What Did Forever21 Do Wrong When He Withdrew From The Chinese Market?

Fast fashion market is now in danger.

Fast fashion, which has gained popularity from China, is now being forced to withdraw at the same speed, but in a short period of 5 years.

According to fashion business news, after closing the flagship store of Tmall and Jingdong, and the Chinese official website, the fast fashion brand Forever 21 of the US has basically completed the clearance at the next store in China, and will officially withdraw from the Chinese market.

Whether Shanghai flagship store or Beijing Yau Tang store, after less than a month's sales promotion, there are only empty shelves left.

Forever 21, founded in 1984 by Zhang Dongwen and Zhang Jinshu, born in Korea, has grown into one of the largest fashion chain brands in the world in more than 30 years.

In 2008, the brand tried to enter the Chinese market, but it failed until 2011.

The withdrawal of Forever 21 in China is not without signs.

Since the end of last year, the brand has quietly closed stores such as Tianjin, Hangzhou, Beijing and Chongqing, including Hangzhou's lakeside in 77 flagship store, Beijing APM and other important shops.

In March of this year, Forever 21 also closed its first store in Xinyi District, Taipei, in June 2015.

The 6 Tier flagship store at JINGWAH center in Tongluowan, Hongkong, also withdrew from the 2017 lease and was taken over by the American underwear brand Victoria's Secret.

Before China, Forever 21 began withdrawing from Belgium, Holland, the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Japan and Australia, and most of its stores in North America have been closed since 2016.

According to Forbes data, sales of Forever 21 fell by 14% to 3 billion 400 million US dollars in 2017, and the loss was as high as 400 million US dollars.

In addition to the trouble of over expansion, Forever 21 is facing the dilemma of the awakening of consumer attitudes. The vast majority of Forever 21 products cost between $4 and $20. Now consumers are making choices about the availability and morality of clothing, and are getting tired of Forever 21, which is inferior and cheap.

For a time, China's fast fashion field left only a few big giants represented by Zara, H&M and UNIQLO. New Look, ASOS and Marsha general store had already left the field, and Topshop decided to leave after nearly 5 years of testing Tmall market in China.

The industry can not help but begin to reflect that behind the big retreat is whether there is a problem in the fast fashion industry itself, or that Chinese consumers are growing too fast, and what competitors on the field can do to attract more and more picky consumers.

"Fast fashion" actually stems from the "Fast Food", which means that the core of the industry is not only the cheap sales at the front end, but also the design, production and manufacturing supply chain of the back end, that is, SPA (private brand retailer).

Under the leadership of Zara, H&M and other brands, fast fashion apparel quickly conquered the Chinese consumers in the period of aesthetic growth, and also provided a great business opportunity for Chinese apparel suppliers. The brands such as Forever 21, Marsha general merchandise and New Look entered the Chinese market.

The rapid change of fashion retailing has led to the differentiation of fast fashion.

First, from the front-end sales analysis, Forever 21 and other fast fashion players who started their efforts in the Chinese market after 2008 seem to have successfully entered the road with the help of their predecessors, but never gained absolute market advantage.

Before these brands entered China, fast fashion, the dominant position of potential market, had been firmly occupied by giants such as Zara, H&M and UNIQLO. Consumers also had a preconceived judgement and recognition of fast fashion. Later, it was almost impossible for a competitor to compete for a share from the overlord through simple reproduction. This is even more a myth for the 5% Forever 21 in the global fast fashion industry.

In addition, the hesitation in the Chinese market has also become a stumbling block for Forever 21. When Zara, H&M and UNIQLO continue to build stores in China, the brand from Losangeles, USA, has left again after testing the water in 2008. It is not until 2011 that it has returned to the original stage. It has long been the best time to accelerate penetration, and it is difficult to stand out from the competition.

According to fashion headline data, although Zara and H&M have closed some poor performance stores in China in recent years, Zara and its sister brands still have 593 stores in China, while H&M and UNIQLO have 535 and 672 respectively, while Forever 21 has the largest number of stores in China but 20, unable to compete substantially with the former two.

From the back-end problem, the difference between Forever 21 and Zara is the lack of originality and autonomy.

As a fast fashion textbook, Zara has two points that have always been praised by the industry.

One is the design headquarters made up of 350 designers. Unlike the competitors Gap, H&M and Primark, Zara has no chief designer, and each designer has the autonomy. The product style will ultimately be decided by the latest sales data of all regions. Therefore, the design department has the independence without the ratio of Lun ratio, averaging two times a week to provide new products to the store flexibly according to the trend of the trend.

Designers will analyze products that are salable and unmarketable based on daily feedback sales data, which will directly affect the style of products in the coming weeks.

Second, the Zara parent company Inditex group's products are about 2/3 in short term delivery, which means that the brand can flexibly design and produce according to market demand and avoid unnecessary inventory, so Inditex group's stock has always been the lowest in the industry, so that it has no seasonal fashion in real sense.

Looking back at Forever 21, new initiatives in recent years have added nothing more than the addition of multi brand beauty shop Riley Rose and the 21 Red comprehensive concept store. Instead, it has frequently appeared in the public eye due to the lawsuit of luxury fashion brands such as Puma, Gucci and Adidas, and the brand image has fallen to the bottom.

At the same time, Forever 21 product quality is too bad and the style does not conform to the market has become the Chinese consumer's eyes recognized the drawbacks.

Many young consumers say that the design of Forever 21 is tailored to American style, and advertising models are almost foreigners. Many styles are not suitable for Chinese consumers, and the quality is not as good as that of Zara and H&M, which have lost their original attraction.

Forever 21 faces a very low loyalty to brands from 15 to 25 years old.

Once the product is not updated and meets the consumer's fresh demand, they will not hesitate to turn to another brand, plus not enough exposure and marketing investment. Forever 21's defeat in the Chinese market seems to be an established fact in the eyes of the industry.

Similarly, there is also a super fast fashion ASOS. In May 2016, the British fashion e-commerce website announced that it had stopped operating in China.

In the earlier reports, fashion headlines pointed out that by the constraints of suppliers and logistics, besides the slow updating of goods and unsuitable tastes for Chinese consumers, there is the same problem in ASOS, Forever 21 and other foreign fast fashion in China, that is, the price is high and there is no price advantage.

In response to the dilemma of fast fashion in China, Franklin Chu, an analyst in the women's wear daily, put forward 3 suggestions for competitors who remain on the market in the latest report.

Product design and size localization.

Data show that Chinese consumers are smaller in size than Westerners, and prefer products such as dresses.

With the rise of lifestyle awareness, high-end sports apparel is becoming more and more popular among Chinese consumers.

We should increase investment in quality and avoid price war.

Since China is the largest textile producer in the world, the price of fast fashion is almost no advantage before the local fast fashion. Now China's middle class consumers are richer than 10 years ago, so it may be easier to break through from the entrance of quality.

Shift your focus to the next line.

With the rapid development of Alibaba, Jingdong and other electronic commerce giants, China's price parity clothing market has been highly fragmented. Apart from the traditional clothing brands, there are tens of thousands of brand names launched by net red.

According to statistics, Taobao recorded nearly 2 trillion and 700 billion yuan of merchandise in fiscal year 2018, and women's clothing is the most popular category so far.

Therefore, the cost of acquiring new users on fast fashion online is no less than that of opening new stores. Another report shows that the return rate of consumers buying clothing online is low.

The departure of the weak does not mean that the fast fashion industry is in decline in China. At least, it still sticks to the brands such as H&M, Zara and UNIQLO in the Chinese market. Instead of giving up, it constantly seeks new breakthroughs in an attempt to consolidate its market share.

At the beginning of this year, H&M announced that Zhang Yixing, a versatile musician, became the spokesperson for his brand in the Greater China area. He is also the first annual spokesperson for H&M brand Greater China, based on the men's clothing with a sense of design and quality, and further promoting the development of his business in Greater China.

In March last year, H&M also announced the popularity of idols as the brand name of the new generation in China.

With the improvement of the consciousness of sustainable development of consumers, H&M is constantly strengthening the brand's own environmental image. It will announce the supplier's information on the official website, such as clothing materials, origin, supplier name, factory address and number of workers, so as to win more consumers' favor.

At its fashion summit in Copenhagen last year, H&M said its goal was to establish a circular and renewable business model and plan to adopt recyclable or other sustainable sourcing materials in 2030.

Zara also announced in September last year that micro-blog's official account announced that China's 90 star Dongyu Zhou and Wu Lei were the brand ambassadors of Greater China, the first spokesperson for the brand.

The other brands of the parent company Inditex group had little habit of hiring spokesmen before, but they suddenly introduced star resources in 2018, such as Massimo Dutti's Janine Chang, Oysho's Li Qin, and Pull&Bear's Wang Linkai.

At the same time, Zara also launched official website and e-commerce services in 106 countries and regions, and added a series of beauty makeup.

According to group CEO Pablo Isla, over the past 5 years, the group's total investment in online channels has exceeded 7 billion 700 million euros, of which 1 billion 500 million euros has been designated for upgrading technology and logistics.

Pablo Isla also stressed on the activities of the Wall Street journal last Tuesday that although Zara did not enter the electricity supplier field until 2010, its positioning and direction became clearer, which allowed the group to take a lot of detours. "If it happened 10 years ago, it would be very different."

At present, Zara has tried door-to-door service in China, and will expand to other markets in the future.

UNIQLO, who has entered China for 13 years and landed on Tmall 10th anniversary, has chosen to impress consumers with its products. Not only has it constantly increased investment in research and development of new materials, but also has been working regularly with Alexander Wang, J.W. Anderson and other designers to attract young consumers.

Young talent is also an important resource that UNIQLO wants to fight for. The parent company Xun marketing group said earlier it would raise the salaries of its employees.

Thanks to the importance of foundation and innovation technology, chairman and CEO of fast marketing group, UNIQLO has now surpassed Zara and H&M, becoming the fastest growing fast fashion brand.

In the first half of fiscal year ended February 28th, sales of XXX group increased 6.8% to 1 trillion and 270 billion yen, or 76 billion 300 million yuan, and net profit increased by nearly two digits. It recorded 9.5% to 114 billion yen, or about 6 billion 800 million yuan, a record high.

"Fast" and "cheap" are the necessary weapons for Zara and other fast fashion brands to win consumers. In order to keep up with the increasing demand of consumers and cope with increasingly fierce market competition, fast fashion brands have to increase profits by pressing the supply chain, constantly reducing costs and improving production efficiency.

Livia Firth, the founder of sustainable development consultancy Eco-Age, pointed out last year that in the past 15 or 20 years, mass retailers have been brainwashing consumers, making people think that buying a $five T-shirt is normal and is a must. But the environmental costs and moral costs behind it have not been noticed.

However, some analysts say that fast fashion brands still need to be highly vigilant. With the gradual rise of Chinese clothing manufacturing and retail sales, apparel groups with more than 10 billion turnover have springing up, and the brands such as Taiping, Jiangnan Buyi and di Su fashion have also been listed successfully. They not only have sufficient funds, but also have a better understanding of Chinese consumers' preferences.

In the latest report, CITIC Securities pointed out that taking into account the cardinal factors, the improvement trend of consumption and the apparel industry inventory situation, the domestic garment sector showed a low and high trend this year. The second half of this year is expected to improve the recovery. The focus is on the sports and children's clothing industry with high level of scenery and clear headed layout, such as Anta sports, Lining and Semir apparel.

"Survival of the fittest is the crux of the garment industry". Some people admitted that when the number of entrants becomes more and more, the importance of maintaining their own differentiation becomes more and more obvious.

To be sure, Forever 21 will not be the last player to be eliminated in the fast fashion world.

It will be bad luck to go the old way, and fashion is also the same.

Author: Zhou Huining