Japan'S Clothing Products Re Planning Is In Danger.

The financial crisis triggered by the bankruptcy of Lehman brothers is affecting the commodity planning of Japanese clothing.

Since November 2008, sales of major sales channels of clothing stores such as Japanese department stores, clothing stores and supermarkets have decreased to varying degrees, and no improvement has been made since December.

In the past year, the end of the year was the highlight of the clothing business war. Christmas and new year were regarded as important business opportunities for clothing sales.

However, this year's end of the year business seems to be as cold as the weather. As the winter coat, the coat of the fist product also appeared the trend of "low price strategic commodities becoming the mainstream", and the clothing enterprises began to adjust the future commodity planning.

The sales volume of department stores in Tokyo has decreased to varying degrees.

Compared with the same period last year, the sales revenue of isdan headquarters, San Yue general store and Gao Dao house in Tokyo in November this year decreased by 6.9%, 8.1% and 9.3% respectively.

Among them, the sale of women's clothing has declined since September 2007. After entering 2008, except for July slightly higher than the same period of the previous year, other months are lower than the 2007 level.

The total number of customers is basically the same as that of the previous year, but the amount of customer consumption has dropped by more than 10% over last year.

In the middle of November 2008, Yi Yi Dan Dan general store began to invest in Isetan Quanlity (IQ), a low price strategic commodity, although it has positive significance for improving sales revenue, but it can not reverse the downward trend of customer consumption.

The so-called "IQ" refers to the "price reduction of 20% to 30% but not quality discount". Even then, the sales of women's clothing in November dropped by 10.1% over the same period last year.

After entering December, although the number of women's clothing sales has increased, it still can not change the situation of declining sales revenue.

The Tokyo shop of the high island house began to increase the proportion of low price strategic commodities from the first week of December, expanding the display of the overcoat, and the average selling price was also about 20% lower than in previous years.

However, the head of the high island estate said: "although the sales of overcoat have increased, it can not compensate for the loss of customers' single consumption."

Consumers are extremely sensitive to prices. The financial crisis has seriously affected consumer psychology. Many department stores' commodity planners have said, "customers are becoming more and more sensitive to the price of clothing".

Matsui department head of Ginza store head said: "customers are very concerned about the price of goods, and the requirements for costumes are more demanding."

The head of the Millennium department store also said: "although the volume of traffic has not decreased, many customers have no actual shopping actions.

Some customers seem to have a strict budget for clothing consumption, and will not give up until the discount season.

The sale of women's clothing in department stores is mainly due to the change of customers' consumption behavior. This change is reflected in two aspects: one is the change of customer value, consumers have paid more attention to the function and convenience of clothing in the past, but now they put the styles and lines in the first place. Two, customers are more accustomed to "goods than three" when buying clothes, and the competition between clothing retail formats is more intense.

In other words, the sense of comfort that department stores provide to customers in quality and service is no longer a decisive factor in consumer behavior.

Due to the low sales of women's clothing, some department stores began to postpone the original decoration plan.

The original plan was to decorate the women's clothing store in 2009. The plan has been postponed to the autumn of 2010 and will be adjusted according to the effect of the underwear and young women's clothing store that has been completed this autumn.

The bag store of the West Wu department store also postponed the young women's dress modification plan which was originally planned for next autumn.

"The blueprint depicted by the head office has not changed, but it needs to be adjusted and verified according to the trend of clothing sales in the future," the head of the store said.

In this way, the financial crisis not only affects clothing consumption, but also affects the investment plans of department stores.

The clothing supermarket's merchandising adjustment is also the same with department stores. Clothing Supermarkets (hypermarkets) have also begun to strengthen the merchandising of low priced clothing.

Ping Hun Tong has increased its investment in low priced goods in small and medium-sized comprehensive supermarkets. IZUMIYA, OUKUWA and other enterprises have begun to try out the sale of low priced goods in alumni comprehensive supermarket formats.

In all the hypermarkets, the clothing sales situation of supermarkets is better, while the comprehensive supermarkets with larger proportion of clothing show a weak trend. How to turn the situation of clothing sales downturn is becoming an urgent matter.

Starting from the first half of this year, Ping Hun Tong embarked on the planning and adjustment of 5 shops in small and medium-sized comprehensive supermarkets, increasing the proportion of daily dress and paying more attention to the prices of commodities.

In order to achieve this, Ping Hun has taken various strategies to organize the supply of goods, which requires suppliers to offer low-priced goods to small and medium-sized comprehensive supermarkets, such as women's knitted sweaters, ranging from 780 yen to 980 yen, shirts 1480 yen to 1980 yen, and external use 1980 yen to 2980 yen.

After these efforts, the sales revenue of Ping htang has dropped from 4% to 1%.

Due to the acceleration of commodity turnover, the gross profit margin of Ping htang has increased from 35% of the beginning of the year to 38%, and some stores even reached 40%.

The company said that, in the future, the experience of the reform of 5 stores will be extended to 13 stores, and the "mechanism of adjusting commodity planning according to the scale of commercial facilities" will be gradually formed.

In November 26, 2008, IZUMIYA company opened in Nishinomiya garden store in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture.

The store also adopts differentiated commodity planning strategy, which emphasizes low price and highlights the distinction between department stores and boutiques.

In addition, the company is also trying to plan low price merchandise in shops in Kobe and Osaka. The price of clothing is generally priced at 1980 yen, 2980 yen and so on.

OUKUWA company's sales performance in supermarkets and comprehensive supermarkets also showed a growth trend, and plans to increase stores in Hyogo, Nara and other counties.

Differentiation has become the key. FUJI has begun to work on commodity planning and low price strategy in order to cope with the changes in the clothing consumption market.

Recently, the company decided to divestiture the clothing retail format "the Casual" located in the supermarket from the comprehensive supermarket, and carry out the sale of casual wear in the form of chain operation, involving women's clothing, men's wear, children's clothing, and so on. At the same time, it also increased the price of low-priced goods for young consumers. The price of goods was 490 yen, 890 yen, 1890 yen, 2900 yen and so on.

At present, the company has decided to enter Kagawa, and will open two stores in the first half of next year, and will wait for the opportunity to enter the Hiroshima area in the future.

In June 2008, MAXVALUE company opened "The Big" store in Zhou Nan City of Yamaguchi Prefecture, which is a new store after 13 years.

The head of the company hopes that "The Big" can become the "trump card to realize differentiation strategy".

The shop area of "The Big" is 5263 square meters. The core commodities involve 4 categories, including food, underwear, clothing, pet products, etc., and will adhere to the low price strategy.

The strategic adjustment of merchandising strategy of apparel retailers is bound to affect the production and management of garment enterprises.

Although some garment manufacturers say that "the low price strategy of retail enterprises is still acceptable and there is no excessive demand", but in the context of low clothing sales, manufacturers also need to face changes in the retail market. It is foreseeable that clothing production enterprises are faced with problems such as further reducing production costs and strengthening inventory management.

Yang Jing: editor in charge