Fast fashion ancestors left behind, esprit Shanghai CITIC Pacific evacuated

ESPRIT withdraws from Meihengtai shopping district

“The ESPRIT downstairs is closed. When you are young, you have the big name in mind!” Ms. Niu, who worked at CITIC Group, expressed her microblogging yesterday. “Time is really a slasher, and the brand's despondency is just as stunning as the beauty is.”

At CITIC Plaza in Jiangning Road, Nanjing West Road, the reporter saw yesterday afternoon that the original three-storey ESPRIT store no longer existed, and the black wall surrounding the store read “The new IT concept store will be 12 Grand opening of the month." “This store has been bad for business in recent years. The popularity of selling clothing on the first floor and second floor is not as good as the hair salon on the third floor. It has long been heard that it will be moved,” said a staff member of the CITIC Pacific Square Service Desk.

This reporter learned that ESPRIT opened in 2000, and the first floor and second floor operated its branded clothing, covering an area of ​​more than a thousand square meters, and part of the third floor was the ES鄄PRIT hair salon. Regarding the reason for the closure of the shop, ESPRIT public relations officials said they did not respond.

CITIC Pacific stakeholders told reporters yesterday that CITIC Pacific and ESPRIT have been cooperating for 12 years. The reasons for this departure are due to the expiry of the lease. Of course, with the change of market environment and brand positioning, the match between ES PRIT and CITIC Pacific is not as good as initial.

The person said: "In the future, we will introduce Hong Kong IT fashion retail stores. IT is a multi-brand integrated store, brand positioning is more consistent with the entire commercial project and business district positioning. CITIC Square Plaza commercial area of ​​only 30,000 square meters, the original Only ESPRIT brand stores account for almost a thousand square meters, and introduction of IT can provide consumers with more brand choices."

Parent company's net profit fell 98% last year

For ESPRIT's withdrawal from the “Meihengtai” shopping district, industry insiders said that the deteriorating operation of the store and its parent company has been burdened with rent.

Relevant data show that ESPRIT’s parent company Esprit Global's profitability has declined for three consecutive years. Its stock price has fallen more than 90% in three years. In 2010/2011 financial year, it achieved sales revenue of HK$33.767 billion, up 0.1% year-on-year; net profit was HK$79 million, up year-on-year. Declined by 98.13%. In addition, the company had released information in the first half of this year that it will end all operations in North America. It is understood that ESPRIT’s North American operations have been losing money for many years. In the past four years, the United States and Canada have lost a total of RMB 1.6 billion.

“ESPRIT is essentially a strong and profitable brand, but the brand has gradually lost its soul in the past few years. The fine tradition of the brand is ignored, and customer cohesion is losing.” Esprit frankly stated in the earnings report. The research report of Orient Securities once pointed out that among the many successful genes of ESPRIT, the core word is innovation, and ESPRIT goes into recession. In addition to the main economic market in Europe, the most important factor is to discard innovation and change.

The "fast fashion" originator has fallen behind in recent years

It is understood that in addition to ESPRIT, Esprit also includes sub-brands ESPRIT Casual, ESPRIT Collection and edc. The person in charge of the Ministry of Commerce of a chain of department stores in Shanghai told reporters that although their positioning is different, because the products are designed by three different groups at the Düsseldorf Design Center in Germany, the product style is highly similar and the The lack of timely response from the market’s buyer information has caused ES鄄PRIT to overly indulge in stable European profits, and gradually lost competitiveness in the face of fierce offensives and numerous innovative models.

The clothing industry has a famous saying that there is no weak market and only weak products. Insiders pointed out that low cost is the reason why the “fast fashion” originator ESPRIT “left behind”. Compared to Zara, H&M, etc. which have risen in recent years, ES鄄PRIT prices are expensive, but their styles remain unchanged.

A retailer told the reporter that the price of ES PRIT was “too strange”. The fabric was basically cotton, and the style was very conservative. The same material and similar style were generally only and verymode priced at 300-400 RMB. ES 鄄 PRIT Price 700-800 yuan, the price is 1-2 times that of competitors. Even if it is rare to find a silk fabric jacket at ESPRIT, the price is 1.5 times that of Zara. Zara has already reached the level of new products every week.

Although ESPRIT left CITIC Plaza in Nanjing West Road, the cooperation between the two parties did not stop. According to relevant sources from CITIC Pacific, CITIC Pacific's Shin Hong Square project on Sichuan North Road will still be introduced into ESPRIT, and the commercial project will be officially opened by the end of September. ESPRIT's shop floor area on the second floor of Shen Hong Plaza is approximately 361 square meters. Qi Xiaozhai, the chief researcher of the Municipal Business Information Center, pointed out that “Beside the business white-collars and some community residents, the consumer groups in the Sichuan North Road Commercial Circle are definitely more suitable for ESPRIT than Nanjing West Road.”