What Are The Opportunities For China's Design Under The Financial Crisis?

In the face of the demand for hot and cold consumer market, how can designer brand better grasp opportunities and avoid risks? How can we stimulate creativity and orderly expansion in the relatively tight era of resource scarcity? A few days ago, Ren Xin, chairman and chief designer of LIZZY brand in Shenzhen, accepted an interview with reporters and talked about the rational thinking of designer brand "turning danger into machine" under the financial storm. Reporter: what is the opportunity of "China design" under the financial turmoil? In the past 11 months, the consumption of luxury goods in Japan and North America has dropped by 35%. The traditional luxury goods giants, the United States and Japan, have all been hit hard. However, China's luxury consumer market does not show any signs of depression, so the Chinese market is seen as a "lifeline" for many luxury goods giants. For example, in 2009, the Asian market will become the second largest market of Versace in Italy, the top brand in the world. LVMH's global president of Heiya watches also said that although China is not the largest market, it is definitely the market that they most expect and value and the biggest market in the future. This shows that our domestic market still has huge consumption potential, which is also a great opportunity for "China design". Chinese designers should not abandon the "doorstep" market. Ji: so it seems that "eye inward" should be a top priority for Chinese design forces. Do you agree with this view? Ren: Yes. Nowadays, many brands are saying "going out" to occupy the "overseas market" and to do "international brand". But can we "look inward" and take a good look at the "fertile soil" of consumption at our feet? For Chinese designers, making international brands is a beautiful vision, but if local consumers are unwilling to pay for our products, how can we have the courage to position ourselves as "international brands"? Ji: does this also imply a trend of LIZZY's brand strategy in the future? Ren: Yes, based on this idea, I would like to emphasize that one direction of LIZZY's brand strategy in the future is to look ahead first, to take a solid foothold in the local consumer market, rationally and steadily to improve the domestic sales channels, to refine and deepen the services for the terminal consumers, to strengthen the creative research and development of LIZZY, to enhance the service value added of LIZZY, and to establish its brand image as a senior women's wear. When the time is ripe, it will naturally go to the other side of the ocean and get the due respect and courtesy. Ji: it is undeniable that under the financial crisis, consumer demand has indeed shrunk. How can we effectively arouse people's enthusiasm for consumption? Mr Ren: for decades, the luxury industry has a golden rule: never ask customers what they want and tell them what they should have. However, in the changing era, luxury brands must learn to listen and try their best to meet the actual needs of consumers if they want to extract more business opportunities from the increasingly conservative consumer market. This is also what LIZZY, as a senior women's dress, wants to do, not only to ask customers what they want, but also to help them have what they want. Only in this way can we have the right to tell them what they should have. Next, LIZZY will further study the increasingly sophisticated market, subdivide new customers, identify unmet needs, find undeveloped business opportunities, and develop personalized or regionalized products based on frequent customer feedback. In this process, I think the "shopping guide" looks like an obscure corporate role, which will be an important resource for the healthy development of the LIZZY brand. It is also the best helper for designing business to achieve business value. Ji: how can "guide shopping" help design works achieve commercial value? Ren: we are strengthening the training of every LIZZY Purchasing Guide, hoping that they can become the "all-around champion" in the LIZZY sales team. They can understand some fabrics, colors, collocation, measurement, and have a sensitive attitude towards service. At the same time, they also have the ability to recommend corresponding clothing styles and colors for different consumers, and take the initiative to feedback the information of clothing design improvement to enterprises. In addition, we invited Dr. Wang Xiangsheng, a famous brand chain expert in Hongkong, to be a professional consultant for LIZZY brand development, which will help to optimize and integrate the internal resources of LIZZY brand. I believe that the entry of expert brain library will provide strong support for LIZZY brand to rapidly upgrade terminal retail experience. Ji: how do designers communicate and coordinate with marketing departments more closely in the financial crisis? Ren: I suggest that before designing the plan, designers can use information feedback from terminal channels to have a clear and early plan for product lifecycle management. We should strengthen the awareness of planning for each season, so that each quarter's product design will be more targeted and holistic, and make up for the designer's short board of "perceptual thinking priority and weak planning consciousness". It should be said that every season's LIZZY products will accurately analyze and study consumer preferences, and at the same time, make a moderate look at fashion. Apart from the market, the design is fully alienated from consumers. In addition, we also give an independent and reasonable interpretation and prediction of the fashion trend. In this way, LIZZY can become a popular "vane" and has its own fashion proposition that can not be duplicated. Ji: how can a brand achieve a balance between cost budgeting and effective expansion in the face of scarce resources? Ren Ren: under the financial crisis, many resources that have been everywhere are likely to have some degree of scarcity today. Therefore, how to make limited resources show considerable commercial value actually tests the degree of innovation in the development process of enterprises, that is to say, how to get a good balance between cost budgeting and effective expansion, and the test will be the wisdom of the management and decision-making of clothing enterprises. As a designer, I will keep LIZZY's style and spirit as always. Under this premise, LIZZY will never cease to innovate in design expression. We will continue to increase product development and talent team formation. We don't want to save the cost of this piece. In addition, as the decision-makers of enterprises, the LIZZY in the future will take a more steady approach to the characteristics of the consumer market, aim at the actual consumption demand, do not blindly invest resources, and do not "innovate" solely for the pursuit of "innovation". Every decision must be based on consumers' preferences. Based on this concept, we will do a good job in the internal cost effectiveness budget, plan risks more, and consciously avoid risks. I believe that a LIZZY with foresight, self-control, pioneering power and control will be invincible in the consumer market squeezed by the financial crisis. Editor in charge: Yang Jing