How Does The Chinese Retailing Industry Embrace Change? What Should We Pay Attention To?

2017 is Edward Gribbin, President of clothing strategy consulting firms Alvanon farming America.

The fortieth year is also the most puzzling moment in the industry.

In March, Richard Hein, chief executive of Urban Outfitter, a fashion brand in the US, once said pessimistic that his industry was falling into the same crisis as the real estate market in 2008.

Thousands of stores are facing the fate of being closed and rents are falling; the sales performance of the holiday season in 2016 has seen unusual ups and downs, and the way to clean up inventories by selling has failed. Consumers demand the clothing industry to keep up with novelty and interesting things instead of pressing the bottom of the box.

During the April 12th new manufacturing, new retail and new ecosystem 2017 Technology Innovation Summit (Shanghai), Mr Green came to the same conclusion as Urban Outfitter boss: "everyone has heard of the real estate bubble, and now welcomes the bubble era of clothing industry".

He pointed out that the old order of clothing and retail has collapsed, and the new international political and economic environment, the increasingly fractionize consumer market and technological innovation require manufacturers and retailers to quickly subvert themselves, otherwise they will face the fate of the outbound.

The following are arranged according to the presentation and presentation documents of the meeting.

I have worked in this industry for 40 years, witnessing many things, but I have never seen such a severe industry collapse as seen in the past year.

What we are seeing now is an unprecedented era.

Technology, innovation, consumers and even global politics are changing the way the whole industry thinks.

Most people think that fashion itself is about change, and the secret behind it is that we are the most volatile industry in the world.

The way we do things, including design, purchase, sale and production, are the same as 30 years ago, 40 years ago, 50 years ago or even 100 years ago.

But now we have to change that industry can not afford to abide by the consequences of past actions.

The retail industry has owned consumers for more than 100 years in the past.

If you want to buy an outfit, you have to go to the store when you open the shop, find out what you like from the selected series of buyers, and have the right size and fit.

But since the advent of the first iPhone in 2007, consumers now own retailers.

Consumers can decide to get the goods they want at any time they want, and even decide how much they will pay for it.

Retail control is no longer the same as it used to be, which has caused the industry to collapse at a high level.

There are still some changes that we have not faced in the past.

We have always had a relatively stable global political environment, which has changed.

We have to face the new European presidency of Britain and Europe, which is very, very difficult to predict.

At the end of the old trade policy, the traditional way of doing business also needs to change.

The influencing factors include exchange rate, inflation, including the border tax of the United States, which is opposed by almost all retailers.

98% of the clothes and shoes circulated in the US market are imported, most of which are from China.

If the new rulers impose high border taxes, people may spend less, shops will be laid off, and worst of all, consumers will not be able to afford the goods they need.

In 2016, I attended the world retail conference. A research published by Accenture showed that 70% to 80% of retailers claimed to be "full channel", but only about 10% of retailers actually did so.

This figure is quite shocking.

Only 24% of the brands have real-time and traceable inventory information, and even store salesmen, only 18% can access real-time inventory data.

The brand that supports consumers to share information on social media is only 2%.

Another shocking data is that if you want to buy something on the Internet by mobile phone, you need to input new information or click 21 times, and the brand that provides mobile terminal shopping service is only 14%.

The brand that stores support mobile phone online payment is only 1%. Do you know who is in those 1%? Apple is apple, which lets consumers pay for products by mobile phone in the store instead of Messi, WAL-MART or Ralph Lauren.

So far in 2017, the number of bankruptcies in US retail businesses has reached a record level. There are 12, and we expect more bankruptcies, exceeding the figure during the 2008 economic crisis.

Bloomberg predicts that 8600 retail stores will close in the United States this year.

This is a very worrying moment for the retail industry.

Why is there such a situation? Because we already have too many stores and too many shopping centers, but the retail industry has very low visibility or control of its own stock, so we don't know where the stock is.

Over the past three years, the number of people in shopping malls has dropped by 57%.

Amazon may become the largest clothing retailer in the United States by June of this year.

It itself is a kind of subversion. Every brand is thinking, either joining Amazon or being cleared by Amazon.

The millennial generation is changing the way we do everything in the past, and the latest technology will change the clothing industry forever.

All this will start with big data, not even huge amounts of data. A little bit of data that can be used to analyze can also create comparative advantages and better connect consumers.

Do you know what is the number one position in the retail and fashion industry today? It's data scientists, not designers, sales, operators or purchasers.

60% of the data scientists work time is used to clean up and organize data, and many data mining, data collection work in the future is likely to be completed by the machine.

A survey of retail executives by McKinsey and the fashion business review shows that digitalization and electricity providers are the most important opportunities for retail pformation. Others include buying, holding new opportunities brought by the economic downturn, reducing sales promotion and unifying global pricing strategies, integrating channels and shaping consumers, especially to cater for the millennial generation.

Ali Shi Fagafaga Bong, chief executive of Liz Claiborne, said in February this year: "retailers should sell 25% of their stores and invest in flagship locations.

We have too many battlefields and too few resorts.

The money should be invested in digital and flagship store experience. Consumers, especially the millennials, cherish experience more than products themselves.

Therefore, the new winners are those who can better connect consumers with technical and digital means, which is the only way to retail.

From McKinsey's sales forecast of the global footwear and fashion industry, we can see that luxury goods are already nowhere to go and the market is saturated. Where did consumers spend their money on sports apparel?

Nike, Adidas and other brand market share is growing.

Adidas announced that it will open 2000 new stores in China. They have made innovations in 3D printing sports shoes and customized services for consumers. Now they have stores in Germany, and an experience store will open in the United States in June.

Adidas has changed the way of responding to consumers with technology.

Next I want to talk about customization.

There is a great company in San Francisco, Stitch Fix, who has done a good job of digitalization.

Their business starts with analyzing data. They use artificial intelligence and machine learning to understand what style and type of clothing they want if consumers are not very clear about themselves.

People don't need a lot of clothes. You have something to make them feel excited about.

The mode of Stitch Fix is subscription. Every month, a package will be received. The clothes in each package are customized, and consumers will not even know what to send.

Some goods are even for the first time, consumers do not buy them in stores.

Trunk Club, a clothing startup company in Chicago, is also an interesting example.

They know that the size of a man is weird. I am not trying to embarrass anyone. But look at the men around us. The shoulders are narrow and the size of the stomach is different.

Trunk Club has built 99 models, so that almost all sizes can be found in suitable size. They use data to find out what I want, and based on this, we can produce garments and deliver them within three days after the consumer orders.

Speed.

The world changes faster than ours. If we can't keep up with it, we will go bankrupt.

Some retailers are still thinking that shipments will only be done in the two seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter, and this era is over.

Companies like Zara have realized how to keep consumers fresh. They make new models every two weeks, and have more than 20 series a year.

Loyal consumers visit Gap 4 times a year on average, while Zara is the 17 time.

Gap used to be the world's largest retailer, and Zara surpassed it in 2005 and its market value is increasing because Zara is fast enough.

A year ago, the hot word in the fashion industry was buying and selling, that is, buying and selling.

You can't show something in spring, but expect consumers to buy it in autumn.

This phenomenon also emphasizes the importance of speed in connection with consumers.

Speed is also crucial to consumer loyalty and integration.

If you can't keep the customers excited, they will spend their money on traveling, eating out and experiencing anything more fun than buying clothes.

Most retailers can get other benefits from fast response, such as better pricing, less discount sales, faster inventory turnover and higher return on working capital.

The supply chain should be short enough to link speed and customization.

The supply chain extends over the world map.

An American company needs to spend 8 to 12 weeks to wait for the Chinese clothes to float over the ocean, so they bought several Boeing 747 aircraft to pport.

You may think it is too expensive, but such investment is really worth it, it can make the product faster to consumers.

3D technology is the future of product development.

Five years later, maybe someone will come back to express regret: why didn't I make good use of 3D technology at that time? 3D design and printing can make product data more accurate, more consistent and faster.

Under Armour's UA Lighthouse incubator in Baltimore is another good example.

There are few people in it, but there are many equipment such as human body scanning, 3D printing, remote control cutting and so on.

It allows global designers, fabric manufacturers and manufacturers to develop and update their fabrics and produce them quickly, and sell them to the world.

Customized clothing produced by UA Lighthouse is now on sale.

For more information, please pay attention to the world clothing shoe and hat net information report.