Fashion Brands Are Rushing To Make New Explosions Based On Drop. This Is The Right Way To Open Up.

Drop style suddenly swept across the fashion industry. You may not know, as early as the late 1980s, it had already appeared in the back street of Ura-Harajuku in Tokyo. But at that time, it did not form the current global trend. From the London Supreme store to the Louis Vuitton Beijing 798 time shop, people are willing to wait all night to wait for the new drop. Luxury brands incite people's desire to buy, especially the millennial consumers, by creating scarcity.

Now, brands like Louis Vuitton, Celine, Balenciaga, Fendi, Moncler, Rimowa and Burberry have begun to sell a limited number of single products in the form of drop, and widely use social media to create momentum for them. Trend makers and luxury enthusiasts keep a close eye on brand dynamics in order to avoid missing the scarce number of old shoes, unique accessories, and rare artistic cooperation.

"If a brand doesn't know how drop will play in 2019, it will be over," said Flavio Cered, managing director of consumer and luxury rights research at Jefferies International.

This new mode, known as drop, means that the brand sells a specific number of products at a specific time and place, initially used by street brands, and then borrowed by luxury brands. The characteristics of its limitation and time limit not only create a sense of scarcity for commodities, but also give consumers a corresponding sense of urgency. That is to say, when the time comes, no matter whether the products are sold out or not, they will immediately get off the shelves, and consumers will hardly be able to buy them again. "Drop creates a sense of excitement through scarcity. This scarcity may be just an illusion, but it's not important. Anyway, the brand has entered the consciousness of people through this way." Cereda added.

For some brands, this new model will not bring rewards immediately, but it is worth trying. Take Moncler's "Genius series" as an example: the Italy brand launches new products every month, and Pierpaolo Piccioli, Craig Green and Simone Rocha are all partners.

Moncler CEO Remo Ruffini told BoF: "I think the success of the Genius series cooperation depends largely on their ability to create energy around the brand." He said that "success" depends not only on sales performance, but also on the ability to create sensational effects. And the ability to attract different customers. "

In the long run, the success of a successful drop can be much greater than that of a single purchase. Cereda said: "these new time limits may account for 8% to 10% of Moncler revenues, and more actual figures." Moreover, "this enhances the brand's image and popularity in the minds of young consumers. Although it will not produce immediate results, it will affect more or less. "

However, brands need to be cautious about the drop model, because it's not just selling a few products and preheating them in social media. The attention of social media and reliable distribution channels may be the key factors determining success or failure. In addition, products need to be considered again and again, for example, jeans or jewellery may not be suitable for new models on drop. "If you do (some) clothing or leather goods... That's all right. " Cereda said.

For those new brands that are suitable for drop, please look ahead.

Focusing on the overall situation

Whether for design, brand influence, retail or distribution strategy, drop is a good time for brands to explore the market. However, brands should not only create excitement for fans and consumers, but also look for the right time to publish. If the gap between the fashion week, the net promotion and other activities is promoted, it will bring wider influence.

For some brands, new products on the drop can also brink a good impression on the social media in advance. Burberry is one of the new luxury brands that first used drop. They sell B Series series new products on the 17 th of every month through Instagram, WeChat applet and other social media, with a time limit of 24 hours. Fans can put on the design of brand creative director Ricardo Tisci six months ahead of the big sale.

McCorquodale of Tribe Dynamics said: "whether it is through drop or new joint venture, there is a chance to talk with consumers online and offline, which is very important for brand to maintain its momentum of development."

Brands can use drop as a long-term plan to enhance the sense of existence in the minds of consumers. McCorquodale believes that when the brand grasps the characteristics of the fast-paced mode, it can achieve the best results. "Although drop has a certain degree of heat, it will not last for a long time," she said. "Therefore, it is hoped that the brand can best be regularly updated so as to maintain the attention of fans."

For example, Moncler did not use the drop approach to the new Genius series, but developed a series of promotional activities for them, including media, social media, store activities, flash shops, e-commerce and special events. Only when the brand creates the heat that can not be ignored, will the new product play the greatest value and consumers will pay attention to the product. "Moncler Genius is primarily a communication project," Ruffini said. "I don't think" drop "is enough to make a miracle happen.

Expanding cooperation network

Through drop, new brands can cooperate with different creative people and expand their brand attention by attracting new target consumers. Ruffini said: "when we publicize the Moncler Simone Rocha series, we are faced with completely different customers from the Moncler Palm Angels series," he pointed out, and the brand will change the number of SKU in each series according to the designer and actual demand. "This allows us to convey more information and more consumers while maintaining core values."

In addition to product design, cooperation with the appropriate network Hong can not only provide new products for the brand, but also enable consumers to continue to experience the novelty and scarcity.

As a media between brands and consumers, net red KOL should not only have a strong fan background, but also have a clear idea of what fans need. Mr. fashion bag is China's focus on bag bloggers, and has more than 5 million fans in micro-blog. In 2018, Mr. Bao and TOD'S's 300 joint packages were put on sale in their "Baoshop app", sold in an hour. This is the first time that fashion owners and luxury brands have been jointly issued for sale through a small program. Since then, luxury brands including Givenchy, Longchamp and Dunhill have worked together to offer limited joint package. He is also one of the most frequent collaborators of luxury brands in China.

On the seventh day of the year, Mr. Bao and Chlo e launched the world's limited 199 Tanabata special Aby Lock handbags, which are also sold on WeChat applet and sold out in seven hours.

Offline is also important.

"For most new products on the drop, they have very few actual quantities and may be sold out in a few minutes, but we cannot ignore the operational costs needed to achieve a successful drop." Cereda said.

Moncler is in the global synchronization drop, which means that all online and offline channels, selected e-commerce providers and wholesalers will launch the product on the same day. Jet lag, tariff and import tariff are all problems that the brand should consider. "

To this end, Moncler changed the way of internal work to adapt to the rapid production mode. Ruffinic added: "in other words, we work in a more cross functional way. Let supply experts participate in new production technologies and processes. Externally, brands also use physical stores to establish contacts with consumers, and to see customer service and interaction as important. "Customers' experience in all channels should be consistent."

In China, Moncler sold six Moncler Genius series on Tmall luxury platform Luxury Pavilion last year, and is also on sale at the offline time shops in Beijing and Shanghai. "If you don't have a good supply chain and a reasonable retail distribution network, it's going to be very difficult," Cereda said. "You must attract consumers' interest, but at the right time, you can provide a reasonable quantity of products."

Exclusive is everything.

In the world of drop, exclusive is the king's way.

In China, holidays are limited and new is the usual practice of luxury brands. During the seventh night of last year, many luxury brands launched the Tanabata special series. Among them, Dior, Valentino, Berluti, Cartire, Michael Kors and other brands directly set up Limited shop on WeChat's small program. Take Dior for example, the brand is preheated in the circle of friends first, and it is officially opened and sold. After a week from the seventh night of the Seventh Festival, its limited handbag has been sold out.

Japan is the gimmick of consumption. Tanabata is the traditional festival of Chinese symbolic love. Most lovers express their love by giving presents. This is also a great sales opportunity for the brand. The brand's exclusive, limited and special money not only gives consumers a sense of excitement and uniqueness, but also satisfies the strong shopping desire during the festival.

However, for some brands, quiet publicity is more effective. In January this year, Balenciaga issued a message on its official WeChat account that it would launch a limited edition pink Logo Ville handbag. In addition to the link of the small program, there was no details related to the product information. But within one day, the push gained more than 20 thousand of the reading volume.

Who is the new choice platform for China's drop and Tmall and WeChat?

When formulating communication strategies, brands need to adopt a multi-channel approach. Many major luxury brands have set up official accounts and small program stores in WeChat, and have strengthened the localization of local content by hiring local red nets.

In addition to WeChat applet, Tmall is also one of the brand new platforms considered on Drop. Tmall luxury platform Luxury Pavilio is the world's first virtual App dedicated to luxury goods. It is only open to consumers of some luxury goods by analyzing consumer's consumption power, active search habits and other data. However, ordinary users in Taobao, Tmall home page search keywords can also enter.

In 2018, in order to commemorate the first cooperation between Candystud handbag and Luxury Pavilion platform, Valentino launched two limited edition Candystud handbags and four sports shoes exclusively on Luxury Pavilion. In 2019, Stuart Weitzman global spokesperson Yang Mi's limited cooperation series started simultaneously on the platform. Over 3 days, more than 100 thousand fans were concerned about the flagship Tmall flagship store.

Tmall is the most important third party partner of luxury brands in China. Most brands will set up official flagship stores in Tmall besides their own online boutiques. However, according to the positioning of target consumers by Luxury Pavilion platform, compared with the small program, it has no difference for all users and the diversity of entries. Only on the latest time limit, the brand is still more concentrated in the official website and WeChat applet.