In The Past, It Was Difficult For The Shoe King To Get Over The Fence

Baili, relying on department stores, once amazed the Jianghu, but their mode has been broken or subverted. The competitors are Iberian designers with pipes and hair gel, and also the workshop leaders with trousers and calluses on their hands in Taobao Dai Factory. In their eyes, Baili represents an organization group like an old buffalo, In seasonal migration, it staggers, gradually falls behind and falls into desolation.

March, Listed enterprises The annual performance reports of 2016 have been released successively. In recent years, the net profit of Belle, which has experienced ups and downs in the industry downturn, continues to decline. Although Nomura Securities of Japan released a positive signal, "Belle International has reflected all the adverse effects after falling from HK $18 at the beginning of 2013, and its same store sales decline in the fourth fiscal quarter will narrow." But this seems more ironic.

At the 2016 interim performance conference, Sheng Baijiao, CEO and Executive Director of Belle, made an official explanation for the decline in performance, "Mainly because of the huge changes in consumers' demand for shoes, consumers began to attach importance to cost performance, convenience and personalization. At the same time, they pointed out that the emergence of e-commerce posed a huge threat to the Group. The Group's performance could not be reversed in the foreseeable one to two years, so the Group is considering whether to make transformation."

Sheng Baijiao also mentioned that without transformation, the group will only die slowly, but if it makes fundamental changes, it will face huge risks and accelerate the decline of performance. Sheng Baijiao, chief executive officer and executive director of Belle, said that if the group did not transform, it would die slowly, but if it made fundamental changes, it would face huge risks and accelerate the decline of performance

Subsequently, Belle officially released the preliminary plan for transformation. It is planned to first adjust the pricing strategy, break the previous strategy of "high bid price, low discount", mark more realistic prices, change the habit of offline consumers to consume at discounts, and integrate online and offline prices; In addition, offline shoe stores are subtracted, and the function of clearing inventory of some loss making stores is replaced by online channels.

Sheng Baijiao said that the company has tried at three levels, including allowing offline consumers to enjoy online services and consumption experience; Establish a customer management system to enable more customers to spend in physical stores; And through better interaction with consumers online and offline, promote the digital transformation of stores, goods, etc., so that offline stores do not become a burden.

Sheng Baijiao's attempt is basically stepping on the hot new retail point. When Ali lobbies for the new retail concept, the traditional clothing industry represented by Belle has always been an important "cannon fodder". Then, does Belle really need to rely on this half empty and half real strategy to recover? However, in the third quarter after the announcement of transformation, Belle's footwear business did not improve. As of November 30, 2016, Belle had 20630 retail stores in China, of which 13145 were footwear, and the sales of footwear business in the same store decreased by 12.4%. During the period, 239 footwear stores were closed, equivalent to an average of 2 stores closed every day.

　　 BELLE The arrangement of department stores can be described as dotted, including Belle, Teenmix, Tata, Staccato, Joy&Peace, Millie's, Senda, Innet, and Basto. In addition, the brands represented by Belle include Bata, CAT, Clarks, and Hush Puppies, Mephisto, Merrell, Moussy, SLY and REPLAY. Basically, the ladies went to the department store to pick and choose, and finally found that they bought products from Belika.

In addition to footwear business, Belle has also represented sports brands such as NIKE and Adidas. According to the ideal plan of Belle in that year, the matrix composed of more than ten brands can cover all kinds of consumer groups with different ages, consumption ability and yearning for quality life. From 2010 to 2012, Belle International's footwear business increased 5340 sales points in mainland China, with an average of four or five stores per day.

Belle almost monopolized the sales channel of women's shoes. In the market environment without other consumption scenarios, firmly controlling the department store channel gives Belle a great advantage. In 2006, Belle's revenue was only 6.2 billion yuan. In 2011, Belle's revenue reached 28.9 billion yuan, and its net profit increased from 0.9 billion yuan in 2006 to 4.2 billion yuan in 2011. Before 2011, the gross profit rate has been rising, reflecting the pricing power advantage brought by Belle's monopoly advantage. The performance gave strong support to the stock price, and the market value of Belle once exceeded 150 billion yuan.

There was a saying in the past that when studying the shoe industry, companies would be divided into two categories: Belle and True or False Belle. But for Belle at present, its huge retail end has become a burden. The consumption scene has changed. Now it has become an era of consumer led consumption, especially the impact of e-commerce and fast fashion, which has diluted the advantages of Belle's model. After the radical expansion, the mode that once pushed Belle to the "altar" is becoming a hindrance to the development of Belle, and Belle has to continue to close its stores.

From the financial reports of Belle International in recent years, it can be found that before 2012, the net profit growth of Belle International was maintained at a rate of more than 20% (except 2008). In 2012, the growth rate was only 2%. Since then, the growth rate has never exceeded double digits. Until 2015, the collapse shocked the industry. A ZARA employee said in an interview with the media, "90% of ZARA's shoes are brand new every quarter. It will use the latest shoe lasts, leather materials, decorative elements and overall concepts. All materials and designs follow the rhythm of market trends."

The scale constrained Belle confirms Daphne's frank statement in the mid year report last year that "because Chinese consumers are now traveling more abroad, their knowledge and experience have increased, coupled with the urbanization process, the penetration of smart phones and other innovative technologies, all of which have led to a faster change in consumer behavior than ever before." It is said that within Belle, The proportion of bold and innovative shoes only accounts for 40% at most every year, and the remaining 60% is based on minor modifications of the first year's best-selling models.

stay ZARA In the opinion of employees, ZARA is a fashion focused company, which will follow the latest trends in the world in every move, and always wants to attract the attention of young people who like fashion. The old shoe companies have always been cultivating a "more popular market", trying to hit all women in their 20s and 40s, and the styles they launched have also become mediocre, which has gradually made them fall out of favor with young consumers who are more pursuing individuality and demand segmentation.

There is a team in ZARA who is specially responsible for making the edition. Once the pictures of any show or star come out, they can immediately find the desired texture and color from more than 100 kinds of leather materials, and then find the corresponding shoe last and sole... It is no exaggeration to say that they will work all night and produce results within 24 hours. From development and design to new products to store sales, it can be completed within 60 days.

For a long time in the past, domestic traditional women's shoes brands have been developing according to a set of established processes - their design teams will still go to various fashion shrines around the world to pick styles, or find inspiration from fashion magazines, and then finalize the style to start making sample shoes. These shoes will eventually appear in the quarterly order meeting. The dealers or the employees in charge of distribution in the branches all over the country will select the styles and place orders, and then transfer them to the rear production link, so that the suppliers can prepare large quantities of leather materials, fabrics and accessories. The factory will then start work, and after the production is completed, the logistics will deliver them to warehouses and stores all over the country.

This process sounds OK in theory, but the fatal thing is that the whole cycle will take half a year at the fastest and one year at the slowest. In the current market environment where fast fashion plays a leading role, such a speed is unthinkable. Taobao E-commerce, another kind of threat of the old shoe enterprises, has already improved faster because of its small scale and ability to master the R&D, production and supply chain links.

In the shoe factory of Taobao shop, the customer just sent a street photo of a model, and the master of plate making in the factory "only looked at it, and made the plate in the afternoon". The factory completed the production of nearly 1000 pairs of orders in two days, and delivered the goods on the third day. A taobao shopkeeper revealed that even if the version was carefully made and the process was more sophisticated, a shoe with a small order could finally be shipped within a week.

In the OEM factory of Taobao shop, with a photo taken from a model street sent by the customer, the factory can publish in the afternoon, complete nearly 1000 orders in two days, and deliver goods in the third day. With regard to the research and development mechanism of fast fashion brands and the response speed of the supply chain link, China Business Week once conducted a survey on some old shoe enterprises, among which respondents also mentioned the great difficulty of copying the fast fashion model in the short term. "I think the management does not want to change, but it is really difficult to change. The historical burden is too heavy. Every step of change is money, and at least five people from different departments are involved." An old shoe company interviewed sighed.

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