Lululemon's Offline Stores Separated From China For Four Years

After more than a year after the Tmall store opened, Lululemon's offline store finally came to China before the end of 2016, which was four years away from its initial entry into China (the earliest entry to Hongkong and Shanghai through yoga Showroom). The promise of its "online Chinese website in 2015" has not yet been realized.

　　 It's not wrong to have a share in China.

According to the world clothing and shoe net, Lululemon is from Vancouver, Canada. Sportswear The company, from the niche market of women's high-end yoga products, is positioned as a "new middle class". They are less sensitive to price and more concerned about quality. It opened its first independent store in November 2000 and went public in 2007. Between 2007 and 2008, Lululemon sales reached $350 million, becoming Canada's first professional sport. brand "

At present, Lululemon has more than 300 stores worldwide. In the three months ended October 30, 2016, net income increased 13.5% to $544 million 400 thousand over the same period, and gross profit increased 24% to $278 million 400 thousand compared with the same period last year. Net profit rose 28.5% to 68 million 300 thousand US dollars over the same period. The net profit of the group increased 12.5% to $167 million 200 thousand over the past nine months, and net income increased 14.6% to $1 billion 550 million over the same period.

From the actions of recent months, we can see that this Lululemon yearn for the Chinese market. Besides the three stores opened in mid December 2016 in the IFC gold center of Shanghai, the Kerry Center of Jingan and Sanlitun of Beijing, Chengdu has held large-scale activities in Chengdu to test the water temperature of the two or three line cities.

In December 2016, Lululemon, a senior executive in the Asia Pacific region, said publicly that China will continue to be a focus of development and is highly expected by the company. It points out that yoga is on the rise in China, and some yoga courses have become very popular. People are also beginning to go out to meet their friends in yoga suits and tights.

Analysts also pointed out that the development of China's Yoga market is three times faster than that of the United States. Nike, Adidas, Under Amour, Decathlon and other large sporting goods brands have launched sports underwear. Yoga suit And other products, even Chinese Antarctica and La Sha also joined in. Lululemon can't miss this market opportunity.

In November 18, 2015, the official flagship store of Lululemon Tmall officially opened, providing yoga, running, leisure, training and other types of products, about every two weeks will be on the shelves of a new product, and gradually with the North American market the same new. Its official has pointed out that Lululemon's global development strategy has been very cautious. Opening day cat shop is very important for its entry into the Chinese market, because Tmall platform has gathered huge Chinese new middle class group, which is very consistent with Lululemon customer positioning.

　　 What's the result of over a year's operation?

Admittedly, Tmall's entry into Tmall is simpler than opening a store or running a Chinese website, but can it really help Lululemon to open the Chinese market, especially in this high-end Yoga sportswear field? You know, Nike and Adidas have accumulated many years of bone marrow in China. Later, Under Armour also chose the strategy of looking more sincere, such as offline stores, Tmall stores, Jingdong stores, Chinese official website and other channels. In 2015, NBA was invited to be a red star Stephen Curry to do brand promotion in China.

And open the Lululemon Tmall official flagship store, according to the world clothing shoes and hats net, the business is somewhat deserted. From November 2015 to now more than a year, brand attention is only more than 1300, the total sales volume ranked first, second of the products are yoga mats, and the highest sales volume is only more than 2000, a lot of main products monthly sales are all single digit, and many products monthly sales volume is 0.

In terms of pricing, Lululemon's strategy seems to be "over". For example, a women's tight sports trousers with higher monthly sales volume, the price of Tmall flagship store is 850 yuan, and the Nike official flagship store sells similar products at a price of 400-600 yuan, while the Under Armour official flagship store sells similar products at a price of 500-700 yuan. Other products such as women's basic sports vest, sports Bra or even low tech sports belt are also higher than those of Nike and Under Armour. At the same time, the price of Lululemon Tmall store is almost 150-180% of its English official website.

In terms of social media marketing, Lululemon's achievements are not very gratifying. Reporters check out its official micro-blog found that its account number was opened in November 25, 2016, and the number of fans was only more than 2000. This is nothing compared to Nike and Adidas, which are hundreds of thousands of fans and millions of micro-blog fans. Later, Under Armour's official micro-blog fans also had 290 thousand.

In addition, the headlines of Lululemon WeChat public number in recent months (November 2016 -2017 January) are almost thousands of readings (up to more than 6000), and are not updated every day. Compared with the same period, the Under Armour WeChat articles read almost all over 10 thousand, Adidas is tens of thousands of levels, and Nike often has 10W+.

　 How many chances are there for the blue sea to change to the red sea?

Perhaps it is the realization that it is too naive to try to pry the Chinese market just by opening a shop in Tmall. Lululemon has just delayed opening three stores in the mainland. At the same time, it hopes to build more emotional connections between more Chinese consumers and brands through sponsoring local Yoga coaches and organizing community activities.

However, the challenges ahead of Lululemon are obvious.

According to research data from Mintel, a global market research firm, there are about 10 million people participating in yoga practice in China and three times as fast as the US. In 2015, double 11, when the daily cat sold 180 thousand yoga mats and 150 thousand Yoga suits, the total sales of yoga products increased by 101% over the same period last year, the fastest growing branch of all sporting goods. However, the Yoga apparel industry has huge incremental market in China, but it also faces inevitable fierce competition.

In addition to Nike, Adidas, Under Armour and other international sports brands, such as ZARA, H&M, UNIQLO and other fast fashion brands, Vitoria's secret, the south pole, and the Lingsha brand have all participated in the competition, and some of the local new small and beautiful yoga brands are also coming. For example, the Yoga brand Wake, which was founded in late 2016, announced the completion of the 20 million yuan A round of financing. Hiyoga, while selling goods, has also been continuously developing the "Yoga life hall" with the attributes of media and training institutions.

In the face of intense competition, the market is constantly changing. According to public information, China's yoga clothing market has gradually entered the fashion trend. CEO Xia Pengcheng has pointed out that in the past year, people's pursuit of yoga clothes has changed from three or four years ago to the sport and fitness type clothing. The fabric of fast drying and elastic fabric is becoming more and more popular. Color, besides the classic black and white, color printing is especially popular. Wang Qiang, founder of hiyoga, also said that today's yoga clothes will no longer satisfy classroom use alone. Many people bring yoga clothes into their daily lives and become a sign of fashion health.

In contrast, Nike, Adidas sports brands are deeply rooted in China, have a wide user base and brand awareness; ZARA, H&M and other fast fashion brands control a considerable number of young generation consumers; and Wake, hiyoga and other yoga professional brands quickly occupy the user's mind by means of short video teaching, live broadcasting, social media marketing, and yoga localization. Lululemo, who has been in China for several years until now, must realize that the direction of the wind has changed. How to steal Chinese users from these competitors is not a simple problem.

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