Does H&M's COS Store In Beijing Really Understand China's "New Middle Class"?

COS, the high-end brand of H&M, a Swedish fashion group, recently announced that its first men's wear store in the world was officially opened in Sanlitun, Beijing.

The new store has a retail area of 174 square meters, inspired by the concept of traditional Hutong, a special historic terrazzo floor connected to two street entrances in Beijing.

In addition to the traditional shop space, the shop also provides special customers' rest space.

Consumers can read selected books and publications on art, photography, architecture and design in the rest area through customized furniture.

The men's clothing store will sell the latest COS 2018 autumn winter men's wear series and provide customers with classic clothing that combines remodeled tailoring and innovative materials. The COS 2018 autumn winter men's wear series is inspired by cross boundary research, such as real or imagined natural and refined raw materials.

COS Christophe Copin, chief menswear designer, said: "this is a brand new space, providing a convenient and inspiring shopping environment.

Sanlitun is a vibrant place, and it is our honor to open the first men's wear shop here. "

The COS brand is headquartered in London, founded by H&M in 2007, with an average price of about 1000 yuan, and now has 167 stores in 30 countries.

The brand also said it plans to open a new flagship store in the Kerry Center of Jingan, Shanghai, and open other branches in Beijing, Xiamen and Guangzhou.

In fact, as early as October this year, H&M's COS officially entered Tmall, which is also the only online store opened by COS in addition to official website.

At present, COS Tmall flagship store offers many categories including women's wear, men's wear and children's wear, and has launched the COS x Studio Swine joint series in Tmall. It can be seen that H&M takes the Chinese market's value seriously.

In November 2018, H&M announced that it would close its denim brand Cheap Monday to focus on its core business development.

In April 2018, H&M's brand new Nyden appeared, but it was "aborted" in just 4 months. It was withdrawn by H&M and no longer existed as an independent online brand.

Why should the low price and fast fashion H&M launch frequent high-end brands? This is not the rise of China's middle class.

Today, the famous wealth Research Institute, the Hurun Research Institute, joined hands with Asset Management Co and Jin Yuan investment group to jointly publish the white paper on China's new middle class circle, 2018.

The following is the new "middle" standard for the 2018 white paper on China's new middle class:

The annual income of the first tier cities is 300 thousand.

The annual income of new frontline and other urban families is over 200 thousand, and household net assets are above 3 million.

I have received higher education.

There are at least 1 Properties in the permanent residence, preferably private cars.

Those who have the skills and earn a higher income are white collar, gold collar or professional freelance.

After 80 is the main force of the new middle class, followed by 70 and 90.

Subjective self-identity is the middle class.

China ranks 385 million in the middle class with 35% of the total population of the middle class, ranking second in the United States.

The report said, "the future of" new middle class "is understood.

At present, in view of the H&M frequency pushing high-end brands, especially for the Chinese market, fast fashion H&M is optimistic about the future high-end market.

However, the problems encountered by H&M are not too small, and the Cheap Monday will be closed. The goal of the group is to close all employee contracts by June 2019, and the brand stores in London and the official website will also be closed by the end of this year. About 80 employees will be affected.

The new brand Nyden, which has been established for less than a year, will be merged into the core brand H&M. It will no longer operate in an independent brand. Some of its employees have withdrawn from the Losangeles office, and Oscar Olsson, the founder and creative director of the brand, left this summer.

The changing trend of the fashion industry has made the H&M group frequently introduce contingency policies. Even H&M, the second fastest fashion group in the world, claims that it is in the pition period at present. It shows H&M's understanding of the current market crisis.

Author: Sha Jie