Costumes Rise Superdry 3 Years Of Losses In Chinese Market

Britain's EU referendum has been close to two years, and the retail industry has entered the cold winter.

After last week's earnings warning, Britain's tide card.

Julian Dunkerton, co-founder, said in an interview at the weekend that the downturn in weather, consumer attitudes and fluctuations in exchange rates were not the main causes of Superdry's low performance. It was rooted in the wrong strategy of the board. He thought it was a mistake to reduce the product line when competitors increased production.

Although Julian Dunkerton has withdrawn from the board of directors, it still attaches great importance to brand management.

The first half year earnings report will be released in November 8th. It is estimated that the annual pre tax profit or plunge of 25% to 80 million pounds will be mainly affected by the unusual hot weather in Europe in the past two months.

Although Superdry recorded an increase of 22.1% to 1 billion 600 million pounds last year, profits before interest tax depreciation and amortization fell 23% to 65 million 300 thousand pounds.

Since this year, Julian Dunkerton has reduced Superdry shares for the two time, but its share is still around 18.5%. For the largest shareholder of Superdry, the company's share price fell 21.18% to 7.97 pounds after the earnings warning message was released, which has reached a low level of nearly three years, and the value of Julian Dunkerton Holdings has also decreased by 43 million pounds.

In order to prevent further deterioration of Superdry's situation, Julian Dunkerton said it would not rule out a return to the group and take charge of its business. He stressed in the interview, "I can't just watch my business which has spent 30 years in painstaking efforts to be eroded and sit idly by."

Superdry parent was a Cult Clothing group, established in Cheltenham in 1985 by Ian Hibbs and Julian Dunkerton. In 2003, the group opened its first store named Superdry in London, and began to accelerate the globalization expansion. It had worked with Beckham, Jude Law, Kate Moss and other international giants, and then formally listed on the London Stock Exchange in March 2010.

Because of disagreement with the board of directors, Julian Dunkerton resigned as chief executive in October 22, 2014 and left the board in March this year, and began to focus on charity and other businesses. The group business was taken over by a team led by the current chief executive, Euan Sutherland.

In February 2016, Julian Dunkerton sold 4 million shares at a price of 12, earning 48 million pounds, but it was still the largest shareholder of the group.

In September 2017, the group announced its renamed "Superdry" to emphasize its core brand.

Confidence and increase brand share in the global market.

At present, Superdry has 223 stores in the world, including 102 in the UK and Ireland, 108 in Europe and 23 in North America.

In fact, Superdry saw the potential of the Chinese market in 2015, and jointly established a joint venture with China's apparel brand, hitson International Group, to jointly launch the Chinese market.

The cooperation was initiated and facilitated by the British Trade and investment administration. The two sides invested a total of 18 million pounds (about 180 million yuan), each holding 50% shares and the joint venture for at least ten years.

When Euan Sutherland first accepted the exclusive interview with fashion headlines, he once thought that Superdry did not see competitors in the Chinese market.

However, this situation is being rewritten, and the British brand such as Superdry is facing unprecedented crisis due to the economic slowdown and the impact of the electricity supplier on the real economy.

According to the latest report released by CBNData, the first financial and business data center, with the continuous upgrading of consumption, young consumers in China after 90's 00 have gradually lost interest in international fast fashion brands such as Zara and H&M. Costumes such as Taiping bird are rising.

The Tencent 00 post research report points out that in the eyes of the most potential young consumer group, domestic brands are not inferior to foreign brands.

In such an environment, Superdry's losses in China expanded to 2 million 100 thousand pounds (18 million 920 thousand yuan) last year, which was mainly affected by the 500 thousand increase in the cost of China's expansion and inventory pfer.

The fashion brands Topshop, Topman and New Look, also from Britain, have lost their way to the Chinese market.

Despite the grim situation, Euan Sutherland said Superdry still maintained confidence in the Chinese market, saying that there is still great potential to be explored. The brand took a long time to investigate the market and consumers before entering China formally. China is a long-term investment and commitment for Superdry, and the short-term decline does not affect the brand's expansion of the Chinese market.

In addition to the Chinese market, the situation of Superdry in European base camp is also not optimistic. Its European largest fashion supplier Zalando is also affected by the weather anomaly. In the past two months, it has lowered the annual income expectation for the two time in a row. Its main wholesale channel, the high-end department store House of Fraser in the UK has been closed, and it has been sold for two times.

Euan Sutherland admitted in its earnings warning statement that at present, 45% of Superdry's annual revenue comes from weather sensitive jackets, jackets and so on. In order to reduce the dependence on such products, the brand will try to introduce more dresses, women's tops and jeans, and plan to open stores that only sell sportswear to occupy the sports leisure market, and invest 5 million pounds in the innovation of digitization, automation and product development.

In order to attract more young consumers, Superdry launched a series of Varsity products inspired by university life last year. At the same time, Super Sport sports series also received positive response from consumers.

The group has also specially planned two kinds of digital marketing activities, namely "The Night is Young" and "This is My City" to enhance brand influence.

In the retail network, Superdry 2018 added 37 authorized stores and 13 Direct stores in 23 different countries in the first half of fiscal year.

The brand's order management system and channel reform for the European distribution center further shorten the logistics time and indirectly promote the Superdry's electricity supplier sales.

It is reported that such innovations will continue to be launched in North America and China.

For Julian Dunkerton's remarks, Superdry chairman Peter Bamford responded that the board had always respected Julian Dunkerton, but his strategic view did not take into account the actual demand of the market. Superdry's goal was to become a global multi-channel brand.

Some people have pointed out that at present, the global fashion retailing industry is undergoing a critical period of pformation, and the efficiency of brand operation is constantly being pushed by the freshness of consumers. Superdry has been vigilant.

As of press release, Superdry23 shares fell 2.53% to 7.14 pounds, with a market value of about 590 million pounds.