10% off or even 0.5% off clearance. ESPRIT, the fashionable clothing brand that everyone once rushed to buy, is counting down to store closures and adjustments.
What is even more embarrassing is that ESPRIT’s parent company and Hong Kong’s generation “stock king” Esprit Global The stock price is less than 1% of the high point in 2007, and it has completely become a “penny stock”.
Previously, international FMCG companies such as Topshop, Forever 21, and Newlook The brand has already withdrawn from the Chinese market ahead of ESPRIT. ESPRIT, which announced just a few days ago that it will close all stores in China (for detailed reports, please click ☞☞☞Another well-known clothing brand has completely closed its stores, leaving only the European market with no way out!), will also completely disappear from our eyes. ? Don’t worry, Ningbo clothing upstart Mulshang Group has announced that it will take over ESPRIT.
A generation of trendy brands, ebb and flow
ESPRIT is the youthful memory of generations.
A few days ago, ESPRIT issued announcements on its official website and Tmall flagship store that it would close its stores on May 31. The parent company Esprit Global (Hong Kong stock 00330) has also recently announced the termination of its business in the mainland and the closure of all 56 retail stores in Asia outside mainland China.
From 1993 to 2017, ESPRIT has more than 300 stores in more than 100 major cities in mainland China. Esprit Global stock price It rose 65 times and became the “King of Stocks” in Hong Kong. However, when the financial crisis broke out in 2008, Esprit’s global operations began to gradually decline, and the brand value of ESPRIT gradually evaporated.
In addition to the impact of the financial crisis, ESPRIT’s decline is largely related to its failure to keep up with the times.
After 2011, giants including Zara, H&M, Uniqlo and other giants quickly occupied the mass market, and the ESPRIT brand series Single and old-fashioned designs cannot meet the needs of young consumers, and they seek transformation and are not accepted by the market due to drastic changes in style.
Starting this year, the global epidemic broke out, further dragging down Esprit’s operations and becoming the last straw that crushed the company. However, analysts believe that ESPRIT’s vague and vacillating positioning in the Chinese market in the past decade has led to its gradual decline. Both product positioning, channel structure and operational management have exposed a very obvious loss of control. Whether this exit is affected by the epidemic or not, All are inevitable results.
A generation later, accelerating expansion
So, does ESPRIT’s comprehensive store closure mean that it will Completely disappeared in China?
In fact, it is not. On December 1, 2019, ESPRIT parent company Esprit Global Holdings Co., Ltd. announced that its indirect wholly-owned subsidiary Wancheng Resources Co., Ltd. and Mulsanne Group Holdings (Hong Kong stock 01817) Co., Ltd. entered into a joint venture agreement. Effective from December 2, 2019.
According to the terms of the joint venture agreement, Ningbo Mushang Group and Wancheng Resources have agreed to establish a joint venture company in mainland China. The purpose is to engage in the operation of clothing, clothing accessories and other ESPRIT businesses that may be agreed upon by the joint venture parties. The registered capital of the joint venture should be 100 million yuan, with Mushang Group investing 60 million yuan and holding 60% of the equity. Wancheng Resources invested 40 million yuan and holds 40% equity.
Yu Yong, co-founder and CEO of Mulsanne Group, once said in a public interview: “We will reshape ESPRIT’s existing brand positioning, channels and products.” He revealed, In the future, ESPRIT will no longer operate large stores like H&M and Zara, but will adjust its store size to 100-200 square meters, focusing on the new generation of shopping mall channels.
The earliest history of Ningbo Mushang Group can be traced back to the launch of the GXG brand in 2007, when ESPRIT was at its peak.
In 2019, Mulsanne Group Holdings rang the bell in Hong Kong and became the fifth listed clothing company in Ningbo after Shanshan, Youngor, Shenzhou International and Peacebird. In terms of total retail revenue, the company’s market share in China’s fashion men’s clothing market in 2018 was approximately 3.3%, ranking second in China.
As of 2019, the company’s main brands include: flagship men’s clothing brand GXG, gxg jeans focusing on street fashion, children’s clothing brand gxg.kids with GXG design concept, urban commuter men’s clothing Brand Yatlas, sports brand 2XU.
After announcing at the end of last year that it would take over the operation of ESPRIT, this year, Mulsanne Group will also include Paul&Shark, an Italian casual clothing brand famous for its shark logo, into its agency brand, spanning Men’s clothing, women’s clothing, children’s clothing, sports and leisure clothing, the “multi-brand, international” strategic territory has been expanding.
“Establishing a multi-brand, multi-product series fashion platform has become the first choice for international brands seeking strategic cooperation in China, allowing us to better integrate brand internationalization and globalization. For smoothness.” Ding Dade, CFO of Mulsanne Group, once introduced the company’s intentions.
A change in the situation, a new opportunity
Mushang is the leader in the new retail industry in Hong Kong “stocks listed with a halo”.
However, as China’s economy and consumption increase,Against the background of the slowdown and facing the pressure of the epidemic, Mulsanne is also constantly adjusting its layout.
Last year, Mulsanne closed some loss-making offline stores, and its online revenue share increased from 35.7% in 2018 to 38.3% in 2019. In the fast fashion consumption track with stores as the core, Mulsanne embarked on a more efficient layout.
In the first quarter of this year, the sales of enterprises above designated size in the entire clothing industry fell by 23.5% year-on-year, and their profits fell by 43.5% year-on-year.
In this regard, Mulsanne said that the company has also been affected, but thanks to the advantages of multi-brand strategy and online sales channels, they are still confident in the prospects of the fashion industry .
It is understood that in addition to traditional online channels, they will actively expand new innovative online sales channels such as social e-commerce, and improve their sales through new retail technologies and advantages. Member experience. At the same time, we will develop a new product portfolio and brand matrix through a multi-brand strategy, further integrate online and offline new retail channels, and improve our operating capabilities; we will also seek opportunities to cooperate with popular clothing brands to launch more attractive co-branded products…
However, the ultimate core of everything is the product. Like the ESPRIT store withdrawal this time, many netizens mentioned “outdated styles” and “outdated designs”.
As domestic consumers have higher and higher requirements for clothing quality and have increasingly picky aesthetic tastes, their demands for cultural symbols have become more and more obvious – holding Paul&Shark, ESPRIT , 2XU and other international brands, can the young Mulsanne create another GXG myth? </p
