Smith Barney returning to the beginning of the national brand upgrades and cracks

While the e-commerce platform is increasingly focusing on physical channels, physical retailers are also changing. On July 18, the well-known clothing company, Meibang Apparel, announced that the future of its Mastersbonwe brand will change from a single casual style to five styles, namely, NEWear (casual style - extraordinary youth), HYSTYL (fashion style - unceasing tide), Nōvachic ( Urban Light Business - Fresh City), MTEE (Street FUN - Unexpected), ASELF (Mori - Simple Mori), and hired five young idols such as Guan Xiaoyan to meet a new generation of young people with a new image and product Consumer demand. It is reported that this upgrade has been in trial operation in some cities after a period of time, with good results, and will be promoted throughout the country.

Why hasn't Medplus, which once held high on the Internet banner, refocused on products and retail? Zhou Chengjian, the founder of Meibang Apparel, said that in the wake of the wave of the Internet, Smith Barney had been impulsive, confused and misplaced in the transition to the Internet. The exploration of the Internet age in the past few years has allowed companies to accumulate a lot of experience. In the future, they will strengthen their beliefs, awaken themselves, return to their main business, and be brave enough to return to the essence of the clothing brand. They will use the international best clothing brands as benchmarks and be a good brand. Operators.

Return to the beginning of the heart, taking consumer demand as the starting point

Today, the most commonly spoken word hanging from the founder of Metersbonwe, Zhou Chengjian, is: "to wake up."

As a representative of national apparel companies, Meibang apparel has been infiltrating the fashion industry for more than 20 years and is known as the "Huangpu Military Academy in China's fashion industry." The Metersbonwe brand, which has long been the spokesperson for Jay Chou, once led the trend of dressing for young people in China. The slogan of “not going the unusual way” is deeply rooted in people’s hearts. In the wake of the arrival of the Internet wave, Memphis has successively launched Internet platforms such as state-purchasing and franchise, and has been at the forefront of the industry in O2O, Cloud Gate, and big data applications. However, although these measures have left Smith Barnes a deep impression on consumers, they have not played a role in improving performance.

“Although this series of attempts has laid a strong technological foundation for the current state-of-the-art management of mega-data based on big data,” Zhou Chengjian reconsidered. “But some explorations, now looking back, it may still be beyond an excellent brand management. The category of the company also brought some pressure on the company's performance."

“Since last year, we have repeatedly stressed from top to bottom that we must “awaken ourselves”. This is also a summary of what we have done in the past seven or eight years. This statement is both a reminder to ourselves and a reminder to the team. We decided, We must return to the beginning of the heart, return to the main business, return to the real needs of consumers, do a good job of products, do a good job, and gradually correct ourselves from the impulses, confusions, and dislocations mentioned above and awaken ourselves.”

For this reason, Smith's vision first returned to consumers. In the past year, Mebon has devoted tremendous energy to in-depth research on the consumer psychology of young people, especially the post-90s, post-95s and post-00s generations, and to make accurate consumers. Portraits seek to understand the attitudes and fashion preferences of today’s young people from the dimensions of personality, circle, and preference.

Smith Barn summed up the young people as "two independents and two daress", namely, independent personality, unique thinking, and dare to speak out. Even within this group, the fashion vision of different generations of consumption is also very different, and has formed a clear circle of division. On this basis, Mebon has boldly promoted the transformation of the Metersbonwe brand, upgrading from a single style to five independent styles under the same brand, covering different lines such as leisure, fashion, street, minimalism, and forestry, and greatly improving product quality. Cost-effective standards create competitive products.

“We hope to use five different styles to give more choices to consumers with different preferences, and use them in a variety of channels, such as aggregators and style stores, to inject new energy and momentum into the long-standing fashion brand, Metersbonwe. "Zhou Chengjian said," This work has been attempted since the beginning of last year. So far, we have opened hundreds of collection stores and style stores in many cities across the country. The response is very good. Therefore, we will now accelerate the promotion to the whole country. ”

Awaken yourself and become an outstanding brand operator

The popularity of Metersbonwe among the people has never been doubted, but Zhou Chengjian also realized that the popularity of Metersbonwe is not as good as the exotic fashion brands ZARA, Uniqlo and MUJI. “But by offering a choice of diversified lifestyles and a one-stop shopping experience, Metersbonwe still has the opportunity to surpass Uniqlo.” Zhou Chengjian believes.

With the basic model alone, Uniqlo sold more than 20 billion yuan in Greater China last year. The performance of Smith Barney last year still has a gap. Zhou Chengjian admitted frankly, “People often ask me why the US state, which was once a big player in the Chinese market, has a big gap with this Japanese brand today?”

The cost-effectiveness of Uniqlo is based on its strength in category depth. What Zhou Chengjian wants is that he has a little more attitude than basic money, and it is even more interesting on the basis of price/performance ratio. “We will strengthen our advantages in terms of stylistic attitude and continue to dig deeper in the category category.” By digging deep into 20% of the in-depth funds, and integrating and optimizing the supply chain, the Metersbonwe brand will have the opportunity to achieve products like Uniqlo's cost-effectiveness. With the remaining 80% of attitudes, Metersbonwe will rely on different styles to bring consumers a rich and interesting experience that UNIQLO can't afford.

The other brand of Meibang Apparel, Zhou Chengjian also found a good brand.

"ME&CITY's goal is to provide a quality lifestyle experience for the new middle-class consumers," Zhou Chengjian said. "It is not as fast as ZARA, but it is more refined and of higher quality. Compared to the pursuit of re-engraving the current trend as soon as possible, ME & CITY provides It is a fashionable style that is not easily outdated and tends to minimalist tones. At the same time, I hope it will understand more about how to interpret Chinese consumers' physical beauty and the pursuit of fashion, and take advantage of our large consumer data accumulated over the years. , Product development and management based on regional differences.” It is understood that currently ME&CITY is rapidly increasing in terms of repeat purchase rate and consumer acceptance, and rapid development is expected in the future.

The CH'IN祺 brand, born in 2001, has been positioned since its inception to provide a general consumer with a relaxed and slow lifestyle experience. The reporter saw from the brand's showroom that the richness and sense of quality of the garments lined up by Hao was higher. Zhou Chengjian's plan is that, in the future, the brand will insist on the ultimate in clothing, fully express the quality of life experience, provide a richer product portfolio and more affordable prices to attract young consumers. At the same time, it constantly enriches and strengthens accessories and household products to form a complete lifestyle experience. The goal is to become the leading brand of slow life in China's first and second tier cities within five years.

As a new bright spot in the business of Smith Barn, the children's wear sector has grown rapidly. Moomoo, who is committed to delivering a positive attitude to life, offers comfortable and colorful children's casual wear for children aged 1-14. ME & CITY KIDS positioned mid-to-high-end fashion children's wear brands, adhered to the brand positioning of exquisite fashion and small adults, closely followed the international fashion trend, and highlighted the concept of “small and large people”.

Return to the main business and become an excellent lean retailer

Like many clothing brands that started in the 1990s, Smith Barney is also experiencing the environmental impact of China's current retail channel adjustments. Traditional street shops and department store counters gradually lost their flow and dragged down their performance. But for the "new retail" that is hotly debated today, Zhou Chengjian believes that the nature of things is no different from 40 years ago. “Either new retail or old retail, it is still retail. The essence of retailing is to do a good retail experience for well-branded products. It was 40 years ago, and it is the same today and tomorrow.”

Forty years ago, Zhou Chengjian operated the only grocery store in the village. During holidays, friends and relatives in the countryside must bring gifts, usually sugar bags and brown sugar bags. Zhou Chengjian discussed with his parents at that time how many individuals in the village came out one by one. People with better conditions would send white sugar. After calculating the basic figures, they would do a demand procurement plan and plan to match the amount of brown sugar and sugar packets. Before going to the wholesale, prepare for the package in advance and take it away immediately. In winter, guests can enjoy a warm cup of hot tea in the small shop and a refreshing herbal tea in summer.

In the era of no electricity or access, modern retail demand planning, scene matching, and experience optimization have been reflected in the grocery store in this small village.

Today, Smith Barney needs to manage nearly 4,000 retail terminals across the country, with a total area of ​​over one million square meters, and the number is still increasing. “Although we have already laid a good foundation in the digitalization of stores, I think the space for excavation in this area is still very large. On the one hand, we need to increase the opening of new stores, cover new urban areas and commercial areas, and on the other Through lean retail, we have fully tapped the value of the existing 4,000 stores."

Currently, Smith Barney has completed the construction of O2O omni-channel retail terminal platform tools and big data business intelligence platform, and has opened up internal links such as marketing, merchandise, service, organization and coordination capabilities. The store data is fed back to the headquarters in real time, and the headquarters can immediately analyze and generate accurate marketing and operational strategies. At the same time, the store retail terminal has established a mechanism for interaction with consumers. It can collect consumption trajectories, learn about consumer preference habits, and provide personalized and accurate marketing, product recommendation and consumer life cycle management, so as to enhance brand stickiness and increase joint sales. It can be said that after many years of investing in exploration, the Smithsonian has opened up and launched a complete Internet-based consumer shopping experience.

On the other hand, after many years of deep plowing, the physical channels of Smith Barney have long passed through a vast network of more than 30 branch offices across the country, sinking to four- to five-tier cities and even township markets. And through many years of operation, it has accumulated a wealth of operational experience and consumer big data resources. Smith Barney will use this experience and the ability of big data analysis to customize the scene, merchandise, finance, operation and marketing of each store based on the business environment and flow composition of each store, combined with the climate and cultural characteristics of the regional market. Planning, building different product structures and style attitudes of various stores, making the scene experience more extreme and more interesting, telling millennial consumers with an upgraded product mix and differentiated shopping experience: maybe there is more than Uniqlo or Muji cooler choices.

Smith Barne said that lean retail management has brought immediate results. Through tapping potential, the utilization space of the stores of Smith Barney will be increased by 30%-50%, and it is expected that this year will bring 20%-30% growth in performance for the stock stores.

However, the online shopping habits of young people are already ingrained. Will Smith's physical retail path still work? In this regard, Zhou Chengjian succinctly replied: "The shopping mall is very good, the offline experience is better, and shopping centers that provide rich products and integrate one-stop entertainment experience are even better."

In fact, the e-commerce business in full swing in recent years, whether it is Ali, Jingdong or Xiaomi, are marching under the line. After many years of e-commerce development, the cost has remained high, even exceeding the line, and the experience has always been a shortcoming for e-commerce. On the other hand, “retailtainment” has become more and more popular. McKinsey’s “2016 China Consumer Survey Report” pointed out that two-thirds of consumers stated that shopping and shopping are related to family members. The best way to spend leisure time is 21% higher than in 2012. Shopping malls that combine shopping, dining and entertainment are the biggest beneficiaries of this trend. According to data released by Jones Lang LaSalle, in the first quarter of 2017, the rents of retail shops on the first floor of Shanghai, Shenzhen and other cities all witnessed a month-on-month increase.

“We are still optimistic about physical retail. We hope to take this opportunity to make a voice for physical retailing and make a voice for society and people in pursuit of a healthier lifestyle and build a harmonious family,” said Zhou Chengjian. In the future, Midea will continue to adjust its channel layout, not only in first-tier and second-tier cities, but also in third- and fifth-tier cities, and gradually shift to emerging retail channels such as shopping malls.

Industry insiders commented that today's rapid development of online shopping, focus on the offline market and return to physical retail is a strategic decision for the company. If Smith Barney can do digital lean channel management, provide a good offline experience, cooperate with excellent brands and product mix, it can still take the initiative in the domestic residents' consumption upgrade, and have the opportunity to challenge its benchmark international brand. .

In early 2017, Zhou Chengjian set himself a goal: to visit all the markets that the EMU and airports can reach during the year, to understand the needs of the local market from the perspective of consumers, and to dig deep into the stock market space. Half a year has passed and the journey has already passed halfway. “I have always believed that the only barrier in the apparel industry is the resilience and persistence of this industry. This is an industry that pays attention to detail management and requires a person who has high resilience and can consistently focus on doing one thing. As a retailer The veteran, I hope that with my own lessons and experience, and with my persistence, I will come out of a new era of physical retail in the Internet era for Smith Barney and national apparel brands. Although it may be far from success, I think, as long as we grasp the essence If you persist in your early days, you are not afraid of not having a future."