Zara accelerates its exit and adjustment
After Zara’s three sister brands announced the closure of their Chinese stores, Zara, as the main force, also accelerated its exit. Recently, reporters learned that Zara’s store in Nanping Xiexin Starlight Times has been closed, and its store in Aegean Shopping Park is also temporarily suspended. So far, Zara has only three stores left in Chongqing.
In recent years, many fast fashion brands such as NEW LOOK, Forever 21, Old Navy, and Esprit have successively left China. On the one hand, the rise of e-commerce has provided consumers with more cost-effective fashion choices, and fast fashion is no longer irreplaceable. On the other hand, fast fashion brands from abroad also have problems with acclimatization. After the epidemic, , which accelerated the market reshuffling process.
01 Zara speeds up its exit and adjustment
On January 10, the Zara Nanping store was There is no sign of closing the store. On January 11, netizen comments appeared on the Dianping website, saying that most of the store’s shelves were empty. According to the shopping mall, Zara is completely withdrawing this time, rather than closing the store and renovating. On January 20, the reporter went to the store again and saw that the entrance was surrounded by a fence and other brands of clothing were also placed in the glass display window.
Shortly after the Zara Nanping store closed, the Zara Aegean store also showed a suspended business status. As of now, Zara only has Beicheng Tianjie store, Wanxiang City store and Times Tianjie store in Chongqing.
Zara’s store closures are not without trace. In June last year, Inditex Group proposed the largest store closing plan in history. It will close 1,000-1,200 stores around the world in the next year, mainly targeting stores with profitability less than 260,000 euros, including ZaraA, Massimo Dutti and Pull&Bear. Small stores including brands. Shortly after proposing the plan, the group achieved a net profit of 866 million euros, still 26% lower than the same period in 2019. Obviously, closing unprofitable stores will help the Inditex Group turn a profit.
Previously, Zara parent company Inditex Group had announced the closure of all Chinese stores of its young brands Bershka, Pull & Bear, and Stradivarius. The store closures are expected to be completed before mid-2021. This action has been significantly accelerated recently. Shortly after the news was released, the last Bershka and Pull&Bear stores in Chongqing were liquidated and completely withdrew from Chongqing starting from January 11. At the same time, Zara also began to retreat, moving equally quickly.
Not only in Chongqing, Zara’s three sister brands have also recently completed store closures in other cities such as Jinan, Zhengzhou, and Nanjing. Some Zara stores in these cities are also temporarily closed, and the overall number has been reduced.
02 Fast fashion has outstanding shortcomings such as style and quality
It is famous for its fast updates and cheap prices. Fast fashion has dominated the wardrobes of many young people. However, as time goes by, fast fashion has been retreating steadily. Not only has it become less and less “fashionable”, but the homogeneity between brands has become obvious, and shortcomings such as poor quality, low cost performance, and insufficient fit have also gradually become prominent.
Ms. Shi, a post-90s white-collar worker, said: “I used to shop for many fast fashion brands, such as Bershka, Pull&Bear, mango, etc. Now, except for Zara occasionally, I rarely buy other brands. Check it out.” She said that not only did fast fashion fail to keep up with the trend in terms of style, it was only fast, not “fashionable”, and the quality was getting worse and worse. “There are many choices when buying clothes online, and they are cheap and good-looking. Isn’t it delicious?”
It is worth noting that in major business districts, it used to be the main attraction The number of fast fashion brands is also decreasing, and discounts are becoming more and more frequent. In addition to Zara, some H&M stores have been temporarily closed many times, and discounts are heavy; GAP has not only closed some stores in recent years, but also quietly increased the price of tags. And more fast fashion brands are like a flash in the pan, disappearing from consumers’ vision one after another.
According to statistics, some fast fashion brands have withdrawn from the Chinese market since 2016. From 2018 to 2019, well-known foreign fast fashion brands such as NEW LOOK, Topshop, and Forever 21 There is a retreat action. In 2020, the impact will be wider. GAP’s Old Navy, Esprit, etc. announced complete store closures, while Bershka, Pull&Bear, Stradivarius, H&M, etc. will partially close stores. In 2021, many brands have significantly accelerated their store closures, ushering in a wave of fast fashion store closures.
It is worth mentioning that while closing offline stores, many brands still retain online stores and use e-commerce channels as the main battlefield for future operations. For example, Inditex, the parent company of Zara, announced that its young brands will focus on strengthening their e-commerce development.
03 Fast fashion needs to accelerate innovation and highlight differentiated advantages
Li Yun, a senior retail expert Yang believes that fast fashion brands rely on “fast pace” to keep up with fashion trends to please consumers. This is an advantage and also a disadvantage. Once they cannot keep up with the so-called “trend”, they will be quickly eliminated from the market. It is very typical for Zara’s three sister brands to close their Chinese stores. In the minds of many young consumers, these brands are always associated with “average quality”, “low price” and “discounted goods”. In the context of poor overall performance, proactively choose-src=”” data-preview-group=”1″ src=”https://www.tradetextile.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/20210126101213558005.jpg”>
Financial technology expert Su Xiaorui said, “UNIQLO’s launch of payment services is in line with the current background of the digital transformation of the real economy. We are currently in the wave of the fourth industrial revolution, and there are emerging technologies based on big data. , cloud computing, artificial intelligence, blockchain, etc., the combination of technology-driven technology and mobile devices will improve the payment process and shopping experience, thereby promoting the development of retail formats in the real economy. There is broad potential behind this.” .
Previously, UNIQLO used the services of other companies for electronic settlement at the counter. Using its own APP for payment will help UNIQLO collect purchase records more conveniently and improve the efficiency of product planning, production and sales. . The APP can be used in almost all UNIQLO stores in Japan (approximately 800 stores). In the future, it will also be discussed to be applied to Fast Retailing’s e-commerce website and sister brand GU. Currently, Japan’s largest mobile payment operator is “PayPay” owned by SoftBank Group, with more than 35 million users. According to reports, PayPay has more than 1.94 million local e-commerce sellers and physical stores registered for use in Japan, and the number of buyer users exceeds 25 million. In December 2019, PayPay processed more than 100 million payment orders in a single month.
The download volume of Uniqlo App is not inferior. Relevant data shows that the download volume of Uniqlo App has exceeded 3,000 Ten thousand. Using its own App to pay will undoubtedly help Uniqlo collect purchase records more conveniently to improve efficiency from product planning to production, sales, etc.
In Su Xiaorui’s view, Japan’s payment platform PayPay is similar to my country’s WeChat and Alipay, and is a technology giant; while Uniqlo is a physical retail giant, although both have made great efforts. Mobile payment, but the business scope is different. The launch of UNIQLO’s mobile payment service is mainly due to UNIQLO’s digital exploration within its own ecosystem, combining payment tools with membership systems, and using combination methods to promote user activity.
In fact, it is not new for retail giants to enter mobile payment. As early as 2009, Starbucks launched its own mobile payment function. Using the Starbucks App, you can bind a gift card and scan the QR code within the app to complete the payment. Since Starbucks tied gift cards to mobile applications, not only has the sales of gift cards increased significantly, but gift cards are no longer just gifts. Data shows that more than 70% of gift cards are used by the purchasers themselves, becoming a store that is not worthy of the name. value card. In 2011, Starbucks added the function of online credit card payment. In 2015, Starbucks launched the “reservation” service again in North America. Through the application, you can purchase drinks in advance and complete the payment.
Nike sues 589 websites for trademark infringement
The claim exceeds 80 million
On January 14, Nike and its subsidiary brand Converse filed a lawsuit in a New York court, suing 589 websites and more than 100 social media accounts, accusing them of infringing on the brand’s trademark rights and selling fake and shoddy products. The total amount claimed exceeds US$13 million (approximately RMB 84.24 million).
According to the lawsuit, these websites and social media accounts have promoted and sold Nike merchandise or counterfeit products in the past year. The regions covered by these websites include 42 countries and regions including China, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain. Nike listed a total of 133 domain names and asked these websites to stop selling Nike products and demanded compensation of US$100,000 for each domain name.
In 2014, Converse sued more than 30 companies, including Walmart, Kmart and H&M, for allegedly plagiarizing the design of its Chuck Taylor shoes. Currently, most of Converse’s claims have been has been solved. In September 2019, Nike sued Skechers, claiming that the other party had plagiarized products, ideas and technology. </p
