Fast Fashion Brands Are Reexploring The Chinese Market

In the coming 2015, interface journalists interviewed almost all of the business in China.

Brand.

Over the course of a year, we find that these fashion brands have one thing in common, they are exploring the Chinese market again.

Fast fashion in the past few years

They are racing to the ground and looking at the ubiquitous H&M. You may not even realize that when it first opened China's first store in Shanghai, it was only 2007.

After years of cultivation of China's fast fashion brands, customers' preferences and preferences have changed greatly.

When the market becomes crowded, it is not easy for the new brand to open up the situation, and the brand that has been ploughing for many years wants to maintain its superiority and needs to keep up with the change of customers.

Facing the complex retail environment, the fast fashion brand stores, products and marketing strategies have been greatly adjusted.

More importantly, these adjustments are only the beginning of 2015, and there will be more changes in 2016.

The designer collaboration series is continuing. How long can this pattern last?

I wonder if you have joined the queue in this year to grab the army of the joint series? Or should I ask you how many products have been bought in this year's series of brands launched in 2015?

There are numerous brand names.

The fast fashion brand joint venture has received more and more attention because of its high performance price ratio.

H&M is not the earliest clothing brand to cooperate with others, but it is absolutely the most successful.

From 2004, we came to "Karl Lagerfeld". By 2014, Alexander Wang, H&M had made joint cooperation as an annual signboard for 11 years.

The cooperation series has captured the mass market for high priced designer brands, and has satisfied more people's desire for designer brand. It is a successful business strategy that has been repeatedly confirmed.

This year, H&M has launched two joint series, one is the massive H&M * Balmain, the other is the relatively low-key H&M * Ximon Lee Ximon Lee is the winner of the 2015 H&M global design award.

On the other hand, UNIQLO and Disney's cooperation was very thorough. Apart from opening a joint experience shop, they also launched a series of UT and dolls.

But in addition to H&M, UNIQLO also has the practice of cooperating with designers, so we have joined UNIQLO with Lemaire, a former designer of Hermes.

But honestly, when we see the real thing, we will find this joint series disappointing from color to workmanship.

Famous designers are limited after all. Fortunately, H&M also has designer competition to find new partners.

But even if designers can't help it, consumers will always have a tired day.

When the expectation of joint cooperation is replaced by the disappointment of the real product again, it is impossible to save the brand that we want to enhance with the cooperation with the big designer.

In the "crowded" Chinese market, it is very important to identify accurately.

GAP entered China at the end of 2010 and still insists on becoming a world-famous classic American style.

In terms of price ratio but UNIQLO, fashion is not as good as Zara and H&M, and fans are not as competitive as MUJI products, the cheap American wind makes GAP's market penetration limited in five years.

According to the data provided by Ou Rui consulting, a market research firm, from 2012 to 2014, GAP's total men's and women's clothing accounted for 0.1% of the total market share in China, ranking 48.

However, compared with the lack of sales in adult clothing, children's clothing is a highlight of GAP in China.

According to Euro consulting, GAP is the only fast fashion brand to enter the top 10 of children's wear market share in 2014.

Since children's clothing sells well, sell more children's clothes. In an interview with an interface reporter, Abinta Malik, senior vice president and general manager of Gap Inc Greater China, has said that GAP now regards children's clothing as the core competitive advantage of the Chinese market and will serve as a breakthrough for the Chinese market.

However, GAP is not a brand of children's clothing after all. It's difficult to support children's business in China and even in the world.

A&F, which entered China in 2014, is also known for its "American style".

Recently, however, the brand has just welcomed the new design director, Aaron Levine, Deputy Design Director of the former Club Monaco Menswear, and believes that there will be some changes in the style.

Michael Scheiner, senior director of A&F global relations and public relations, also said that A&F is undergoing pformation now, and now its products are more sophisticated and mature than before.

Levine's design has always been tailored and concise, which should make A&F more fashionable.

But the market's attitude towards these new products remains to be seen.

They say that retail is not good enough, but the more the entity stores open, the more.

For brands, stores are advertising, so some fast fashion brands still choose to open their stores to penetrate the market.

In early 2015, H&M announced in its earnings report that in 2015, H&M group will continue to open 400 stores in the global market dominated by the United States and China.

As of November, according to its latest financial statements, H&M has completed this goal ahead of schedule with the opening of 413 new stores worldwide.

At present, the total number of stores in the group has reached 3924.

Although the number of new stores in the H&M market in China is not yet known in 2015, the annual earnings will be disclosed in January 28, 2016, but as of August 2015, the number of H&M stores in China has reached 299, compared with 245 in December 2014, which has increased by 54. Therefore, there is reason to believe that the annual growth of H&M in China will exceed 80.

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UNIQLO directed the slogan of "opening 100 new businesses a year" for the Chinese market.

Liu Jing, the chairman and chief executive of its parent company, said in a media interview in Shanghai in September 2015 that although China's economy is slowing down, UNIQLO will maintain its strategy of large-scale development, adhere to the goal of opening about 100 new stores in the year, and finally stabilize the number of stores in China to around 3000.

In the 10 issue of the 2015 issue of the interface news, the number of stores in Greater China has reached 467.

MUJI also has a target of 100 new stores, but according to the data provided by Ou Rui consulting, the 100 new stores will start in 2015 and will be completed in 3 years.

From 2005 to 2015, Indo - free products had opened 128 stores in China, according to the data provided by imprint in early 2015 interviews with the interface news.

It is worth mentioning that the "quantity" pursued by Muji's store strategy, in addition to the index volume, also refers to the volume of the body. From the world flagship store opened in December 12, 2014 to the flagship store in Shanghai, which opened in December 12, 2015, Muji's new shop was crowned with the expectation of "the largest store in the universe".

It is said that the next "largest universe" will open in Beijing in 2016.

Perhaps only if the stores are big enough can they be more eyed by the consumers in the fierce competition.

Cautious brands also have their choice to slow down.

The other brand is very cautious.

Zara Inditex has previously said that its brand will reach 500 stores in China, which will slow down its sales.

However, in fact, Inditex's performance is not bad. In the three quarter 2015 earnings report (as at the end of October 2015), the group's sales increased by 16% in the first 10 months of 2015, and its profit increased by 20%.

Although no specific data on the Chinese market were mentioned, Pablo Isla, chief executive of Inditex, said, "Chinese appetite for fashion is becoming bigger and bigger. We are very optimistic about the Chinese market."

However, we think that Zara will slow down the opening of stores, which is a prediction for the future retail environment in China, and it is worthy of reference by other brands.

The fast fashion market of the second tier cities has been saturated. The two or three tier cities are facing the commercial real estate bubble. China's real economy has also entered the "new normal".

Choosing to slow down shop opening speed will not have much impact on Zara, which is already well known in China, and has a mature Tmall flagship store. On the contrary, it will enable the whole group to avoid the risk of radical opening as early as possible.

It did not catch up with the rapid growth of China's fast fashion market, and coincided with the downturn in the retail market. GAP and A&F, who entered China for a short time, also chose to shop cautiously.

The two brands, when interviewed by an interface journalist, said they would not stop the pace of opening stores, but they had to open shop at the most appropriate time and place without taking radical store expansion strategy.

Although different brand store strategies are different, all the above brands have formulated corresponding e-commerce development strategies.

In addition to the official website and App, the brand will actively seek cooperation with the third party e-commerce platform.

From the current view, UNIQLO tasted the sweetness of the largest - it has just won the 2015 double eleven, both men and women in the category of clothing won the top sales.

Localization marketing is booming, but next year advertising may not be much.

H&M is keen to find supermodels and super stars to endorse or take pictures of publicity all over the world, and is no exception in China.

Recently, it came to "the pomegranate couple (Liu Wen and Choi Siwon)", which is a new year's series of advertisements for the 2016 New Year's screen lovers.

The CP effect of the famous model plus "Obama" is very high and fashionable. It attracts a large number of young fans' attention easily.

In order to celebrate the 5th anniversary entry into the Chinese market, GAP has brought 22 white lily, Chang Chen, JJ Lin, Zheng Xiujing, Jing Bairan and Mizuhara Kiko to the theme of hard shooting.

If you remember, when GAP first entered China, he was the one who came to shoot the poster. Xun Zhou.

It is not hard to see that GAP now wants to be younger in China's brand image.

Lack of a high profile, UNIQLO also has Chen Kun and Ni Ni as spokesmen.

A&F and Muji have always had no spokesmen, so it's not enough to ask local celebrities to shoot advertisements.

But A&F and Muji have introduced limited products in Shanghai's newly opened flagship store in Shanghai - A&F is limited edition perfume, and Muji is a color limiting suitcase and travel pillow.

However, because of the slowdown in the expansion of China's retail market, many brands' marketing budget in 2016 also shrunk.

According to the news of the interface news from the advertising agency, some fast fashion brands will reduce the market cost by about 30% next year, and the purchase of advertising stations in the bus stops and magazines will be reduced accordingly.