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Deploying &Nbsp Cautiously; Opening Up The US Retail Market

2010/6/18 13:56:00 28

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Retail Market In The US

The United States is the largest in the world.

clothing

Market, over the past 20 years, the clothing store industry in the United States

Turnover

Every year there is an increase.

But under the financial tsunami, the first negative growth in 2008 was 2.2%, while the negative growth in 2009 increased to 3.4%.

Entering the 2010, the United States

retail

The market is showing signs of stabilization.

In the first quarter of this year, US consumer spending grew by 3.6%, the largest increase since early 2007, and consumer confidence index continued to rise (57.3 in March and 61.9 in April).

In March, the overall retail sales grew by 1.6%, an increase of 7.6% compared with the same period last year.

The US apparel market is "bottoming out". Is the Hong Kong and Chinese clothing brand "going global" an opportunity to open up the US retail market?

The key consideration in developing new markets is nothing more than "turnover" and "cost".

"Turnover" relates to the location of each brand and whether the product is marketable or not, so it is difficult to generalize.

"Cost" relates to store rentals, staff salaries and product costs. "Product cost" is also related to brand positioning and products. Therefore, we only discuss the trend of "store rent" and "wage" in the United States as a reference for entering the apparel retail market in the United States.

Shop rents and wage costs may rise

The trend of us store rentals is mainly led by the "annual growth of retail sales per square foot", and it takes about one to two seasons.

As a result, the total retail area has decreased. (I believe that many clothing retailers have closed up after the financial tsunami), sales of clothing stores have picked up, which also indicates a positive growth in retail sales per square foot, which means that the "rent level" will also keep rising.

It is also widely predicted in the market that the rental of US retail property is likely to rise at the end of 2010, so there is always a risk of "rent increase" at any time.

In terms of staff salaries, the average hourly wage of clothing salesmen continued to decline in 09 years, but the minimum wage in the United States increased from $6.55 in 2008 to $7.25 in July 2009 (up to 10.7%), so it is believed that under the "good market condition" and the minimum wage limit, the room for future wage reduction will be limited.

From above, if we are going to develop the American Apparel retail market, the lower "store rents" and "wages" can give the "newcomer" competitive advantage in cost, and will gradually disappear as the market stabilizes.

The success or failure still depends on the positioning of the brand itself and whether the products are marketable. Therefore, the "Hong Kong" clothing brands that are ready to "internationalize" can examine their brand strategy and product mix and grasp the business opportunities of the American Apparel retail market.