Fast Fashion Brands Are Paying The Price For "No Bottom Line Discount" Behavior.

May 20th, the United States

Retailer

The group reported that its GAP sales fell by 6% to $3 billion 440 million as of April 30th, and the company's share price has fallen by about 30% this year.

GAP also announced that it will close 75 Old Navy and Banana Republic stores outside North America.

Coincidentally, H&M, the world's second largest clothing retailer, announced that its net profit in the first quarter of fiscal 2016 has shrunk by 29.6% compared with the same period in the first quarter of the year, while UNIQLO, one of the fastest fashion "one sister", has also acknowledged that its net profit of its parent company's fast selling group was down 55.1% in the first half of 2016 fiscal year.

From 2006 to the first fast

Since its entry into China, the brand has surged forward in the Chinese market.

However, 10 years later, most of the fast fashion brands were plunged into the mire of "declining performance".

Self destruct brand:

From Bai Fu Mei's fitting room to discount shopping mall

"Designers of traditional clothing companies will design new styles for each season. We are different. Designers are always designing, processing and releasing new products. As long as there are new fashion trends, they can grasp fashion trends and integrate into their own design elements, so that they can easily become garments.

How fast is such a garment cycle? No more than 20 days in H&M. "

H&M said in an interview with reporters.

The magic bullet for these fast fashion brands to absorb powder is to hold the "fast sword". Every few days the store will have new models, which are very similar to those of the luxury goods, but the price is much cheaper. Moreover, the more and more stores are open, the major business areas and communities will be exploded.

However, after sharing the retail market dividends easily, with the lack of brand connotation and the lack of quality charm, they are lost in the fast changing Internet business era.

Min Guangya, a retail expert, said that fast fashion brands are pushing consumers to imitate some of the big brands in a faster fashion. But from the speed point of view, fast fashion is not fast. The so-called "fast" is more like a false proposition. After all, the seasonal pattern of clothing sales is not going to change. With the downturn of global retailing, fast fashion has also lost its immunity.

What's worse, fast fashion offers the risk of discount and inventory clearance, so that it immediately becomes a hypermarket from a white collar fitting room and begins a vicious circle.

At present, fast fashion brands are paying for the "no bottom line discount" behavior.

Due to the continuous discounts throughout the year, H&M and GAP have been branded as "discount anywhere and anytime" in the minds of consumers. The influence of brands is rapidly declining.

Among them, GAP was rated as "one of the 10 fashion brands most likely to disappear in the next 10 years" by Forbes in 2014, forcing GAP Global CEO Jeff Kirwan to speak out.

After 90, love net red and niche products.

The main force of the limitless scenery in the past few years before the fashion is the 80 generation who first entered the workplace.

In 2006, when the so-called "fashionable and fashionable" Zara entered the Chinese market, both celebrities and ordinary people immediately fell in love with it.

Subsequently, H&M launched the Chinese market in 2007, and GAP came in 2010.

At that time, the young main force of the 80s did not really see such a brand with a big sense of design and price, and the turnover speed of the product was very fast, which satisfied the mentality of the 80s.

But in a flash 10 years, everything changed.

Zhou Ting, a fashion industry expert, told reporters that with the rise of the new middle class in the mainland, more consumers will choose to go out shopping or buy clothes with higher quality and higher design level.

Even for those who do not want to fly out of the country, the traditional brand strategy in the mainland also provides convenience for them.

Without the sense of fashion, the price difference becomes smaller, and the advantages of fast fashion brands are naturally vulnerable.

After 90, consumers speak more directly.

"Fast fashion clothes are very similar in style. They prefer to have some net red and young designer brands. Maybe you have never heard of a self created brand after 80, so you can absorb powder more."

95 later Lulu told reporters that what they want more is personality, and fast fashion can not be satisfied.

Selina, who has been selling for two years at Zara store, told reporters that the big data in the backstage showed that many old customers were already more than 30 years old, but younger ones after 90 and 00 were no longer like predecessors.

After years of nurturing, consumers have changed their vision and demand, but the brand is still the same.

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Aiming at two or three line cities and opening e-commerce websites in India

Fast fashion stores in China's first tier cities have been saturated, and Internet retailing has a strong impact on the offline business entities. This brings new challenges and Countermeasures to the strategic development of fast fashion.

Under such circumstances, fast fashion brands will aim at two or three or even three or four line cities.

It is reported that GAP will open 40 new stores in China this year. UNIQLO will also keep the pace of opening 80 to 100 stores in China this year. H&M is expected to open 60 to 80 new stores in China this year, and KM will rise sharply in the adverse market and spend 600 million, and 300 new stores will be opened in China this year.

These new shops are mainly concentrated in two or three line cities.

However, the Chinese market may not be able to serve as a life-saving straw for fast fashion.

Matthew Crabbe, Asia Pacific Research Director of British mint, believes that GAP has only a few years to enter China, and vague market positioning is not enough to attract Chinese consumers' attention to its uniqueness.

In his view, GAP is just another new brand entering the busy Chinese market, and Zara, H&M and Uniqlo have long established a foothold in China. "GAP enters China too late, and tries to apply Western marketing concepts to the Chinese market, rather than formulating marketing ideas for the characteristics of the Chinese market."

Recently, the Euromonitor International report predicts that the India luxury industry will grow by 86% between 2013 and 2018, faster than China, Malaysia and Indonesia.

Like fast fashion in the western market and a popular era, India has also proved to be an attractive new market for fast fashion brands in recent years.

As the second largest market in the world after China, fashion retailing is booming in India.

India has 300 million Internet users, all of whom are loyal followers of mobile terminals. This makes e-commerce a magic weapon for clothing and accessories brands such as Zara, H&M and Forever21, and brands have set up e-commerce websites in India market.

However, in any way, as British writer Lucy stair said, "the mode of quick satisfaction, discarding and re consumption is that" 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 get tired of this way, and the market will have their own choices.