Pathfinder Returns To The Main Industry Again And Has Not Yet Succeeded In Seeking Pformation.

In recent years, as the first outdoor sports brand in China, the Pathfinder holding group Limited by Share Ltd (hereinafter referred to as "Pathfinder", 300005.SZ) has been trapped in public opinion.

Recently, Pathfinder published the 2018 earnings report.

The results showed that the revenue of the Pathfinder in the 2018 fiscal year was 2 billion 5 million yuan, down 33.91% compared with the same period last year, and the loss expanded to 182 million yuan.

This is another loss since 2017 when the Pathfinder went public.

For revenue decline, the Pathfinder said in the announcement that as a result of the strategic optimization of the travel service business structure, the initiative to adjust the scale of business to reduce the international airline tickets with low profit margins has greatly reduced the income of travel services.

At the same time, the loss of other business operations of the non outdoor main business and the accumulated amount of goodwill, investment and asset impairment in 2018 will be over 200 million yuan, resulting in a loss in 2018.

Since 2017, the Pathfinder has been in trouble. In early 2017, after the stock resumption, there were two changes in the management level and the adjustment of the company strategy in one year.

Although Wang Jing, founder of the company in the end of 2017, has returned to full scale, Wang Jing's return has not brought the Pathfinder out of the shadows since 2018.

Gradual reduction of sideline production

For the expansion of the performance loss and loss of the Pathfinder in 2018, the China business news reporter replied to the relevant management and Pathfinder of the Pathfinder in writing, and disclosed some of the business conditions of the Pathfinder in 2018.

The main business of explorer outdoor products in 2018 is expected to achieve a business income of 1 billion 339 million yuan, a slight decrease of about 5% compared with the 1 billion 420 million yuan revenue in 2017.

Under the backdrop of the domestic macro-economic downturn and the overall slowdown of the outdoor products industry, the main business development of the explorer outdoor supplies basically remained stable.

The total business revenue in 2018 is expected to drop by 33.91%. The Pathfinder believes that the main reason is that the company optimizes the structure of the travel service business based on its future development strategy, and actively adjusts the business scale to reduce the international airline tickets with low profit margins, resulting in a sharp decrease in Travel Service revenue.

The net profit of the Pathfinder belonging to the shareholders of the listed company is expected to be 181 million 629 thousand and 900 yuan. It is estimated that the accumulated value of goodwill, investment and assets impairment will be over 200 million yuan in 2018, and other businesses in the non outdoor main industry will suffer losses.

The reporter sent an interview letter to the Pathfinder in 2018, and the Pathfinder said the company expects to earn 2 billion 5 million yuan in 2018, of which the main business income of outdoor products is expected to be 1 billion 339 million yuan, accounting for about 67%.

666 million yuan, that is, non main business travel and other business income.

At present, the Pathfinder includes two brands of TOREAD and DiscoveryExpedition, and the main products of the Pathfinder are outdoor explorers (Pathfinder brand outdoor products Series), outdoor travellers (Pathfinder brand travel product series), outdoor artists (DiscoveryExpedition brands), and small Pathfinder (Pathfinder brand children's wear) four.

Pathfinder said that along with the gradual implementation of the strategic measures focusing on outdoor products, the outdoor business of the Pathfinder showed a trend of recovery and growth in the first quarter of 2019.

According to the first quarter results released by the Pathfinder in 2019, the main business income of outdoor products in the first quarter of 2019 is expected to grow by about 20% over the same period last year.

"This is the outbreak of many years of problems, the main business is sluggish, the sideline industry is shrinking, and the operating cost is too high.

Sideline contraction is normal, and the layout of outdoor layout is wasted for many years. Returning to the main business needs to be reinvested again.

Garment industry analyst Cheng Weixiong said.

After 2011, the Pathfinder began to diversify after living in the first brand of outdoor products in China.

In the outdoor products sector, Pathfinder has acquired DiscoveryExpedition, arkeno and other outdoor brands, forming a multi brand pattern of outdoor market; in addition, it also layout travel plates, hoping that the travel sector will become the user traffic entry.

However, the easy travel world that the Pathfinder bought has become a failed project. The three years from 2015 to 2017 continued to make a loss, while the "extreme beauty" of the Pathfinder in 2014 also lost 918 thousand and 300 yuan in 2015.

Many of the companies that have acquired the acquisition have failed to meet the expectations of the acquisition, but continue to lose money.

In this regard, Pathfinder has begun planning for the gradual stripping and exit of business and investment projects which are relatively less related to outdoor main business in travel, sports and other fields.

In fact, since the layout of outdoor travel business in 2014, there has been no obvious development in outdoor business due to resource and strategic tilt. The revenues in 2014, 2015 and 2016 were 1 billion 712 million yuan, 1 billion 799 million yuan and 1 billion 705 million yuan respectively.

The bill is heavy.

"As consumers, do you often see Pathfinder in many stores?" Zhang Xiaoqian, a front-line sales director who has been an outdoor industry for many years, asked reporters.

In fact, it is the pressure of repayment that leads to the problem of Pathfinder.

"Outdoor clothing products are a big market, but the degree of professionalism required is very high, so it is very expensive to do so, and the pressure on the Pathfinder in these years is high, so its channels are more chaotic."

Zhang Xiaoqian told reporters that the channels for Pathfinder are basically divided into distributors, agents and self operated channels.

Zhang Xiaoqian told reporters: "Pathfinder brands enter the market earlier and occupy many retail terminals.

However, the channels of Pathfinder have been mixed up in recent years.

Regardless of the number of agents to get goods, basically pay 30 thousand yuan deposit, you can take 70 percent off goods, if promised sales, will also talk about 10% rebates, or 73% off get goods.

The general price store is generally 65% off, the lowest discount, and the sale of the Pathfinder seen in some shopping malls and supermarkets. These small agents can make profits if they sell 68% off. "

In this way, the brand of the Pathfinder seems to be a brand of three line market in Zhang Xiaoqian's first-line sales, and its self selling store is also far away from the city center.

"And these years, the Pathfinder has been confronted with a lot of brand extrusion. Anta's Kolon and Desanto, Adidas's adidasTERREX and other outdoor brands are doing well, and the competition pressure of the Pathfinder is also growing."

Another outdoor brand sales director told reporters, "the brand segmentation of Pathfinder brand and Discovery is not very good, though Discovery's design and store are close to young fashion."

Zhang Xiaoqian told reporters that sometimes the outdoor brand in order to return money quickly, will change some of their own brands to LOGO to continue to sell, for example, the product of the Pathfinder will be sold back to the Discovery store LOGO in Discovery shop, because some trousers products LOGO is still relatively good replacement.

It can be seen that the product of Discovery is still lacking in personality.

In response to these problems, the Pathfinder replied to reporters that the Pathfinder had a standardized retail management system, which corresponded to all aspects of retail management in direct and franchisee stores, including discounts and goods exchange management.

At the same time, the company's retail team has been continuously strengthening the implementation of the above specification system.

On the other hand, Liu Xiang, founder of sports marketing, also mentioned that the product of the Pathfinder brand itself has not been able to keep up with the market trend of consumption upgrading in recent years.

"The lack of innovation in low-end products, high-end product lines such as the newly authorized Discovery brand is still in the nurturing stage, and needs continuous brand and marketing input, resulting in some shortage of the new brand's stamina."

In fact, from the first half of 2018, Wang Jing put forward that "returning to the main business" is the primary task for the Pathfinder at this stage.

A new orientation of professional, technological and fashion has been put forward for the Pathfinder. The group's multi brand strategy includes TOREAD, Discovery and TOREADKIDS, a pathfinder child who has just started operation for only a few months.

However, in Cheng Weixiong's view, the adjustment effect is not great. The new positioning of professional, technology and fashion seems to be out of touch with the original outdoor first brand. The explorer in the outdoor products market should have done something, but from the positioning, it still deviates from the brand positioning direction, which leads to the deviation in products and channels, and the user experience will also be affected.

Returning to the main business is not easy.

In June 2017, the Pathfinder launched the first "change of handsome". The founder of the company sent a strong speech to the president of the Pathfinder and continued to serve as chairman of the company. He also invited CMO strong Wei as president of the Pathfinder group.

However, less than half a year after taking office, Qiang Wei no longer acted as president of the group.

In November 2017, Wang Jing, founder of mountain climbing for nearly 10 years, returned to CEO.

Although it has been more than a year since the return of the Pathfinder to CEO, Wang Jing has also put forward a "pformation to the main business" pformation. However, it just happened to face the unfavorable situation of the domestic economic downturn and the time needed for strategic adjustment. Obviously, the pformation and change of the Explorer over the past year did not achieve the desired results.

In this regard, the Pathfinder said that under the background of the macroeconomic downturn and the overall slowdown of the outdoor products industry, the main business development of outdoor products basically maintained a sound development.

The future Pathfinder will also grasp the opportunities brought by the upgrading of consumption and the Winter Olympic Games in 2022, focusing on the long-term healthy development of resources to promote the outdoor industry, and continue to explore the development space of outdoor sports market at home and abroad, and further enhance the competitiveness of products.

"Strengthen member management, promote the upgrading of retail mode, and orderly promote the upgrading of offline shops with more specific sense, and strive to improve online and offline operational efficiency, while strengthening brand publicity."

Pathfinder executives said.

However, in Cheng Weixiong's opinion, it is not easy for Pathfinder to return to the main business.

After all, the sequelae of capital binge after the listing, deviate from the main business and then return to the main business, and change or break through needs not inertia thinking, but abnormal thinking to cope with the changing market competition. The outdoor goods market is no longer the same as the rise of the sports market, and domestic and foreign outdoor brands have gained a lot. If the Pathfinder wants to go beyond, he must have a better breakthrough in brands, products, stores and services.

"The economic downturn is only a psychological expectation at present. In fact, the market space of outdoor products has not slowed down, but the outdoor products market has more diversified differentiation. On the basis of the original outdoor, there are major changes in personalization, middle and high grade, life, specialization and scene. This is both a challenge and a new opportunity."

Cheng Weixiong said.

In fact, in the years of diversification expansion, the main business of the Pathfinder has not been strengthened, nor has it performed well in the high-end brand and children's clothing market, even in the main industry.

For the main business of the Pathfinder, if we go back to the main business, we must focus on the development and innovation of products, expand the channels, specializes in marketing and reserve talents, so that we can get the advantage of our main business.