Special Step Children'S Business Delayed The Transformation Of Sports Fashion Without Success

Recently, XTEP The full year results of 2016 were released. Last year, the total revenue of Nei Tebu was 5.397 billion yuan, up 1.9% year on year; The net profit was 528 million yuan, down 15.2% year on year; The net profit margin was 9.8%, the lowest in recent five years. Although Tebu listed the restructuring and adjustment of children's business as the reason for the decline of net profit, on the whole, Tebu's positioning from "fashion sports" to "sports fashion" is significantly different from its competitors.

　　 Children's business is lagging behind

For the 2016 annual performance, Special Step said that the restructuring and adjustment of children's business was one of the reasons for the decline of net profit. Last year, 350 children's stores were closed on a large scale due to the lack of operating capacity of sales points.

In 2016, Tebu drastically abolished the sales points of children's brands. In 2015, Tebu children's brand sales outlets expanded rapidly in the country, with 100 new outlets, reaching a total of 600; In just one year in 2016, the number of sales outlets of Tebu children's brand dropped sharply to 250. As the number of children's stores decreased significantly, Special Step had to reorganize the children's business unit.

According to the data, Tebu announced to expand its children's business in new fields in 2011, and will set up a separate team for management, promotion, research and design. In 2013, the revenue of other products of Special Step increased significantly by 114.9% to 160 million yuan. One of the reasons is that the sales of children's products of Special Step increased.

However, as far as the current situation is concerned, the performance of Tebu children's business failed to continue its original strength. Special step said that the Group will monitor the operating efficiency of special step retail stores every week and close the retail stores with poor performance. Within one year, more than half of the children's stores were closed, which is enough to illustrate the problem.

At the same time of weak business ability, the product quality of Tebu Children's business has also aroused consumers' doubts. Since its launch, the special children's products have become regular customers of the black list of quality inspection institutions all over the country. In 2016, special children's products in Hubei, Shanxi, Jiangxi and other places were repeatedly found unqualified.

With the opening of the "second child" policy, children's clothing has become the focus of competition among clothing brands. Data shows that the market size of children's sportswear will exceed 140 billion yuan in the future. In recent years, Anta, Li Ning, 361 ° and other brands have entered the children's market. Among them, the same store sales of 361 ° children's wear brands increased by 7.7% in the fourth quarter of last year, 0.2 percentage points higher than that of the main brands. "The store size, store area and sales of Tebu Children's Store are not very good." Ma Gang, an expert in the clothing industry, clearly said, "And compared with Anta and other brands, Tebu's children's business started late and the number of stores is small." It is understood that Anta launched the children's business in 2008.

　　 Transform sports fashion

For a long time, Tebu has always been committed to building "the first brand of global fashion and sports". However, it is worth noting that in recent years, the goal of the special step has changed. Ding Shuibo, president of Tebu Group, said publicly: "In 2015, Tebu decided to return to sports. Before Tebu, it was' fashion sports', but now it is' sports fashion '."

Ding Shuibo was optimistic that with the increasing demand of sports consumers, sports goods manufacturers will face the pressure of transformation. "People who want to exercise are more from the first and second tier cities, so international brands will benefit first. In two years, this dividend will definitely return to domestic sports goods manufacturers."

According to the financial report, the revenue of the main business shoes of Special Step reached 3.525 billion yuan last year, up 8.2% year on year; However, the revenue of clothing and accessories fell by 8.4% and 3.6% respectively. Teber said that the decrease in clothing revenue was due to the company's reduction of low margin life products. On the other hand, the Group's overall gross profit margin rose by 1% year on year, because the special product portfolio turned to professional sports products.

"We pay more attention to running and football in the field of sports." Ding Shuibo said, "An industry and a brand must have their own core competitiveness. A sporting goods brand must be the first in a certain event field, which means that the brand first mentioned or touched by consumers will be linked to which sport."

In this context, the special step that repositioned itself began to focus on running and football. The first professional football product series of Tebu was officially launched in June last year, and a new generation of products will be launched in 2017. Among the running products, Special Step has continued to strengthen the technological content, and will also launch different products for different running events.

Yang Dayun, CEO of UTA International Brand Investment Management Co., Ltd., said: "With the upgrading of consumption, the demand for material has become the demand for life and emotion, so the sports market has been activated. The performance of sports enterprises, including brands such as Li Ning and Anta, is rising, while the performance of traditional men's and women's clothing is generally weak." Ma Gang believed that, The starting point of making such a change is related to the general trend of the sports market. "Special Step was originally more entertaining. But now sports has entered a period of cyclical performance growth, and the competition in the fashion field has become more intense."

　　 Great competitive pressure

However, the special step after the goal change will face more fierce competition. Not only the children's business, but also in the core areas of running and football, there is still a big gap between Tebu and the domestic first-class brands.

Ma Gang pointed out that the main competitors of the special step in the past were sports and leisure brands such as Kappa. "There are few competitors in sports and fashion, which may be a good thing for Tebu." Once it transforms into a more professional field, Tebu will compete with Anta, Li Ning, Nike, Adidas and other brands.

At present, Anta is still firmly seated in the mainland Sports brand The first one. According to the 2016 annual report, Anta's annual revenue has reached 13.346 billion yuan, up 20% year on year; The net profit was 2.386 billion yuan, up 16.9% year on year. After self adjustment, Li Ning, who had suffered losses for three years, gradually recovered. In 2016, Li Ning's total revenue reached 8.015 billion yuan, up 13% year on year; The net profit was 643 million yuan, up 4395% year on year. In terms of revenue scale and volume, there is still a huge gap between Tebu, Anta and Li Ning.

In terms of research and development, there is also a gap between Special Step and its competitors. In 2016, XTEP A total of 138 million yuan was invested in R&D, while the R&D cost of Anta in 2016 was 350 million yuan.

In enterprises with similar levels, Tebu also has to face many competitors. In 2016, 361 ° had a revenue of 5.02 billion yuan and a net profit of 400 million yuan. At present, 361 ° has several sub brands covering the mass market, high-end market and focusing on functionality.

Industry insiders said that if Special Step wants to break out of the tight encirclement, the first thing is still to do a good job in products. "After all, the biggest competitors before did not do well in China, especially Kappa. At present, the key for Special Step is to seize the younger group and make their own advantages," Ma Gang said.

"Now the sports market has a good opportunity. Originally, for physical health reasons, it has become a young lifestyle. At this time, the demand for sports has become a trend, and will slowly return to the mature sports market abroad." Yang Dayun said, "The characteristics of the sports market in the mature stage, for example, the sports equipment market in the United States accounts for 30% of the total market size, in addition to sports events, broadcast, media, etc. Now the sports equipment market in China accounts for 60% - 70% of the total market."

On March 26, relevant journalists made a special interview on relevant issues, but as of press release, the other side did not reply.

If you want to know more about Tebu brand, please pay attention to the later report of World Clothing, Shoes and Hats Network.