the 2013 spring and summer order meeting. The company disclosed that the purchase amount for spring and summer in 2013 increased by 50.49% over the same period.

In this regard, Zhang Cheng, a pathfinder manager, said that two orders per year would account for more than 85% of the company's sales, thereby judging that the company's performance next year could still maintain a good growth. In addition, a researcher said that thanks to the ERP system improvement, the company's internal management and cost control capabilities increased, gross margin was 49.8%, 1 percentage points higher than the same period last year.

In this regard, it is widely questioned that it is difficult for Pathfinder to continue to maintain high growth in performance.

Galaxy Securities analyst Mary Li believes that although last year's order will increase the revenue of the Pathfinder 66%, but this year the franchisee delivery rate has been reduced, in 2012, the second, third single quarter revenue growth dropped to about 35%. At present, the entire clothing terminal pressure is bigger, the company also receives the big environment influence, the selling rate reduces.

What strategy will the Pathfinder adopt when facing the cold winter?

In this regard, Zhang Cheng told reporters that the three sentence can be explained clearly.

The first is to summarize and judge the trend of the development of the industry, because the development trend of the industry reflects the real growth of the company. The Pathfinder will adjust the performance growth target to a reasonable range according to the company's judgement of the industry trend and avoid malignant inventory.

The second is the judgement of market demand, and the product style that we strive to design can be accepted to the maximum extent by the market. The last is to create brand personality culture. {page_break}

"For example, we asked Wang Feng to endorse, launch a brand new image advertisement, and take Wang Feng's classic song" brave heart "as the theme song to create our brand culture. Let consumers not only buy products, but also feel the brave spirit of Pathfinder. Zhang Cheng said.

The scene of the card slave Road: inventories surged 100 million, 20 stores with 1 outlets.

For the long-standing inventory problem in the industry, Raymond Lam, a manager of the Confederation, seems somewhat helpless: "inventory is the grave of the brand, which is inevitable."

"This suit is the new style this year. The fine stripes are straight and steady. Now the whole game is thirty percent off, and the more than 21000 is after the discount." The salesman pointed to a man's suit in a shop in Guangzhou's friendship department store and introduced the autumn and winter new style to reporters this year.

"Thousands of suits are made in China. The raw material of that more than 20 thousand just came from abroad, so it's more expensive." The salesperson told reporters.

In the two tier of friendship department store, compared with the men's wear brands around the world, the card slave road has a complete shop compartment, and the storefront space appears to be in a neat atmosphere. But in the half hour after the reporter walked into the direct shop, he did not see any other customers.

In the last issue of clothing, it was mentioned that in the three quarter, the card slave road rose by 70% gross margin and 62% growth in men's clothing. However, it still faces the inevitable fate of the clothing industry -- inventory problem.

According to the three quarterly report, the company's inventory balance reached 253 million yuan at the end of the term, a growth of 61.6%, while operating income was 395 million, and the inventory revenue ratio reached 0.65. What is the reason behind the decline in operating cash flow? What are the reasons behind the other high-end brand men's clothing? How about the operation mode and inventory clearance channel of the card slave road? With these myths, the reporter visited Guangzhou headquarters of the card slave road and interviewed Raymond Lam, a manager of the Confederation.

Every 20 outlets have a Oteri J.

For the long-standing inventory problem in the industry, Raymond Lam seems somewhat helpless: "inventory is the grave of the brand, which is inevitable."

Analysts believe that the three quarter inventories increased by 73% to 253 million yuan compared with the beginning of the year, representing an obvious increase of 157 million yuan compared with the first half of the year, mainly due to the increase in the volume of goods generated by the direct store growth and the basic storage of goods in the autumn and winter of 2012.

The opening of new stores has been an important strategy for brand development and marketing network expansion. Since 2008, the annual compound growth rate of the number of stores has been 36.88%, of which the average annual compound growth rate of Direct stores is 32.63%, the annual compound growth rate of franchised stores is 42.90%, and this year, 90 new stores have been opened up.

There are 2 orders each year, and orders are increasing every year. Manager Chen General of Wenzhou Mingwei Garments Co., Ltd. told reporters that Mingwei and card slave road had been working together for more than ten years. Orders for men's jackets and jackets were increasing every year.

Inventory is a common problem of apparel companies, and there are different ways to solve it.

In the three quarter of 2011, the birds were relieved by the return of franchisees in the two quarter to ease the inventory pressure in autumn and winter, and the card slave road also had its own way to inventory, Oteri J (OUTLETS) discount store.

"This can be said to be the characteristics of the card nundi Road, and the foreign men's wear brands are doing this, the mode has been very successful." Raymond Lam was excited and confident. He said that the operating costs of outlets are relatively low, and the discount points of the affiliated shopping centers are relatively low, usually 15% of the rebate points. Therefore, outlets are the main digestion channels for over season goods. The old goods are usually sold at a discount of 3-6, reducing the inventory level and speeding up the return of funds. For inventory digestion, the company has been able to digest the company through opening outlets in Guangzhou, Beijing and Shanghai. The company has 20 outlets, with an average of 20 outlets serving an orter store to digest the past 2 years.

Performance gains benefit from business models

For the three secrets of the 62% quarter and 70% gross profit in the first quarter of the year, Raymond Lam said frankly that it mainly benefited from new stores, 650 million of the funds raised and the operation mode of the card slave road.

The operation mode of the return Office of the card slave Road shopping mall has not affected the rent and labor costs generally. {page_break}

"Fujian mainly produces jackets and trousers, mainly by street stores and franchised stores. About 50% of men's clothing in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces are in the street stores, and 50% in the mid-range shops. And the card slave road belongs to light asset type, 70% to 75% of business income is directly from the direct store. Lin Fengguo said.

He told reporters that the card slave road in department stores and airports are running in the mode of joint shopping mall, without paying rent, income sharing, shopping malls divided into revenue 35%.

Therefore, compared with Fujian and Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, men's clothing will be rented by 50% of the rent and profits, and the card slave road has not been greatly affected.

Moreover, the company's 650 million investment in new stores and ERP information management construction is also an important factor in the growth of performance. "However, the development speed of the company is too fast and the management is not enough, for example, in the aspect of manual training, it takes time to adapt." Li Fengguo was worried.

For the company's performance this year, Raymond Lam said it meets the expected growth rate of 40%-60%. For Guangdong, last year, Guangzhou's friendship department store had the best performance of the card slave Road store, reaching 5 million -600 million.

Operating efficiency is reduced and cash flow continues to be negative.

Three quarterly reports showed that the operating cash flow growth rate of the card slave road in the first quarter of this year was positive and negative, and the three quarter decreased by more than 2000 percentage points.

Societe Generale Securities analysts believe that during the reporting period, with the expansion of the company's operating scale, the company's balance sheet operating efficiency has declined.

The company's accounts receivable increased this year, mainly because the company increased its credit support to franchisees this year under the condition of relatively abundant funds. The decline in operational efficiency makes the company's operating cash flow continue to be negative, and also makes the solvency index decline. "More purchases and more new stores are also the reasons for the decline in operating cash flows." The analyst told reporters.

Look at the scene: inventories rose sharply by 4.

Inventory in the franchisee channel, all returned to the posture, led to the sharp rise in the stock of Long's. And Georges white because of the transformation failed, resulting in increased costs, inventories also rose.

Located on the 4 floor of LIME, Nanjing West Road, Shanghai, the location of the store "FLARE FLARE" (Rhine, the brand of LAN Zi) is not very conspicuous. Beside the entrance of the shop is a brand named "listing 1st anniversary" of the stock group, and a picture of a popular movie star, and the other side is the "twenty percent off" brand.

The shop is wearing high-end sweaters, dresses, trousers and a small quantity. shoes Son. Sweater prices are often tens of thousands, and pants prices are generally over two thousand. Reporters stayed there for about half an hour, only two people were idle.

Long stance reduces the 62% franchise rate to high inventory

This year's three quarterly report shows that the operating income of the first three quarters of the group was 782 million, an increase of 26.10% compared with the same period last year, and the net profit of the shareholders belonging to the listed company was 208 million, an increase of 41.15% over the same period last year. In stark contrast, inventories grew by 66% in the first three quarters compared with 445 million in the first quarter, while inventories in the three quarter increased by 39.78% at the end of the two quarter.

In fact, an important "culprit" is the franchise system. In the early days of the development of the posture, because of the regional advantages of franchisees in the Department Store negotiations, the proportion of joining was very high, especially the main brand, which accounted for 62%.

"This system is a mismatch for high-end brands, and low-end brands are generally marketing oriented, like Semir, Metersbonwe and high-end luxury goods. Joining the system will continue to impact the price system, brand building will be a problem. A senior investor in Shanghai told reporters.

Lv Lihua, a researcher at the first R & D center, also believes that, compared with joining, the direct camp is conducive to improving the terminal management level of the second tier cities in the second tier cities, expanding the profitability of single stores, and reducing the pressure on the franchisees' funds and inventory, and enabling franchisees to get higher income than before and fully mobilize their business motivation.

As a result, since 2012, Rand has taken part in the transformation of the brand, and incorporated some of the franchisees' shops into the company. Data show that in the first half of this year, the group received 19 franchisee stores (14 in Wuxi and 5 in Henan) in the second tier cities, and will also achieve the goal of direct and 80%-90% direct operation in the second tier cities in the future through the way of joining the second tier and the capital cities. Increasing the proportion of direct battalion not only improves management efficiency, reduces costs, but also improves gross margin of sales. In the two quarter of 2012, the gross profit of 64.23% shares was 3.49 percentage points higher than that in the first quarter. {page_break}

But this also brings side effects - inventory pressure.

Inventory in the franchisee channel, now all returned to the hands of long posture, leading to the sharp rise in the stock of Long's. Data show that in the first three quarters, the stock in the first quarter increased 66% compared with the beginning of the year, and the stock in the three quarter increased by 39.78% compared with the end of the two quarter.

Under the pressure of inventory, the group opened its fifth quarter business segment in the second half of 2011, responsible for OUTLETS discount stores and integrated some terminal stores. In 2011, he integrated 7 OUTLETS discount stores, adding 9 to 16 in the first half of this year, and more than 10 others to be integrated. The company plans to complete the integration of all OUTLETS within this year.

However, the discount stores have also brought about a drop in gross profit while digesting inventory. Data show that after the two quarter gross profit rose to 64.23%, the gross profit of the three quarter decreased by 2.68 percentage points, which was not significantly different from that of the first quarter, and the gross profit brought by it was exhausted.

The first mismatch leads to the present double mismatch. This is the core issue of the posture.

George White: high inventory caused by transformation disorder

According to the business outlets posted by George White on Shanghai, the reporter went to the shopping center of Changning Lu long dream, West Yan'an Road World Trade Center, Huaihai Zhong Road Baisheng shopping center, Lingling road flying island International Plaza and Nanjing West Road new world city, and did not find George Bai Ying Industrial Network. Finally, only in the remote Kawa Chihiroki fashion center 2 floor, did we find a George white shirt shop.

"This is the old problem of George White. The rate of closing shop is high, and the relationship between George White's sales system has not yet been straightened out." The above senior investment personage said.

Three quarterly report shows that in 2012 1-9, George White realized operating income of 456 million yuan, an increase of 15.6% over the same period last year, and realized the net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies 61 million 545 thousand yuan, an increase of 8.6% over the same period last year. Of which, 7-9 months realized operating income of 134 million yuan, an increase of -3.2% over the same period, and net profit of 13 million 515 thousand yuan, an increase of -19.02% over the same period last year.

"The main customers of the company are mainly in the fields of finance, electricity, tobacco and so on. The macro economy continues to fall. It is expected that some customers or potential customers will reduce administrative expenses and postpone the order, resulting in a marked decline in the company's revenue and earnings growth. Anxin securities Zhao Zhicheng thinks.

Before George White, the main business was customized for group buying. The main advantage of this model is that the inventory pressure is small and the repayment is faster, but it is greatly affected by the economic fluctuation. Therefore, George White began to build his own channel to push retail sales.

However, as at present, George White is still immature in retailing, mainly due to its low store efficiency, large number of outlets, and high return rate of franchisees.

"The product line, cost structure, and sales system are going to change a lot. The business model is quite different. The company has not yet made the transition. The cost is rising and the stock is rising. " The investors told reporters. {page_break}

In addition, the order will usually be regarded as the weathervane of the clothing market in the coming year. With the growth of the apparel industry terminal, the 2013 spring and summer clothing ordering data will arouse the attention of all parties. However, George Bai, a group buying group, can not judge the future situation by ordering.

Semir scene: gross profit plunged 6%, "try every means to go to 1 billion 400 million stock".

The reason why Semir's revenue declined is that the franchisees last year were too optimistic. They could not afford to sell more goods. They could only sell at a discount this year.

1 billion 439 million, this is the inventory of Semir clothing (002563.SZ) as of the 3 quarter of this year, and these stocks are located in two warehouses of Semir clothing in Shanghai and Wenzhou.

The reporter came to Semir's logistics distribution center in Shanghai, and found that the scale of Semir's clothing industry is indeed "Big Mac", the 25 thousand square meters of land occupied by an automated warehouse and a sorting building.

Where are the stocks and where are the problems?

As an internal employee of Semir said, "some of Semir's inventory lies in the warehouse of franchisees." The proportion of franchisees in the clothing business with "light assets" is now 85-90%.

A franchisee who took part in this year's special order meeting revealed to reporters that they were still discussing whether they should continue to open shop, but they heard that the franchisee of Semir was considering how to close the store.

Semir clothing said that the above statement is too one-sided, "Semir has more than 8 thousand stores, shops and stores every day may be normal, there is no large-scale closure of the situation." A brokerage textile and garment researcher told reporters, "there is no large-scale closure, it may be that the cost of exit from Semir franchisee is high, and the franchisee who has worked with Semir for more than 5 years has accounted for six or seven."

Reporters interviewed a number of professionals in the industry, focusing on the source of Semir's inventory "Crux" in three aspects: the supply chain problem, the channel and brand management have greater room for improvement, and the excessive pursuit of short-term financial statements before and after the listing.

The pain of supply chain, brand management and channel management

The information provided by Semir to reporters clearly shows the company's current supply chain situation. "Supply chain mode, Semir design self operation, production outsourcing, direct sales and affiliate integration; product supply chain structure distinguishes fashion, vitality and basic funds; annual procurement of over 100 million, concentrated in the Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta, procurement mode is mainly IFOB and CFOB; Semir brand and Barbara orders will be 1 times a season, the order amount of 70%."

In warehousing and distribution, Semir has built two warehousing and logistics bases in Shanghai and Wenzhou. This year, the company also announced that it intends to use the over raised capital of 250 million yuan to build Tianjin warehousing and logistics base. In terms of information system, in addition to SAP and ERP, "Manhattan system" is the core platform for Semir's logistics center for product storage and distribution.

It is reported that the Manhattan system is a supply chain management system developed by Semir clothing, which is built on the basis of Wenzhou and Shanghai logistics center. In 2010, Semir Shanghai logistics center was completed. A person who visited a complete supply chain system of Semir told reporters: "after visiting, I talked with the people inside the system, saying that people, equipment and systems would have a running in period. It would take about two or three years to play the system. International brands like Zara will win in the supply chain, and Semir will catch up with Zara. {page_break}

"Look at Semir. It has been on sale for a week. The excuse is that the warehouse is not strong enough, and it will be 72 hours without delivery. It will not be a discount. "This is a complaint from a netizen who bought Semir clothes online. It may be a reflection of Semir's supply chain problem.

The brokerage researcher said: "at home, the supply chain systems of Semir and Smith Barney are both early and leading, and are still in the process of upgrading and improving, such as Semir fashion, leading time (from product design to sales time span) is about 2-3 months; Zara and H&M lead time is only 2 weeks."

In June this year, Semir Shanghai Golden Coast store opened, which is another new image shop opened by Semir after Xi'an Xiao Zhai store. When the reporter came to the image shop in North Sichuan Road, he learned that the two storefront store was Semir's expansion and renovation of the store which was located at the same address. The product line and shopping space had changed greatly.

An investor who specializes in mergers and acquisitions in the consumer and retail industry interprets the opening of Semir Gold Coast store as an important step in Semir's brand management: "Semir's management seems to have realized that it has to exert itself in terminal management."

According to the above analysts, Semir has been considering the development of franchisees this year. Semir may learn more about the management of the franchisees and change the way of cooperation with franchisees. For example, strengthen communication with franchisees stock information, help display and layout of products, and so on, but this plan is still in the stage of thinking.

Semir sees inventory crisis

Zheng Hongwei, Semir fashion director, also responded exclusively to the inventory problem: "this is a phased problem." Most enterprises, from the beginning of this year, have made every effort to speed up the pace of inventory disposal, and have achieved remarkable results.

Semir's gross profit margin plunged 6 percentage points in the 3 quarter, and it was also the reason why the company increased its inventory handling in the three quarter.

Zheng Hongwei believes that the domestic clothing industry generally produces inventory problems in the following aspects. First, the background of the smooth expansion of channel expansion and the strong demand for consumption no longer exist, and the competition in the industry intensifies. Secondly, the cost increases, and the shopping centers and e-commerce change the original pattern of consumption channels. Finally, the consumption concept of consumers is improving.

The views of Semir employees are slightly different. "In recent years, clothing companies have been listed one after another, and inventory problems have also broken out. The main reason is the pursuit of short-term performance of listed companies or listed companies. The garment enterprises that join in the mode do not need to sell the goods, and send the goods to the franchisee to confirm the income. Why did Semir's revenue decline over the same period last year? It was because last year's franchisees were too optimistic that they could not sell much of their products, so they could only sell at a discount this year, and they couldn't get more goods this year.

Zheng Hongwei did not agree with the statement of "pursuit of statements". "When Semir went public, its net profit reached one billion, and there were hundreds of millions of tax payments, which fully accords with the standards of listing. There is no internal and external motivation to pursue reporting results."