Clothing Enterprises Focus On Intensive Farming Channels

Recently, Bosideng International Holdings Limited released its interim results. Data show that as of the first half of September 30th last year, Bosideng group reduced 503 stores, including 344 down businesses and 159 non feather down businesses. Bosideng and KangBo reduced net stores by 256 and 306 respectively. Bosteng men's clothing, Jesse and Mogao respectively reduced 92 stores, 27 stores and 41 stores respectively.

It is understood that the domestic Men's wear The number of stores in the first half of the year decreased by 152. Data show that China's trend, 31st, Anta, PEAK, XTEP, Lining and other six well-known domestic sports brands have closed 2249 stores in the first half of last year.

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The "downsizing" channel seems to be spreading in this industry.

　　 Channel slimming

In the past year, due to the impact of the economic environment and the fact that the industry was going to stock up, enterprises seemed to be helpless. But more importantly, after 30 years of rapid development of domestic garment industry, channel expansion has been an important driving force for the development of brand enterprises. Data show that between 2006 and 2009, the total number of PEAK, 31st, XTEP and Lining 4 sports brand stores increased from 11129 to 23454, with a compound annual growth rate of 28.2%.

Channel is regarded as the lifeblood of enterprise development. In the initial stage of brand development, in order to obtain a higher market share and adapt to the market differences, brands tend to choose agents or franchising channels that have advantages in this area. This choice not only lets the number of brand stores blossom everywhere, but also gives them substantial economic returns.

Anta, a famous sports brand in China, started a road to expand agents from the very beginning. It is understood that in the 90s of last century, Anta has developed more than 2000 stores in just a few years since its establishment. It has been reported that in 1999 alone, Anta's sales increased by 35%, and won a large market share, especially in North China, Northwest China and Guangdong.

This extensive mode of development based on channel expansion will increase the influence of brands and let them gain certain opportunities in competition. However, in this way, the brand developing rapidly in a short time will also lead to some shops that lack risk assessment in a short time and are not profitable.

According to media reports, about 30% of the brand agencies opened by many domestic brands in a year are in a state of loss.

At one time, the cry of stride into the era of "ten thousand shops" was full of lofty aspirations of the industry towards more large-scale development. But this is destined to be a beautiful bubble. Affected by the rapid expansion of early channels, some brand enterprises can not afford the pressure of rising costs due to the sharp increase in shops, and now, with excessive inventory and rising land rent, the expansion of brand stores has slowed down and even shops have been downsizing. The intensive cultivation of channels is being put on the agenda of brand enterprises.

In 2000, YOUNGOR, the leading enterprise in the clothing industry, had more than 3000 stores, most of which were franchises. The huge affiliate system makes headquarters and terminal information not smooth, management costs rise, and profits are not satisfactory. Later, YOUNGOR began to try to reduce its poor performance franchisees.

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At present, there are 816 self owned stores all over the country, accounting for 44% of total sales and 1578 of shopping centers, accounting for 40% of total sales. These two main channels have become an important window and sales position for YOUNGOR's brand image, while 467 franchise stores and company headquarters special group buying centers have further enriched YOUNGOR's sales terminals.

YOUNGOR has a comprehensive "downsizing" integrated marketing network, concentrating its superior resources on maturity. market Intensive and meticulous farming. Standardized and institutionalized management of product display, sales department and other departments. In the developed coastal areas and the central and western provincial cities, we concentrate our efforts on the establishment of proprietary stores and enter large shopping malls. We divide the market into three levels of management: general companies, regional markets and urban branches, and comprehensively enhance the channel competitiveness of distribution functions.

It is not difficult to see that when the brand goes through extensive development of expansion stores, the intensive cultivation of channels is inevitable.

　　 Channel changing face

For brands, as long as they have enough strong control capability, it is entirely possible for them to be born directly within a brand. But in fact, after a long period of growth and development, some brand dealers prefer to "break up" with the franchisee in the later development: the brand dealers reclaim their existing agents and franchising channels, increase the proportion of direct marketing, so as to enhance their mastery of brand channels and further enhance their brand image.

When dealers are forced to hand over their agents, the conflict between brands and agents is beginning to show. The separation of brands and agents is bound to be a difficult game of power.

In July 18, 2011, more than 20 ONLY brand agents and store employees arrived at the World Trade Center's bestseller fashion limited. The reason is that the Danish fashion company suddenly decided to take back the agency rights of some agents in Hunan ONLY brand. Several Hunan agents were not satisfied with the Dong Jia fashion company. According to media reports, the company said that the cancellation of the dealership's dealership is because there are many deficiencies in these stores, which have affected the brand image of ONLY.

It is understood that since 2008, the silk fabric has begun to adjust its development strategy in China. The key is to enhance the brand image, increase the proportion of Direct stores and reduce the proportion of franchised stores. Since then, ONLY has been gradually reclaiming agents in Xi'an and Ji'nan.

Some international luxury brands are also taking the initiative to reclaim agency power. For example, in early 2008, Ba l ly reclaimed all the agency rights in Greater China. In 2010, the British luxury brand Burberry spent more than 100 million pounds in liquidated damages to recover all the agency rights in China.

Some analysts believe that the separation between the brand and the agent is due to the different goals pursued by the two sides: the brand pays more attention to the image and reputation of its brand, but does not value the specific sales volume.

In the early stage of development, because of the lack of the overall operation experience of the brand, enterprises choose the form of agency and affiliate to make the brand by using social resources, which is a natural choice. However, when the brand develops to a certain stage and has the ability to run directly, it is logical to follow the direction of the direct camp.

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In the final analysis, the most essential difference is also the difference between the two party's interests. People in the industry pointed out at the same time: some clothing brands are sacrificing the interests of agents and franchisees, while constantly adding "death squads", trying to maintain their market network through a large number of investment promotion. This phenomenon is common and dangerous. If a brand adds a lot of risk to agents and franchisees, the alliance of interests between the two sides will eventually be disintegrated.

　　 Upgrading single store sales performance

After stepping through the extensive development stage relying on the number of expansion channels, relying on intensive farming channels to enhance the performance of single stores has become the key, especially in the current situation of rising costs.

Insiders believe that channel expansion is of great help to performance improvement, but after all, channel expansion is the promotion of "quantity", while improving single store sales is a "quality" improvement. Under the condition of constant number of shops, effective single shop sales can also enhance performance. By the same token, the success rate of opening a shop is high, the sales of single store has been effectively promoted, and it will also effectively guarantee the benign operation of the store, thus providing a strong guarantee for the healthy operation of the whole enterprise and the healthy development of the brand.

Li Ning Co said that in the first half of last year, the company closed down a number of inefficient stores and opened a new efficient store. The closing of stores and rationalization of sales network have made great changes in the sales network. The company believes that the number of shops is not the most important, and improving the profitability of shops is the focus of the work.

Now that channel expansion can no longer bring income growth and higher profit margins for brands, upgrading single store performance is a better way to maintain brand growth. In the process of development, clothing brands should turn more attention to fine operation, including products, channels, marketing and so on. As far as channels are concerned, we should pay more attention to the growth of the profitability of single stores. In the case of bottlenecks in the growth of channel size, we can make up for the lack of quantity through upgrading the quality of single stores.

Li Qiming, vice president of Ningbo Shanshan Limited by Share Ltd, said in an interview with reporters that "good channel" is important, but ultimately the brand operation still needs to talk about the profitability of a single store. He believes that some channels do not make money, but they have the value of existence; however, some channels must rely on it to make money and improve the performance of single stores.

Yao Xiaoyun, a famous buyer in China, believes that the best way to improve the sales of single shops is to manage goods. This is a product with good design and goods that meet the needs of the market. This is the reason that can directly attract customers to try it on. Then, the product specifications are all reasonable and the price is reasonable. Only then can the purchase be made, and the logistics efficiency can be maintained in a timely manner, such as replenishment, replenishment, and timely delivery. It can maintain the full range of goods and maintain the frequency of the renewal of goods, so that the shop can always feel fresh to consumers. The second is the role of shopping guide; the third is decoration display, which plays a supplementary role in promoting single store sales. In a relatively mature shopping mall or SHOPPING MALL, the competitive brand will be near a certain area. If your window or display attracts customers to make the store an advanced shop, you will have the opportunity to achieve sales, which is equal to increasing the consumption potential of the store.

After several years of integration, YOUNGOR's quality of sales terminals has improved significantly. It is understood that in 2013, the efficiency of YOUNGOR's star shops (specialized halls) reached more than ten million yuan. After "downsizing", YOUNGOR has done something in the channel, focusing on the terminal system that runs in line with the brand, intensively expanding, creating and upgrading flagship store mode. According to Li Rucheng, chairman of YOUNGOR group, we will strengthen channel construction and Optimization in the next two years, strengthen the integration of online stores and entity stores, and explore new business models.

The promotion of single store sales shows that the sales efficiency is high, and the performance of Ping Mei is high. turnover The rate has also increased. Only in this way can the brand continue to develop after the slowdown of the channel.