Lost Pathfinder

　 Pathfinder revisited

Wang Jing is a climber who has completed 143 days to challenge the earth's "nine pole" Challenge (that is, the highest peak on seven continents and two poles north and South on foot).

In the morning of October 30th, she came to the office in the suburb of Changping, Beijing, and interviewed with PROMOSTYL, a famous French fashion trend research institute. At that time, she was the chairman and President of the outdoor brand Pathfinder.

The climber took up the idea of conquering the world and climbed another mountain peak in the commercial world. In November 29, 2017, the Pathfinder announced that Wang Jing, founder and chairman of the new board of directors, was released five months later, and the Pathfinder released its 2017 annual earnings report. Its net profit fell by 151.24% compared to the same period last year, with a loss of 84 million 850 thousand yuan.

In 2009, Pathfinder listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange to become the first outdoor product in China. In the same year, the net profit of Pathfinder increased by nearly 70% over the same period, and the average annual net profit growth over the next five years is more than 55%. Since the beginning of 2014, the momentum of the hurricane has slowed down, and the net profit in 2014 has increased by less than 20%, much less than before. In 2015, the first time the Pathfinder showed a decline in performance, net profit fell by 10.5%, only 260 million yuan. In 2016, this figure continued to fall to 200 million yuan. But in the next two years, Pathfinder fell to a loss, losing 84 million 850 thousand and 128 million yuan respectively.

According to the rules of the Shenzhen stock exchange, the Shenzhen stock exchange can decide to suspend its listing if a listed company has suffered a continuous loss for the past three years. In September 3rd this year, Pathfinder began issuing a risk warning about possible suspension of listing. The day before Wang Jing and PROMOSTYL team met, Pathfinder just released third delisting risk announcements in October. After listing in the company, Wang Jing left his daily management and concentrated on self exploration in the field of outdoor sports. After ten years, Wang Jing once again came back to the management line, but the Pathfinder and even the whole outdoor industry had long gone.

Li Yun has been in the outdoor industry for seventeen years. He is the first group of outdoor people in China. In his professional experience, China's outdoor market started at about 2000, which began to improve in 2006 and began to maintain a three or four year growth stage in 2008. But the outbreak of the outdoor market is not directly benefited from the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. One rule is that after the Olympic games such as sports events, the sporting goods industry has declined after the peak, and the market will take the initiative to find an alternative product and industry, just as the outdoor industry is rising in China.

In the period of rapid growth, the number of domestic outdoor brands is increasing. On the one hand, a large number of factories in China have the experience of garment foundry, and the threshold of making an outdoor brand is not high. On the other hand, the sports brand also turns into the outdoors, hoping to seize the new growth point when it falls. A sports product practitioner said, "for sports brands, being a public outfit requires only a small adjustment, which is very easy." In his view, the domestic sports brands have launched outdoor products, but they are all based on a LOGO, and are satisfied with consumers who want to get basic outdoor function products at a lower price.

A rush of brands will soon push the market into homogenization competition. The outdoor market has been poorly done since 2014. Li Yun observed that after 2013, the popularity of e-commerce channels for outdoor markets is very obvious. "There is a big difference between the price of the Internet and the price of the store. Once the price competition starts, the focus is on the price performance, not the performance. "He believes that when China's outdoor market is not mature, most consumers do not know how to dress professionally. If we do not guide, we will only look at the price, and eventually we will be miserable. The market will come down at once.

Pathfinder is also feeling the changes in the industry at this time. In 2014, Pathfinder annual income of 1 billion 715 million yuan, an increase of 18.68%; net profit of 295 million yuan, the same increase of 18.39%, less than expected, profit growth declined significantly, is also the first time in four years, the profit growth is not as fast as the income growth. One of the reasons is that the market competition has become more intense and increased support for franchisees.

At this point, the Pathfinder is still in a bigger position. Since 2013, Pathfinder has launched an Ecosphere development strategy around the three major business segments: outdoor, travel and sports. It has built three major business groups, namely outdoor, tourism and sports, and has undertaken a series of acquisitions and acquisitions to complete the transformation from single outdoor brand to eco development. "Singapore Ctrip" online travel platform Asiatravel, outdoor platform green field, Yi you world, Beijing travel travel agency, Xiamen road outdoor products Co., Ltd. and so on have all entered the territory of Pathfinder.

The team is big but not good. In 2015, the revenue and profit growth of the Pathfinder were polarized. Revenue was 3 billion 760 million yuan, an increase of 119% over the same period, and the growth was over expected. However, the net profit was 260 million yuan, down 10% compared with the same period last year. The representative of negotiable securities affairs Tao Xu confessed that in fact, the effect of M & A was not good enough in 2016, and began to reflect. "The coordination of various businesses is not very successful, and the management of outdoor sports and sports events and tourism is not the same, so it is difficult for us to do empowerment."

Wang Jing told AI financial services that the market performance began to look severe in 2016. From the data point of view, the net profit of the Pathfinder in 2016 continued to decline to 202 million yuan, a decrease of about 23% compared with the same period last year. However, it is noteworthy that the revenue is quite different from that in 2015, with a decrease of about 24%, which is only 2 billion 900 million yuan or so, which is much lower than expected.

"I think it's time for me to come back." After the return of Wang Jing, in the depth of the bottom, the internal personnel adjustment and reform, brand new positioning, at the same time, the naked eye can speed up the tourism, sports and other outdoor supplies business outside the business has been stripped back to the main product industry.

　　 Look for young people in circles

As a professional mountaineer, Wang Jing's biggest dissatisfaction with the company before was "I couldn't choose the product I wanted, or not enough." Now, as a manager, Wang Jing believes that outdoor products are originated from adventure sports, and many technologies such as performance and design have put forward demands and breakthroughs in extreme sports. But in this era, too much emphasis on functionality has become a shackle. "These technologies should be applied to more everyday situations."

The collaboration between Pathfinder and PROMOSTYL team started in June this year, and they provide advice for the Pathfinder in terms of clothing color and design trends. According to the production rules of garment industry, these products may not be seen by consumers until 2020. Wang Jing showed a new series of clothing that will be launched in February and March next year to AI finance and economics. It is bold in color and full of design. If there is no LOGO, it may be mistaken for a fashionable spring and summer new style. The more intuitive feeling is that this is suitable for everyday clothes, not for outdoor scenes. Wang Jing has a clear definition of this, "the outdoor fashion with the outdoor gene, the larger group is traveling, and Mount Everest is also a kind of travel."

In fact, domestic outdoor products have been labeled "Outdoors" and "casual outdoor" since the beginning. This is also a reason why outdoor brands are coming up. Basically, for a long time, outdoors is regarded as a way of life. Unlike basketball or soccer or running, there is a strong demand for sports. If taken as a way of life, it will follow the trend, and the heat will easily come up, and it will also be easy to be reduced.

Li Yun told AI finance and economics that in China, the first outdoor market is Beijing. There are mountains, water and snow around the city. Many people take part in outdoor activities. The second big markets in Northeast China are not due to the northeast people like outdoor sports, but the northeast cold, and the outdoor products that keep warm, wind, and snow will have great demand. In Li Yun's view, the leisure trend of domestic outdoor brands has become more and more evident in the past two years.

This is a risky move. If you push yourself to the trend of leisure, this is actually a more intense field of fighting. Consumers are faced with more choices, and the sales scale of a competitive single brand is more than 5 billion yuan. Now is not the golden period for casual wear. According to the statistics of the China National Business Information Center, in 2018 1-12, the retail sales of various types of clothing decreased by 4.22% compared with the same period last year, and the growth rate slowed down 8.43 percentage points over the same period last year. Moreover, these clothing brands are also eyeing the outdoor market share. They have introduced functional clothing such as moisture absorption and sweat perspiration, city and cross-country running shoes. Even H&M has its own outdoor cold proof clothing.

From the market experience of developed countries in Europe and America, outdoor brands should first meet the basic outdoor sports needs, and then expand to other fields and increase fashionable products. The current domestic situation is that sports outdoor field maturity is not high, skip this stage, directly and fashion crossover.

One reason for the rush of outdoor brands is that outdoor sports demand is not enough to support the development of outdoor industries.

The China outdoor products market report released by the outdoor products branch of China Textile Business Association shows that in 2018, the total retail sales of outdoor products in China continued to decline, only 2.1%, reaching 24 billion 980 million yuan. This is the seventh consecutive year of growth decline since the peak of 59.2% and 50.9% growth in 2011. In 2018, The total shipment is also the same, with a total growth rate of 14 billion 120 million and a growth rate of 2.38%.

Outdoor brands want to find new growth points, but the consequences are unpredictable. The mainstream outdoor target consumer group is 30-50 years old. Too young people are not easy to engage in outdoor sports. On the one hand, people under 30 years old, especially those under 25 years old, are more keen on e-sports, basketball, football and other big sports. They have been harvested by brands with rich product lines such as Nike and Adidas. On the other hand, brands of the same class and outdoor products are more expensive than sports products, so the young people are restricted from income. 30-50% This means that if we want to take the leisure trend, we must face completely differentiated consumer groups and rebuild the user mentality.

There are many outdoor brands that break through the trend of leisure, and there are few successful cases, but there are also successful outdoor brands, such as the ancestors. In the past ten years, Arc'teryx has always been in the professional outdoor field. It has many domestic outdoor enthusiasts' dream to have an outdoors outdoor equipment, because the price of six thousand or seven thousand pieces can't be borne by people. But now, the scene of the urban commuter business will also see the shadow of the ancestors. One of the implicit rules is that we should first be recognized in the professional degree and form the brand effect, only if we have the word of mouth and possibility, can we make a premium on non professional outdoor products.

　 Slow incubation period

Traditional outdoor projects, such as mountaineering and hiking, are more popular among middle-aged people. Thanks to the popularity of rock climbing and skiing, opportunities come and outdoor industries begin to attract more young people. Li Yun's outdoor brand is waiting for this opportunity to make some products in these two fields. The price is low, young people can accept it, and also do some younger images through VR.

But if we return to the nature of business, the outdoor business is not only saved by young people.

China's early outdoor brand, online communication platform and retail store were basically made by lovers, such as Sheng Faqiang and Wang Jing of Pathfinder, Sanfo outdoor Zhang Heng, Yang Wei of outdoor service platform 8264. Li Yun majored in finance at university. After graduation, he worked in a bank, and was put into outdoor business because of his outdoor interest. From enthusiasts to founders, the advantage is that they have enough enthusiasm to influence more consumers, and pay more attention to communication and cultivation with consumers.

Li Yun recalled that many brands of outdoor stores used to pay attention to the cultivation of sports demand, and often took members to climb mountains, climb rocks, and then drive sales in sports. But as the outdoor industry plunged into the great leap forward, we found that shopping in the mall would have a good sale, and no need to bring members to do all kinds of hard and risky sports.

Without the foundation of consumption training, the growth of the outdoor industry immediately saw the ceiling. But because of the fans, the leaders of outdoor brands often do not have much experience to carry out commercial operations, such as supply chain management, membership system, retail channels, etc. their most action is to fight on the price and change with the tastes of the mass consumers.

In this regard, Wang Jing also agreed. Compared with outdoor sports and leisure brands, the marketing model is very rough, for example, in store sales, compared with sports stores, it is very backward and extensive.

And those brands that want to get gold in the open field are also unsuccessful. Lining, Anta, and 31st degree had launched outdoor series in the same year. They also opened their stores in the form of strategic cooperation with the Nordic outdoor sports brand One Way Sport, but none of them came to an end. Compared with mass sports, outdoor demand is relatively small, not as fast as expected.

Not only the competition of outdoor brands is fierce, but also the survival of outdoor websites and clubs has become difficult, so we have to find more ways to survive. Information from the sky showed that the 8264 website introduced hundreds of millions of yuan in financing camel shares in 2014, and the Outdoor Adventure magazine was on the verge of bankruptcy in 2016, and was bought by anonymous people.

A former outdoor media practitioner revealed to reporters that the earliest outdoor magazines were either shut down or bought into the internal journals of enterprises, and the development of websites was not good. In the whole industry, except for a few brands and large clubs, others are in the stage of just having enough food and clothing or burning money.

If we look at the size of the outdoor market, the European market is about four times that of China, but the population is 1/5 of China, which is 20 times the difference between the two countries. The outdoor market is highly regarded as one of the most promising segments in the traditional industry. The biggest problem now is that the number of participants is small. It is unable to support the benign operation of the outdoor industrial chain.

A fact is that many designers who design clothing and shoes in outdoor brands in China do not have outdoor sports experience. They usually need companies to recruit them first, and then carry out unified outdoor knowledge training. Therefore, many outdoor clothing with Chinese characteristics, such as skin clothes, were born, which is not popular in European countries. For example, three to one outdoor clothing, with a zipper will link up the sweater and shell, it looks very practical, can adapt to different temperatures, but it is also a localized product, because in actual outdoor sports is actually not reasonable.

The Winter Olympics in 2022 are also seen by many outdoor workers as a key point of the industry's rebound, but there is no sign of rapid recovery or slow recovery. According to Li Yun, although it has been developed for 20 years, outdoors in China is still in need of long-term training. At least, after 2025, it is possible to see a possible benign development.