How Much Has The Retail Industry Been Hit This Year? Look At The Numbers For These Brands

3000 stores closed?

A false alarm is a wake-up call

At the beginning of September, Swarovski, the famous Austrian jewelry brand, got a hot search because of a news item. #Swarovski will close 3000 stores, and Swarovski will lay off 6000 employees. The two tags make people dumbfounded for a moment.

On September 7, CEO Robert buchbauer issued a letter of clarification, saying that in the previous interview, he only mentioned that Swarovski would reduce the global 3000 store network, which only meant that it would close a small number of physical stores inconsistent with the new strategy, so as to better optimize the retail network. The online report on "Swarovski will close 3000 stores" is untrue.

Although it is a false alarm, but the new crown epidemic hit the retail industry is not small indeed. On July 22, Swarovski announced that the company would lay off 1000 German office posts in the autumn of 2020 due to the impact of the new epidemic and the subsequent business pressure. By the end of June, Swarovski had cut 600 jobs in the global market, 200 of which were in its Austrian headquarters.

How much has the retail industry been hit? Take a look at the number of stores closed by UNIQLO, H & M and gap this year. Even ascenda and Brooks brothers, the two largest clothing retail giants in the United States, have gone bankrupt.

Permanently closed!

Fast fashion Waterloo

Zara, known as the world's fastest fashion, has also been hit hard.

On June 11, INDITEX, the parent company of Zara, released its first quarter financial report. Data showed that INDITEX had a net loss of ￥ 3.2 billion in the first quarter, which was the net loss of ￥ in Zara's history. On June 13, INDITEX announced that it would permanently close 1000 to 1200 Zara stores.

You know, Zara, in its glorious period, opened more than 7000 stores in just over 40 years. On October 23, 2015, amancio Ortega, founder of Zara, surpassed Bill Gates to become the richest man in the world with a total personal wealth of $79.5 billion. Zara stores are now among the major shopping malls and are close to the stores of luxury brands. Today, Zara, who focuses on fast fashion, can only choose to close stores to protect herself under the pressure of the epidemic.

Zara has been questioned for many times because of its quality and plagiarism in China, but its market has been very broad in the working class. Zara's claim to be "the world's fastest fashion" is not unreasonable. It can be said that its update speed is quite fast. It takes only one to three weeks for a garment to be designed and put on the shelves in the store. Zara's rate of updating shelves is also basically on a weekly basis. The latest popular items and styles are all included, which is quite attractive to wage earners who pursue fashion but are forced to retreat by price.

But it is also because of "fast fashion", Zara has been hit hard in the face of the impact of the epidemic. "Fast fashion" relies on rapid sales and turnover. It takes the mode of small profits and high sales. The most frightening thing is the backlog of goods. Once there is a backlog of goods, there will be great problems in the capital chain, and the design and production of subsequent products will be cut off because of the sales downturn.

Epidemic is the last straw

A generation of "shoe king" fell

It is far more than these that have been hit.

On August 25, an unexpected news came to the top of the hot search, Daphne, announced the complete withdrawal of physical retail.

Daphne used to be the pronoun of fashion. What impressed me most was the spokesmen of she and Gao Yuanyuan and Liu Ruoying. In the student days of many post-80s and post-90s girls, it's a small dream to have a pair of Daphne. Daphne was also the first-time girl to buy shoes, which was a real national brand.

Daphne was once called the "king of shoes". For five years in a row, Daphne has been the leader of women's shoes in mainland China. In 2012, Daphne's market value was as high as 17 billion, and nearly 50 million pairs of women's shoes were sold every year, with a market share of 20%.

How terrible is 20% market share? That is to say, for every five pairs of women's shoes sold, one comes from Daphne.

In 2015, Daphne began to decline from * *. Not only did its sales plummet, but also its market value plummeted. Daphne international has shrunk from 6881 stores in 2012 to less than 300 today. In 2019 alone, the total number of stores closed from 2820 to 425, with an average of 6 Daphne stores closing every day.

Therefore, when encountering the new crown epidemic, the "straw that killed the camel", Daphne, which was already in a state of collapse, could not support it completely and announced that it would withdraw from the physical retail business, thus the generation of "shoe king" was in decline.

To the epidemic?

No, lost to the times

Swarovski, Zara, Daphne... Lost not so much to the epidemic as to the times.

Swarovski, as the world's first adult made crystal brand, has been criticized for its quality and style in recent years. In this "fast fashion" consumption era, the price and quality of Swarovski have not kept pace with the rapid upgrading, and have been unable to attract young people. Even the once popular "classic black swan" has become an embarrassing scene in which no one pays attention to the official anniversary.

Daphne has been unable to keep up with the times. At that time, the market potential of domestic women's shoes was huge. Daphne positioned herself as popular fashion, with low price and cost, and strong star appeal. However, as the year goes by, other brands are almost renewed every two weeks, but Daphne is not slow. It will only be updated every year when the season changes. The style is getting more and more old, and the comfort and quality are also declining.

Zara's flexibility under the epidemic situation is not qualified compared with other fast fashion brands. Take UNIQLO, which also relies on fast selling, as an example. During the worst period of the epidemic, up to 50% of UNIQLO's stores were temporarily closed. However, during the period when the stores slowly resumed business, UNIQLO began to put a large number of linkage styles, such as GAODA, baokemeng, and jimie blade, which were linked with different popular animations covering almost young and middle-aged consumers, which greatly increased sales, So that the store almost instantly restored to the hot before the epidemic. Zara, by contrast, is almost "Inaction", and it's not surprising that the store is permanently closed.

Postscript

In the United States, NPC international, a well-known fast-food brand, has filed for bankruptcy protection. 300 Pizza Hut stores will be closed permanently and other stores will be sold separately. However, in the bankruptcy petition, the important reason is "lack of innovation ability".

It is not difficult to see that the big names who have been hit hard in the epidemic situation have been struggling to keep up with the times, even tottering. When encountering the sudden impact of the epidemic, the existing crisis will be magnified in an instant. It is inevitable to close stores, lay off staff and even close down. The epidemic has accelerated the reshuffle of all walks of life, and also taught all enterprises a lesson: never relax because of their seemingly stable position in the industry. Your threat is never your peers, but the times.