Children'S Clothing Business Has Been Stopped By The Pathfinder.

In November 19th, an exclusive reporter found that the children's shop in Wudaokou shopping center had been closed.

In this regard, the person in charge of the shopping mall told reporters that the children of the Pathfinder encountered problems in their operation, so they closed the store and withdrew. In addition, some children's stores in Fuchengmen, such as Hualian mall, had been closed.

Although the number of shops closed is not large, it is not optimistic for Pathfinder with only 15 children's clothing stores.

Besides, Pathfinder children's clothing.

It has been cancelled and is now inaccessible.

Insiders said that in the face of the embarrassing situation of children's clothing business in a large area, the Pathfinder returning to the main business should also carefully consider the future direction of children's clothing business and get rid of difficulties through sales mode innovation, product innovation and other measures.

Frustrated online and offline

In Wudaokou shopping center's Pathfinder children's store, although the shelves are still stocked with goods, the shop lights have been extinguished, and the shop guide personnel have also left the post.

In this regard, the person in charge of the shopping mall told reporters that the Pathfinder shop had already been removed from the shopping center in Wudaokou because of the problem of Parker Lan Di, the agent of the Pathfinder.

Later, reporters at the Hualian mall in Fuchengmen learned that the Pathfinder children's clothing shop had left the shopping mall at the end of September.

The relevant person in charge of the shopping mall told reporters that "the Pathfinder chose to close the store and withdraw from the shopping mall because of the loss of children's clothing business".

As the first domestic outdoor brand listing, in 2014, Pathfinder launched the children's clothing brand TOREAD kids.

According to a person close to the Pathfinder's children's business, the Pathfinder authorized the child's brand to paramount, and the production, promotion, and channel specific brand operations were handed over to Parker lane.

In fact, the children who run Pathfinder business are Beijing Tongchuang Tongxin network Polytron Technologies Inc (hereinafter referred to as "Tong Chuangtong Xin"), Tong Chuang Tong Xin is the authorized operation company of the brand of paramount.

According to the people familiar with the matter, the operation of local sports brand children's clothing mostly adopts three modes.

One is the self management mode represented by Anta and 361 degrees, the establishment of children's wear business department starts from scratch; the second is the cooperation mode, for example, Kappa and Parker's joint venture are operated; the third one is the representative of the Pathfinder, the brand is awarded to the third party, and a fixed fee is authorized.

It seems to the industry that it has not been involved.

It is also a good choice for the Pathfinder to outsource children's clothing business to mature operation companies.

Except for offline shops, the Taobao flagship store for Pathfinder children has disappeared.

According to Qi Xinbao's data, Tong Chuang Tong Xin operates two Tmall flagship stores, namely TOREAD kids Tmall flagship store and Parker blue children's flagship store.

But when the reporter visited TOREAD kids Tmall flagship store, the web page showed no corresponding store information.

Generation operation mode folding wing

"Parker lane and the Pathfinder signed a ten year contract and set a market indicator every five years."

Prior to this, Parker Lan Di CEO Luo Jie Fan said that Pathfinder children's clothing business will take independent shop operation.

When the Pathfinder opened up cooperation with Parker in 2014, he said that in 2014, 100 stores were planned to open, and 300-400 children's shop in Pathfinder are expected to open in 2015.

However, after the operation of the children's clothing was handed over to the independent operation of Parker lane, it did not reach the promise of the former paramount. By the end of 2017, the Pathfinder had authorized the children's clothing business.

The data disclosed in the 2017 annual report show that as of the end of 2017, there were 1295 shops under the route and 79 under the children's wear line.

"Because children's clothing business failed to achieve the desired expectations, in 2017, Pathfinder had to advance the authorization of children's clothing brand."

An insider who declined to be named said.

It is worth noting that the recovery of the brand took place only third years after the authorization of Parker, and seven years from the ten year contract period.

In the recovery of children's clothing business, Pathfinder also gave the development goal: in the future, will set up a children's wear shop alone, and it is expected that the revenue of Pathfinder children's clothing will exceed 300 million yuan in the future.

However, according to the 2018 semi annual report of the Pathfinder, as of the first half of 2018, there were 1253 shops under the route, and only 15 shops under the children's wear line, a decrease of 64 compared to the end of 2017.

"In the current situation, it is almost impossible for a Pathfinder to achieve a 300 million yuan target for children's clothing sales in 2018."

Song Qinghui, a famous economist, analyzed.

"What the operation company pays attention to is that brand operation can achieve benefits in the short term, and there are still insufficient investment in brand incubation, product development, channel pformation, consumer experience and so on.

In addition, the multi brand operation mode of the operation company is difficult to truly achieve a single focus on Pathfinder children's clothing, which is also one of the incentives for Pathfinder's children's clothing business development.

Cheng Weixiong, general manager of Shanghai Liang Qi Brand Management Co., Ltd.

"The problem faced by the Pathfinder children's clothing business is not only bad in the operation mode of the generation operation mode, but also in the face of the bonus brought by the initial outdoor market, and the Pathfinder gradually lost its way.

The pursuit of diversified development has been frustrated, resulting in a rapid decline in the overall brand strength of the Pathfinder.

One is engaged in

Many years of industry insiders told reporters.

The closure of stores is only a challenge for the Pathfinder to return to the main business, which contrasts sharply with the brilliant moments before.

Pathfinder has been described as "the first brand of outdoor products in China", founded in 1999, and in 2009, Pathfinder successfully landed on the gem.

Within four or five years after the listing, Pathfinder revenue and net profit also maintained an two digit growth year on year.

The Pathfinder should go back to 2015.

At that time, the pathfinder was not satisfied with the single outdoor products industry, began to diversify and carried out a series of investment and M & A activities, and comprehensively entered the tourism and sports field, and initially completed the strategic layout of coordinated development of three major business groups, outdoor products, travel services and sports.

But this pluralistic road has become a drag.

In 2016, the Pathfinder outdoor industry and travel service income showed a "double drop"; in 2017, Pathfinder lost the first time.

Net profit fell by 10.5%, 37.13%, 151.24% and 68.85% in the three quarter 2015-2018 years ago.

In 2017, Pathfinder founder Wang Jing returned to the post as chairman and CEO of the Pathfinder group, and put forward the core strategy of returning to the main business.

At present, Pathfinder is also carrying out internal pformation and adjustment, and developing the overall business to tide brand.

In the semi annual report of 2017, Pathfinder said that the brand operators were closing down inefficient shops to adjust the number of terminals, seeking more channel quality, increasing competition among brands and increasing competition in the industry.

Correspondingly, the domestic outdoor market competition is increasing year by year.

"For the Pathfinder who ranks the top in the domestic outdoor brand, if we want to survive in the fierce competition, the future development needs more efforts in product prices, brand influence and performance."

An insider who declined to be named said.

Facing the industry competition, children's clothing is the future force.

Pathfinder said in the 2014 annual report that he hoped to promote the "Pathfinder" brand children's clothing business with the advantage of Parker in the management of children's clothing, so as to fill the gap of the Pathfinder brand in the children's outdoor market, so as to achieve the full coverage of the outfit market and children's clothing business in the outdoor market, and thus occupy more market share.

According to Cheng Weixiong analysis, "the Pathfinder will gradually form the pattern of two kinds of common development of business after the recovery of children's clothing business, which is a good thing for the Pathfinder who expects to return to the main business".

"Making children's clothing now without innovation means losing the market."

In Song Qinghui's view, Pathfinder can only get rid of difficulties and attract more customers through sales mode innovation, product innovation and other measures.

For Pathfinder

The closure of the store and future plans, the reporter contacted the pathfinder for an interview, but as of press time, the other side did not give a reply.