Children'S Wear Business Is Stopped; Pathfinder Returns To Main Business With Difficulties

On November 19, an exclusive investigation by a reporter from Beijing Business Daily found that the Toread Children's Store in Wudaokou Shopping Center had closed. In this regard, the person in charge of the mall told the reporter of Beijing Business Daily that the pathfinder Children's clothing The business encountered problems, so the store was closed and withdrawn. In addition, some children's stores of Pathfinder, such as Hualian Shopping Mall in Fuchengmen, have also been closed.

Although the number of closed stores is small, it is not optimistic for the pathfinder who has only 15 children's clothing stores. In addition, the flagship store of Toread Children's Wear Tmall has also been cancelled and is now inaccessible.

Industry insiders said that in the face of the embarrassing situation of large-scale closure of children's clothing business, the pathfinder who proposed to return to the main business should also carefully consider the future operation direction of children's clothing business, and get out of the predicament through sales model innovation, product innovation and other measures.

　　 Online and offline frustration

In the children's store of Pathfinder in Wudaokou Shopping Center, although there are still goods on the shelves, the lights of the store have gone out, and the shopping guides in the store have also been evacuated. In this regard, the person in charge of the mall told the reporter of Beijing Business Daily that because the agent of Pathfinder Peckrandy There are problems in operation, and the Toread children's shop has been removed from the Wudaokou shopping center.

Later, a reporter from Beijing Business Daily learned from Hualian Shopping Mall in Fuchengmen that the children's clothing store of Pathfinder had withdrawn from the mall at the end of September. The relevant person in charge of the mall told the reporter that "the Pathfinder chose to close the store and withdraw from the mall because of the loss of children's clothing business".

As the first domestic outdoor brand to be listed, Toread launched the children's clothing brand TOREAD in 2014 kids。 According to an insider close to the children's business of Toread, Toread authorized the children's brand to Peckrandy The production, promotion, channel and other specific brand operations are entrusted to Peckrandy. In fact, it is Beijing Tongchuang Tongxin Network Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Tongchuang Tongxin") that operates Pathfinder's children's clothing business. Tongchuang Tongxin is Peckrandy Authorized operating company of the brand.

According to the above insiders, the children's wear operation of local sports brands mostly adopts three modes. One is the self-supporting model represented by Anta and 361 °. The establishment of the Children's Wear Business Department started from scratch; The second is the cooperation mode, for example, Kappa and Peckrandi set up a joint venture to operate; The third one is to grant the brand to a third party on behalf of Pathfinder and charge a certain licensing fee.

In the opinion of the insiders, it is also a good choice for those who have not set foot in the children's clothing business to outsource the whole children's clothing business to a mature agency operation company.

In addition to offline stores, Toread's flagship Taobao store for children's clothing has also disappeared. According to Qixinbao, Tongchuang Tongxin operates two Tmall flagship stores, respectively TOREAD Kids Tmall flagship store and Parkland children's clothing flagship store. However, when a reporter from Beijing Business Daily visited the flagship store of TOREAD Kids, the website showed that no corresponding store information was found.

　　 The wing of agency operation mode is broken

"Parkrandi signed a 10-year contract with Toread, and set a market index every five years." Previously, Parkrandi CEO Luo Jiefan said that Toread's children's clothing business would operate as an independent store. When Toread launched cooperation with Parkland in 2014, Luo Jiefan said that in 2014, it was planned to open 100 stores, and in 2015, Toread children's clothing stores were expected to open 300-400 stores.

However, after the children's clothing business was handed over to Peckrandi for independent operation, it did not meet the previous commitment of Peckrandi. At the end of 2017, Pathfinder withdrew the children's clothing business authorization. According to the data disclosed in the 2017 annual report, by the end of 2017, there were 1295 offline stores of Pathfinder, and only 79 offline stores of children's clothing.

"As the children's clothing business failed to meet the expectations, Toread had to withdraw the children's clothing brand authorization in 2017 in advance," said an industry insider who did not want to be named. It is worth noting that this brand recall only took place in the third year after Parkland was authorized, and there are still seven years to go before the ten-year contract is signed.

When taking back the business of children's clothing, Toread also gave development goals: In the future, a separate children's clothing store will be opened, and it is expected that the revenue of Pathfinder's children's clothing business will exceed 300 million yuan in 2018. However, according to the 2018 semi annual report of Toread, as of the first half of 2018, there were 1253 offline stores of Toread and only 15 offline stores of children's clothing, 64 fewer than the end of 2017.

"At present, it is almost impossible for Pathfinder to achieve the goal of 300 million yuan of children's clothing revenue in 2018," said Song Qinghui, a famous economist.

"The agent operation company pays attention to the benefits that can be realized in the short term in the process of brand operation, and there is still insufficient investment in brand incubation, product research and development, channel transformation, consumer experience, etc. In addition, the agent operation company's multi brand operation mode is difficult to really focus on Pathfinder's children's clothing, which is one of the incentives for the poor development of Pathfinder's children's clothing business." Cheng Weixiong, general manager of Shanghai Liangqi Brand Management Co., Ltd.

"The problem faced by Toread's children's clothing business is not only the poor operation under the agency operation mode, but also the fact that Toread gradually lost its direction in the face of the dividends brought by the early outdoor market. The continuous frustration in seeking diversified development has led to the rapid decline of Toread's overall brand strength." An insider who has been engaged in the clothing industry for many years told the Beijing Business Daily reporter.

　　 be in a dilemma

The closure of children's clothing stores is only a challenge for pathfinders after their return to the main business, which is in sharp contrast to their previous brilliant moments. Toread, once known as "the first brand of outdoor products in China", was founded in 1999. In 2009, Toread successfully landed on the GEM. Within four or five years after listing, Toread's revenue and net profit also maintained a double-digit year-on-year growth.

The pathfinder entered the downward trajectory in 2015. At that time, Toread was not satisfied with a single main business of outdoor products, and began to diversify. It carried out a series of investment and merger activities, comprehensively entered the field of tourism and sports, and initially completed the strategic layout of coordinated development of outdoor products, travel services, and sports. However, this road of diversification has become a drag. In 2016, the revenue of Pathfinder's outdoor industry and travel services declined; In 2017, Pathfinder lost money for the first time. In the first three quarters of 2015-2018, the attributable net profit decreased by 10.5%, 37.13%, 151.24% and 68.85% respectively.

In 2017, Wang Jing, the founder of Toread, returned to China as chairman and president of Toread Group, and proposed the core strategy of returning to the main business. At present, Toread is also carrying out internal transformation and adjustment to develop its overall business in the fashion brand direction. In the 2017 semi annual report, Toread said that each brand dealer closed inefficient stores to adjust the number of terminals, and pursued more channel quality. The competition between brand dealers became increasingly fierce, and the competition in the industry also further intensified.

Correspondingly, the competition in the domestic outdoor market is intensifying year by year. "For pathfinders who are at the forefront of domestic outdoor brands, if they want to survive in the fierce competition, they still need to work hard on product price, brand influence and performance in the future development," said an industry insider who did not want to be named.

In the face of glued industry competition, children's clothing is the driving force of the future. As early as in the 2014 annual report, Toread said that it hoped to promote the development of children's clothing business of the "Toread" brand by virtue of Peckrandi's advantages in children's clothing operation and management, fill in the gap of the Toread brand in children's outdoor market, so as to achieve full coverage of large clothing and children's clothing business in the outdoor market, and then occupy more market shares.

Cheng Weixiong analyzed and said, "After Pathfinder took back the children's clothing business, it gradually formed a pattern of common development of the two businesses, which is a good thing for Pathfinder who expects to return to the main business".

"If we do not innovate in children's wear now, we will lose the market." In Song Qinghui's view, pathfinder can only get out of the predicament and attract more customers through sales model innovation, product innovation and other measures.

For the closure of Toread's children's clothing store and its future plans, the reporter of Beijing Business Daily contacted Toread for an interview, but as of the date of publication, the other party did not reply. (Author: Fang Binnan and Feng Shuo)