FOREVER21 Zhang Dongwen: Marathon'S Spirit Of Running Fast Fashion

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< p > "luxury stores in Beijing are used to give gifts, and Shanghai stores do brand image. The two or three line small cities really contribute to sales."

This is a joke in the fashion circle, but it also reveals the current situation of China's luxury market.

This year, LV, BURBERRY and other luxury brands have announced plans to suspend the first tier cities and increase the intensity of the two or three tier cities.

On the contrary, sales of many fast fashion brands such as ZARA, FOREVER21, H&M, GAP and UNIQLO are even higher in the first tier cities. They have become the "meat and potatoes" competition for shopping centers and have become the standard of shopping centers.

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< p > this is about to usher in a 20th anniversary FOREVER21 compared with the other a href= "http://www.91se91.com/pioneer/", which is at least 40 years old, fast fashion brand < /a >, is undoubtedly a "little young", but its gold absorbing skills and speed are not inferior.

Why is this husband and wife store opened by Korean immigrants in the United States to achieve global expansion? < /p >

< p > < strong > Start: 25 square meters small clothing store < /strong > /p >

< p > according to Forbes's 2013 data, the 58 year old FOREVER founder Zhang Dongwen and his wife are now up to $4 billion 500 million.

They say that they can rely on hard work, confidence and frugality.

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< p > 1981, Zhang Dongwen (DowonChang) and Zhang Jinshu (Jin SookChang) couple emigrated from Korea to California.

At the very beginning, Zhang Dongwen worked three jobs at the same time: watching the door, refueling, and then working in a coffee shop.

In June 2011, when he was successful, he recalled in his first interview with South Korean media: "what I live in in Losangeles can be seen as a row of clothing shops.

The shopkeepers are driving a famous car.

I envy them very much at that time, and the price of good clothes is very expensive. People like me can only look at it.

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< p > Zhang Dongwen and his wife caught up with the good times. In the early 80s of last century, the appearance of the local garment industry began to pform due to the large number of a href= "http://www.91se91.com/pioneer/" and "immigration" /a "stationed in Losangeles" in South Korea and Iran.

Before long, Koreans dominated the clothing ecological chain from manufacturing, wholesale to retail, and Zhang Dongwen and his wife also made their debut with speed, flexibility and hard work.

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< p > 1984, two people took out their work savings and opened a 25 square meter clothing store in Highland Park Town, named FASHION21, which was sold exclusively by Korean origin and selected by teenagers.

Originally, they only wanted to manage customers to afford good clothes, and mainly targeted at Korean customers.

Who knows that its popular price and a strong sense of fashion are also popular among Native Americans.

Facts have proved that Zhang Jinshu is naturally fit to eat this bowl of rice.

She is uniquely suited to young fashions and easy to imitate, and her bargaining skills are first-rate.

Linda, the couple's little daughter, said, "my mother is very good at selling things. She is very smart and knows what price should be sold."

In the first year of sale, FASHION21 reached $700 thousand in sales.

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In 1989 P, the couple who had saved the first pot of gold left the street facade and entered the PANORAMACITY shopping center in panorama, California, and opened their first boutique.

They have bigger dreams and hope that their brands will last forever, so FOREVER21 is born.

In 1995, FOREVER21 began to expand outwards.

The first branch was located in Miami, Florida, and then developed rapidly at a new store every 6 months. In 1997, it had more than 40 stores.

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< p > < strong > Strategy: no more than 60 US dollars < /strong > /p >

Similar to ZARA and H&M, FOREVER21 provides P with a reasonably priced fashion show. Consumers can find similar styles in their stores before the big new shelves.

But in terms of clothing style, unlike other fast fashion brands in American leisure style, FOREVER21 is more inclined to < a href= "http://www.91se91.com/pioneer/" > sweet line < /a >, the design style is simple and lightweight, the color is bright, and the young people are vigorous, so they are greatly welcomed.

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From P to 2000, FOREVER21 started its "super store" journey, and its store area began to expand to more than 500 square meters.

In 2008, when the financial tsunami swept the globe, while other retailers were sluggish, FOREVER21 quickly entered the world's biggest stores, winning the most famous assets in New York, such as Fifth Avenue, London Oxford street and Tokyo Shibuya.

It has more than 10 thousand square meters in the times square and 14 thousand square meters in the Las Vegas branch.

With the expansion of stores, it has developed from single brand to 6 brands, from only women's clothing to men's wear, shoes and bags, make-up and so on, to capture more customers.

In those days, its profits amounted to 135 million dollars.

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< p > now, father Zhang Dongwen is the chief executive of the company, and mother Zhang Jinshu is the chief buyer. Their daughter Linda is in charge of marketing, while daughter Esther leads the visual display team.

At the high island store in Manhattan, a 20 foot chandelier shone down from the top, and the gold paint on the wall glittering.

Scandinavian ski outfits, sweaters with elbow pads, military uniform jackets, caps, casual wear and so on are almost everything.

Linda, wearing FOREVER21 jeans and carrying a Chanel bag, and wearing a Balmain bracelet, said: "this is our rock area: sequins, black lace, leopard print, leather, some wild wild dress, lacquer, crochet and so on."

It is worth noticing that the clothing chain Empire, which had 477 stores, 35 thousand employees, and annual sales volume of 3 billion dollars as early as 2011, did not sell more than 60 dollars.

Linda said, "we have a shoulder skirt and T-shirt priced at less than $20 in the shop."

This means that customers do not need to look at labels in a fright.

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< p > < strong > into China: under the line of radiation and offline shop, < /strong > /p >

Like P and today's foreign brands are coming to China for gold rush, FOREVER21 will not let go of such a huge market.

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< p > in fact, FOREVER21 has been low-key in China before.

As early as 2000, FOREVER21 opened its first store in Changshu, Jiangsu.

But as in the case of UNIQLO, the Chinese market did not have the soil of fast fashion brands when Esprit, Metersbonwe and Giordano were three points in the Chinese market, so FOREVER21's first visit to China soon broke down, but it also accumulated a lot of experience for the second official entry into China in 2012.

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In 2012, FOREVER21 opened stores in Hongkong, Beijing and Shanghai.

It is worth mentioning that as early as December 15, 2011, FOREVER21 has been launched in advance through online access to China, brand official website and Tmall flagship store.

FOREVER21 takes Tmall as its first stop to enter the "a href=" http://www.91se91.com/pioneer/ "China market < /a". It is obviously not rush to take advantage of the huge radiation effect of the line, combining with the offline shop opening angle, it is prying the Chinese market step by step.

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< p > from the Chinese market environment, ZARA and H&M, which first entered China, do not pay much attention to e-commerce in China, nor do they have the market in the early stage of e-commerce. In addition, the brand itself is not good at doing online, but is good at offline channels.

But FOREVER21 started online operation as early as 2003. It has more than 200 stores in the United States. The official website of the US operates well, with an average daily sales reaching RMB seven digits. Online sales in Japan and South Korea started in 2009.

At present, the operation and technology center of the Asian electricity supplier business is located in South Korea. As the Asia headquarters, South Korea is co ordinated with the global headquarters of the United States to coordinate the daily distribution of goods and goods between China, Japan and Korea. The gene of < a href= "http://www.91se91.com/pioneer/" > online retail < /a > is obvious.

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< p > in a donation plan for the Japanese earthquake, the FOREVER21 online sales reached $4 million per day.

Such a large volume of business depends on strong technical support. An order is processed from the front desk to the back end, labelling, and then the delivery window to the delivery company takes only five minutes.

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"P" is the technology system that supports FOREVER21 in a fast fashion brand: faster new speed, faster product collocation, faster order processing, and faster market expansion, so China's official website can achieve faster "replication".

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