The Troubles Of Brands Such As GAP, A&F And H&M In 2017 Are Not Yet Over.

These brands will continue the good momentum...

　　 ZARA

To some extent, Zara is more like a data company rather than a clothing company. It does not promote sales by original design, but moves the fashion that the fashion designers want to move out of T to the store as fast as possible. If you have visited Zara this winter, it is easy to find 2016 autumn and winter because of Burberry, the popular military uniform coat, the long sleeved blouse for Vetements and the embroidery jacket that become mainstream because of Gucci are everywhere in Zara.

To achieve all this, there is no need for a creative director (no job at all in Zara), relying on 350 designers with strong information gathering ability. In a recent research report on fast fashion in Digital Research Institute L2, it was mentioned that only 15% of Zara's products were planned ahead of schedule, while the rest was arranged according to the needs and reactions of customers on the Internet.

Of course, this also means that Zara has a fast response supply chain. So far, Zara has kept 60% of its production in Europe. About 62% of Zara's over 2100 stores are still distributed in main markets in Europe.

Unlike its competitors, Zara is a company that basically doesn't do traditional advertising, so Zara can't be seen in the advertisements of bus stops, magazine pages and videos. But this does not mean that Zara ignores the exposure. In many past analyses, it will mention the advertising effectiveness of Zara's excellent window layout, but Zara is also trying to maximize the utility of social media. For example, on the official Instagram of Zara, each product will be written with the corresponding product code under the collocation map, so that people who are interested in it can be easily searched for.

The performance is reflected in the growth of earnings, which was released in the first three quarters of 2016 on Inditex12 14, and Zara led its parent company Inditex net profit to grow by 9% over the same period last year, which is better than that of the H&M group 1.3%, which belongs to rival H&M.

We often refer to Zara as a "subversive" of fashion industry rules, and this is even more profound in 2016 because it and other fast fashion brands have been leveraging decades of unchanged high-end fashion release schedules, allowing "show to sell" as a new strategy for brands like Burberry and TomFord.

　　 Coach

Strictly speaking, the Revival Strategy of Coach is not the first initiative. The single bag brand has become a more integrated fashion brand by increasing the garment line. In 1990s, LouisVuitton has successfully implemented this road. At that time, LouisVuitton was the MarcJacobs that built the garment line for the first time, and StuartVevers realized all this in Coach.

Since the announcement of Coach's spanformation in 2013, the expected results have already emerged. The financial report for the first fiscal quarter of fiscal year 2017 ended October 1, 2016 showed that Coach brand's international sales increased by 7% compared with the same period last year. Sales of Coach brand Greater China region (including the mainland, Hongkong and Macao) increased by 5% over the same period.

According to the world clothing and shoe net, it is possible to recall what Coach has done, but it can be attributed to the following points:

A readjustment of the store structure. Coach once closed 70 low price premium outlets in North America. It also reduced the launch of canvas logo packages, gave up some of its revenue from Oteri J and redirected the target customers.

Can cause a topic of explosion. After the implementation of the spanformation plan, the first 2015 spring summer series, a Coach Apollo rocket sweater became a very recognizable burst. Of course, a sweater can not save Coach. It is not only a product strategy, but also a good signal for Coach to have "ready to wear". After that, StuartVevers created more than one burst for Coach, and SaddleBag and other bags.

SaddleBag photographer of Coach: TommyTon

Show rules bring exposure. Until the 2017 spring and summer, Coach did not put the men's clothing show in the stronghold of the United States, but chose London with a more fashionable atmosphere. But the latest news is that the 2017 Coach autumn winter men's wear series will move back to New York and merge with women's wear, independent show, not participating in any fashion week.

In the next 2017, we will continue to look at the cost of Coach - 2015 fiscal year and 2016 fiscal year because of the dramatic adjustment of product lines and the acquisition of shoe brand StuartWeitzman. The parent company Coach group of Coach has a negative net profit growth. But after this period of time, the first quarter of fiscal year 2017 has already achieved results, and it will continue this trend.

Photographer: TommyTon

The trouble with these brands is not yet over.

　　 GAP

Gap, the representative of American leisure wind, has been struggling for a while, and its most brilliant days remain in 90s. The street fashion in 1990s is very approachable. Friends has faithfully recorded all this -- it is not too tested on straight jeans with no age limit, logo hoodies and a wide jacket jacket. Gap has also become a household name. There is such a scene in Friends. Joey finds her clothes exactly the same as Ross, and says, "StupidGap soneverycorner." (where Gap is everywhere).

But now Gap is hard to call it "cool" in the minds of young people. Before July 2016, Gap's same store sales had been down for 15 months and implemented a series of actions to stop bleeding. Let's see what's wrong with Gap.

Style can not keep pace with the trend. In the 2015 earnings report, Gap listed the risks that might need to be addressed, including "we must successfully assess the trend of the trend and grasp the change in consumer preferences to succeed". Then Gap admitted frankly that it had made a wrong judgement on the market to some extent, and did not send the goods to the store in time as well as its competitors.

Unclear brand positioning. Gap's children's clothing may now be more famous than the adult dress. You can also think that this is because the adult dress is too weak and highlights the strength of children's clothing. Gap has always lacked a distinctive image to distinguish itself from competitors. If Zara is modern and modern, Topshop is avant-garde, while UNIQLO is highly cost-effective, Gap can not be summed up. In 2010, Gap had a storm about logo. Gap changed the logo that it used for more than 20 years, changed the basket color box into black and white bottom, but because the network objected too much, it was soon changed back. But we believe that the new logo is more concise and flattened and should be carried out thoroughly.

Gap original logo (left) and controversial new logo in 2010 (right)

International market development is slow. North America is the largest market for Gap, and Gap stores in the United States and Canada account for 60% of all retail stores. This is not a problem. Quite a few brands are still the key markets even if they expand globally, but this is not inconsistent with the performance of overseas markets. 134 of Gap's 305 stores in the Asia Pacific region are in China, but according to EU consulting, Gap is not known in the fast fashion company with the top ten in China's market share.

　　 Abercrombie&Fitch

If asked who is the representative of the American youth clothing brand, the answer of most people should point to Abercrombie&Fitch (hereinafter referred to as A&F). However, in the 3 months ended October 29th, the sales volume of the parent brand fell by 6.5%, compared with the 15 consecutive quarters. The group said that the decline in its performance was mainly due to the poor management of its flagship brand A&F, and the net sales in the A&F period fell 13% to 358 million 300 thousand US dollars (about 2 billion 472 million yuan).

The failure of sexy marketing and the loss of young consumers have made A&F suffer. Recently, A&F decided to close its flagship store in the second quarter of fiscal year 2017, ending the lease at the cost of 16 million US dollars (about 110 million yuan). Since 2014, A&F has begun to relocate its target customers from young people to more mature people, giving up a series of sexy marketing methods such as naked men, and lighten the fragrance of the rich perfume in the store by 25%.

However, so far, the spanformation of A&F has not yet brought about significant improvement in its performance. Once young customers felt that the brand no longer belonged to them, but the older customers regarded A&F as a teenager brand.

The youth clothing brands in the United States seem to be in trouble collectively. Fast fashion speeds up the cycle of fashion upgrading, and undermines the new rhythm of these young brands. AmericanApparel, who announced the two bankruptcy in November, narrowly escaped the bankruptcy of A ropostale in September. In recent years, they have met the fate of being abandoned by the main young consumers.

So where do young people go to buy clothes? PiperJaffray, an American market research firm, does TeenSurvey every year. Since 2011, the most popular clothing brand has been won by Nike and has been leading second points in the past few years. This has something to do with Nike's innovative fabric and production technology, the movement that has arisen in recent years, and the design quit trend of young brands such as jeans and sweater.

　 H&M

H&M, which has 3784 stores all over the world, is undoubtedly one of the highest density clothing retailers, and it is still expanding. Germany is currently the largest single market in H&M, but the United States and China are the two fastest growing markets. Despite the confusion of the economic and political environment, H&M did not slow down the pace of opening stores, and opened 174 new stores in the first 9 months of 2016, exceeding 142 of the same period last year. However, as the largest brand of H&M group, the expansion of H&M did not bring corresponding growth to the sales volume of the group. According to the Swedish kroner, sales in the first nine months of 2016 increased by 5%, much less than 21% in the previous year. Even in the US and China, where sales are strongest, the sales growth of the group has also decreased significantly.

H&MxKenzo series

Basic money is not a panacea. H&M blamed the stagnation of sales growth on the impact of warmer winter, but this is more like a set of excuses. Compared with its competitors, H&M has more basic clothes. In fact, H&M has many series such as Divided, L.O.G.G, Trend and Studio. Among them, the largest volume is Divided, which is mainly based on basic funds, but not all stores are restricted by store area, Trend and Studio. However, even if UNIQLO is trying to break the basic funds and become more fashionable, it is necessary for H&M to consider whether or not SKU should stick to the basic funds.

Designer Series comes to fatigue. H&M and designer cooperation series is a shrewd business move, successfully breaking the barriers between high street fashion brands and high-end brands, and achieving a win-win situation. But as this series of cooperation is about to enter the thirteenth year, from early StellaMcCartney, Lanvin to the latest Kenzo, H&M may need to consider how to maintain its charm. In 2014, H&M creative director MargaretaVanDenBosch said in an interview with an interface reporter that she thought the pattern of designer collaboration could last for several years, "but I am not sure whether it will last longer."

More interesting reports, please pay attention to the world clothing shoes and hats net.