GAP, H&M And Other Brands Were Fashionable Heights. Why Are They Now Abandoned?

The price advantage is no longer, the fabric quality and lack of personality are tucked up. Fast fashion brand General decline in performance

"After picking up for a long time, I could not choose second pieces. Finally, I decided not to buy one."

On the first day of the small holiday, at 3 p.m., a woman in the H&M shop in the Hangzhou department store stood in a promotion area for a long time in the H&M shop. Finally, she left.

The reporter saw that the blue sign on the shelf was written on the discount information, "one pair of pants bought second pieces 50 percent off", the corner also had the "big sale" 3 words printed on the red promotion card. However, there are few customers in the shops than those outside the mall.

The H&M is not cool. The earnings reports of several big companies in the past few days are not very good. The trend of the fast fashion is all at a glance. Once the main customers, the "post-80s" are losing, and the younger "post-90s" and "00 after" are no longer like their predecessors.

In addition to ZARA, fast fashion performance declined.

Is warm winter really the most important influence?

Recently, H&M released its 2016 fiscal year Q1 earnings report (February 29th December 1, 2015 ~2016), with a net profit of 2 billion 550 million kronor, 30% lower than the same period last year. As soon as the earnings report came out, H&M was tucking away by Morgan Stanley, who thought they had been expanding their stores to boost sales. That is to say, with the opening of new stores, sales volume is rising, but profits have been declining.

And has always been regarded as the myth of the industry. Uniqlo It is also considered to be the turning point. The first half of the 2016 fiscal year of its parent company's fast selling group showed that, in the first 6 months of February 29, 2016, the net profit of fast selling group dropped 55.1%, which was also the first half year net profit decline of the group in the past 5 years.

The worst is still the GAP group. From its March earnings report, the group's net sales fell 6.3% and its same store sales fell 6%. GAP's year-on-year turnover of stores and online stores for at least one year has been declining in the past 8 quarters.

The only thing that looks good is ZARA. Its parent company, Spanish apparel retailer InidtexSA group, has sold 20 billion 900 million euros in fiscal 2015 (up to January 31, 2016), up 15.4% over the same period. At the same time, the group net profit also has 15% growth, the growth rate is the highest in the past three years. In the beginning of the 2016 fiscal year, from February 1st ~3 7, excluding the exchange rate factor, sales increased by 15%.

Fast fashion has always thought that the warm winter last year is the main culprit, resulting in a lot of winter clothes can not be sold; the other is the impact of the exchange rate, and the consequences of the discount sale, for example, GAP has been listed as "no discount not to buy goods". Although ZARA performs well, the industry still believes there is risk. "Its pricing is also affected. The price of one thousand or two thousand yuan in autumn and winter clothing is facing many challenges. Moreover, although ZARA has many shops in China, the sales in the Greater China region is not too big." An insider said privately.

"After 80" has gone, "after 90" is not keen to have been fashionable heights, and why is it now abandoned?

Fast fashion in the past few years, unlimited scenery, entered the Chinese market in 2006 (ZARA in 2006, H&M is 2007, 2010 GAP also came), suddenly in department stores and supermarkets monopoly retail market set off huge waves - at that time, the young main force, "80 generation" people rarely see such a big brand design sense, the price and the people's brand, and the product turnover speed is very fast, to meet the "80 after" people's innovation and change mentality.

But after a flash of 10 years, after 80 years of age entered the age of 30, everything changed.

"I go to fast fashion stores every week, ZARA is more, I buy it once a month, usually basic, such as plain colored jumper dress, T-shirt and half skirt. I started buying ZARA from Li Xing, and I won't miss the two big promotions in June and December every year. The promotion price starts from 5, then goes down 60 percent off and 70 percent off, and it can buy basic funds after a discount of around 100 yuan or even tens of dollars. But I see the new products that I like very much will start directly, because the goods will be broken without the discount, but I can only buy discounted products in other fast fashion brands, so I think this is also a relatively successful place for ZARA. This year's 34 year old Wei Wei works in an advertising agency. She also admitted that, after 10 years, her enthusiasm for buying was not as good as before. "After all, there are many choices now. There are also many brands on the Internet that are not inferior to fast fashion."

The road on the insurance company sighed: "from 2008 to 2012, it was the craziest fashion I bought. Before passing into the shop, can not help the itch, the most exaggerated when the home wardrobe 80% is H&M; now only choose discounted products, I think the quality is general, some clothes still have the tag.

Over the age of 30, the demand for quality gradually surpasses the thirst for freshness, while the "post-90s" are also keen on fast fashion, but apparently no fanaticism. "Fast fashion is not all that makes up my clothes. We will also choose some net red and young designer brands, perhaps none of you have heard of them. For example, I had my senior brother from last year. Clothing Institute Graduation, this year's own brand, a pair of bottompants can sell several million yuan a winter, many are the same age student powder. 95 after Lina told the Qianjiang Evening News reporter, they want more personality, and fast fashion can not be satisfied.

Before you know it, you are dumped by a fussy customer.

When consumption changes, no one can dominate the whole world.

"The most fundamental reason is that clothes are not good-looking, and the quality is not good enough to keep up with the needs of consumers." In the H&M store for two years, Vanessa privately and Qianjiang Evening News reporter said, once the company listed the basic funds, said that after investigation, Chinese consumers like bright colors, and then came up with many fluorescent T-shirts, the result can be imagined, "I think there is a bias in the understanding of the market, design problems. H&M's clothes are too loud, and the old customers are already more than 30 years old. They no longer like so many large prints, and their fabrics are not good. They lose the value they first contended for in the market. After years of nurturing, consumers' vision and demand have changed, but the brand is still the same.

And the discount promotion mode has also nurtured a group of "non discounted" customers. Since your product is not good enough to "buy it", then I would rather discount it. At this point, ZARA is doing relatively well, and it is fast enough to be new according to the date. If you sell well, you will not replenish the goods, because it is the rated quantity, and the new ones will be sold out. In addition, each market has particularities, such as Xiaoshan guests are not very sensitive to discount. Over 35 years old guests are dismissive of store activities. If your product itself can't impress them, it's really no good. Vanessa said.

Of course, there is another important reason. The development of online shopping makes fast fashion no longer the only choice. "Taobao has set up a new price system for Chinese people, which has forced many brands that are stationed in shopping malls to undergo painful changes." In an interview with the Qianjiang Evening News reporter, Qing Rui, a senior fashion management expert, said that consumers had a price tag, and the fast fashion that had used a very high price performance was also rejected by the "high price". "Of course, more importantly, quality must be improved, starting with fabric." This is why H&M started pushing its high-end brand COS, which is simple in design and has a strong sense of brand. At the same time, its color is mainly black and white and gray blue, and the price of clothes in autumn and winter is less than 1000 yuan. This is the right way to deal with the escalation of consumption.

Lucy Leipziger, a guardian columnist, once said that the mode of "quick satisfaction, discarding and re consumption" is that the "fast fashion" industry only pays attention to profits, does what it takes, reckless consequences, and makes consumers unrestrained. But customers who have experienced "excessive consumption" will naturally be tired of this way, and the market will have their own choices.