For Forever 21, this year is really too difficult. In the past few months, Forever 21 has been evacuated from Taiwan, Hongkong and the mainland market. In March of this year, Forever 21 announced the closure of all stores in Taiwan. In April, Forever 21 withdrew from the mainland market. The brand is located in flagship store of Huaihailu Road, Nanjing East Road and crystal shopping center in Shanghai, and stores in Shenzhen and Beijing have started clearance sale and will be closed later. And the brand direct business platform of mainland China, and Tmall flagship store also ceased operation. In September 23rd, Forever 21 closed the last store in Hongkong, which is four years away from the store's lease.
In fact, since 2016, when Forever 21 announced its withdrawal from the Belgian market, it was just as if Domino was on the verge of losing the market, and Holland, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Japan, Australia and other markets were losing. In 2017, Forever 21 began to withdraw from the Chinese market and finally withdrew completely in May this year.
The bad news followed. In September 30th, Forever 21 filed for bankruptcy reorganization. It will stop operating in 40 countries such as Canada and Japan and close 350 branches worldwide, including 178 US stores. You know, Forever 21 sales for the peak period were over $4 billion, employing more than 30 thousand people worldwide, and having more than 800 stores in 57 countries. Although bankruptcy has been declared, Forever 21 is still struggling. In the announcement issued by the official website, Forever 21 said that although the company has submitted an application for bankruptcy protection, it does not mean that it will soon go bankrupt. The brand stores will continue to operate as usual, and the policy of gift cards and returns will remain unchanged. Next, the group will actively promote restructuring so as to restore profitability as soon as possible.
Founded in 1984, has been a great sight, has been accompanied by countless young people's youth Forever 21 is a complete break? Or can there be miracles to make a comeback? Can make nothing of it. What about other fast fashion brands? What are the new strategies and route changes of Zara, H&M and Uniqlo giants? Where will the fast fashion car go?
Zara
In the spring of the third generation of Logo, Zara has changed greatly and has made many innovations. First of all, the strategy of developing the intelligent operation system is based on the strategy of combining online and offline business, developing the intelligent operation system, upgrading the stores through digital system and technology, increasing investment and upgrading the logistics system, using RFID RFID technology and integrating the store and online retail platform to realize the integration of offline and online storage.
In September 12th, the world's largest single storefront Zara store opened in Dubai Mall, covering an area of more than 5000 square meters. Meanwhile, the Zara Madrid store, which covers an area of 4000 square meters, is also reopened. And on the Internet, the pace of Zara expansion can be quite fast. In November 2018, Zara opened up 106 new global market sites on the global business website, and now Zara has wired platforms in 202 global markets. This year, Zara plans to expand its digital business to more countries in the world. At present, the official mall has been launched in Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan, Bahrain and Oman.
In addition, Zara has a series of innovative initiatives, such as continuing to promote sustainable development strategy, planning to implement sustainable fashion in 2025, integrating furniture brand Zara Home, home into the fourth category of Zara business, opening customized services, upgrading and improving consumer experience under the line, launching the first beauty makeup series, pregnant Women series, seeking new growth momentum, and steadily implementing the old clothes recycling plan. With all kinds of bold strategies, it is easy to see the courage and determination of this fast fashion giant.
H&M
H&M group recently made a very surprising plan, announced that it will sell other clothing brands in H&M brand stores to increase brand vitality. Previously, H&M group's &Other Stories and Arket have tried to sell other external brand products in the store. The move marks a major strategic shift in the 72 year old fast fashion brand, and the "brand boundaries" in the store are loosened, which means that the sale of external brands may become one of the core strategies of the Swedish fast fashion giant in the future. In fact, this is not the first time H&M has passed the signal of breaking the border.
Since the beginning of this year, H&M has continued to exert its strength in sustainable development, circular economy and environmental protection in addition to implementing online and offline store integration, strengthening and optimizing store portfolio strategy. In April this year, H&M and the second-hand trading platform leisure fish cooperation, launched the old clothes recycling service, and combined with online recycling mode. In August, H&M set foot in the hot clothing rental service. H&M members can rent clothes in the flagship store in Seeger square in Stockholm. The shop also sets up sewing workshops where consumers can mend or customize clothes. At the same time, the group also launched a pilot project in Sweden to sell its brand and Other Stories's secondhand and antique costumes. The partner of this project is Sweden's second-hand goods trading platform Sellpy. In October 10th, the H&M group announced that it would invest 132 million Swedish Crown to acquire Sellpy shares. In the next few years, H&M will invest 60 million Swedish kronor in Sellpy. After completion, H&M group will get about 74% of Sellpy's stake and become the majority shareholder of the company.
There is no doubt that H&M is trying to save the bruising of fast fashion brands that wear several times. H&M said that the development of old clothes recycling, clothing rental and sewing business is an important step towards a "sustainable and recycling fashion future", in order to deal with the growing consumer concerns about the fast fashion environment, and will expand to other markets and brands in the next few years. In addition to overweight and sustainable development, H&M also has many new moves in digital investment such as artificial intelligence and AR technology. At present, RFID RFID technology has been applied in 15 markets of H&M. In April of this year, H&M opened a new Internet platform Itsapark to the public, aiming to provide consumers with a platform to solve fashion problems and seek new inspiration. H&M group said that the future will continue to integrate online and offline stores, invest in logistics and technology infrastructure, upgrade mobile applications, launch new payment options, and introduce stores and take online returns in stores, while investing digital technology in different fields, and will also invest a lot of money in 3D technology and AI. By the end of 2019, 80% of H&M stores will be equipped with RFID technology. In the future, the group can predict the big trend based on these data, and provide consumers with better quality and lower price products, and provide better shopping experience.
Uniqlo
Uniqlo's lane change is quite early in several fast fashion brands. Since 2017, Uniqlo has launched the "Ming plan" to try to change the business model of Uniqlo. With the help of technology, it has completely removed the fast fashion label and transformed it into a truly digital consumer retail companies. In order to meet the needs of consumers in the digital age, Uniqlo constantly promotes digital transformation, effectively configuring all kinds of resources, integrating resources on line and online, and improving consumer experience.
In addition to opening digital experience in physical stores and implementing routine practices such as intelligent buyers, Uniqlo also launched a production and retail transformation based on artificial intelligence AI to predict production needs and analyze customer behavior. The introduction of intelligent robots has set up vending machines in many cities. In the Chinese market, Uniqlo launches a flagship flagship store, and consumers use the "one click and buy with the heart" function to enter the online shopping mall directly through various channels such as WeChat, micro-blog, shops and other online outlets. Online, Uniqlo continuously optimizes content to provide consumers with different occasions of clothing recommendation, so that the flagship store has the attributes of social networking + e-commerce. Continue to promote the pace of digital transformation, and constantly integrate online and offline channels, Uniqlo will next have more new initiatives. In terms of channels, Uniqlo will connect the global distribution channels with a new website. In terms of products, in addition to strengthening the basic product line and emphasizing functionality, it will also sell exclusive single products online. In terms of market development, the Uniqlo plan currently has 2200 stores in 23 countries / regions to accelerate the expansion of overseas markets based on Asia in the current fiscal year. Southeast Asia will be the key battleground. Recently, the first India store in Uniqlo has been officially opened, and the group will continue to expand its market in Malaysia and Indonesia. In China, Uniqlo now has 711 stores, and by 2020, the number of branches will increase to 1000.
All kinds of transformation and transformation have made Uniqlo rise rapidly in fast fashion brands, and its performance has been excellent. In October 10th, XXX announced its annual performance as of August 31, 2019, achieving a profit of 2 trillion and 300 billion yen (151 billion 500 million yuan), an increase of 7.5% over the same period, and a net profit of 162 billion 578 million yen (10 billion 750 million yuan), an increase of 5% over the same period last year. In the earnings report, Uniqlo founder Liu Jing is also emphasizing that the group's medium-term vision is to become the world's leading apparel retailer by virtue of "digital consumer retailers". To achieve this goal, the group will focus on the three parts of Uniqlo overseas market, GU brand and e-commerce channel.
Fast fashion press down conversion key
In recent years, it should be started in 2016. The days of fast fashion brands are generally not very good. They are more or less lost. Small brands are out of fashion, and big brands are declining. With the rapid development of the electricity supplier channel, the rapid development of high technology and social media, the saturation of the market and the slow development of the market, the fast fashion brands that have ever seen explosive growth are generally facing the bottleneck of expansion. Especially when products, supply chain systems and brand marketing strategies are difficult to get a breakthrough in a short time, Zara, H&M and other fast fashion brands are faced with the phenomenon of oversupply and loss of consumers. Many fashion business operators like Asos, Boohoo, Misguided and Fashion Nova are rising vigorously. These online professional players who join the online digital experience join the fashion retail war. They are becoming more and more pressure on the fast fashion brands that are developing slowly. Let alone the many new brands and electronic business platforms that are fast moving.
So, betting online platform, increasing brand types, overweight smart technology, opening customized services, improving shopping experience...... In the face of slow sales growth and fierce market competition, fast fashion brands are constantly changing and expanding. It can be said that the new trend of the fast fashion three giants represented by Zara, H&M and Uniqlo almost reflects and indicates the overall development trend of the fast fashion industry. From these brand new moves and new initiatives, it is easy to see the new trend of fast fashion industry. Whether it is to enter new fields, expand new businesses, or develop new technologies and enhance new experiences, it will never change from one to another. Its purpose can be summed up in one sentence: improving the development status, seeking new market opportunities, finding new growth points, and exploring more possibilities. But can these new strategies enable the once fast fashion brands to escape from the recession, get rid of the current predicament, reinvigorate their achievements and word-of-mouth, and sail to the New Sunshine Avenue?
It's hard to say. Like the collapse of Forever 21, in just a few years, from glory to bankruptcy. "He looked at Zhu Lou, seeing him feast guests, and saw that he collapsed. "Brand names such as Forever 21, New Look, Topshop and so on have made a wake-up call for other brands who are still running on the fast fashion road. What is Forever in this world? The business market is changing rapidly. Change has become the norm of the industry, and the consumption revolution is happening all the time. Future development is hard to predict. Opportunity is the same for any brand. Only the fittest can survive. The fast fashion brands who once attacked the world, gallop around the world and sing songs all the way, will be able to break through the bottleneck and find a new way of development under the circumstances of the slow growth and slow down in the development of digitalization and consumer behavior. Can you locate the direction and start the new forward key while pressing the conversion key? Let's see and look forward to it.
Henan Xinye textile Limited by Share Ltd (hereinafter referred to as "Xinye textile") released the three quarterly report in 2019 on October 21st, during the reporting period.
