Sheng Faqiang, The Chairman Of The Pathfinder, Talks About The Four Problems Of Outdoor Products Industry.

In recent years, China's outdoor products industry is growing at an annual rate of nearly 50%, but at the same time, problems are also emerging. Industry concentration is low, brand positioning is unclear, channel management is chaotic, and price chaos is widespread.

A few days ago, the Pathfinder (Toread) Independent research and development After the launch of the innovative environmental protection technology platform, Sheng Faqiang, the founder and chairman of Toread, said that to solve these problems, we should adhere to the matching of innovation and growth. Putting quality first and insisting on independent research and development are the basis for the healthy development of a brand.

　　 Quality: lack of standards

The nature of the industry determines that outdoor supplies and technology are inseparable. Related surveys show that the lack of uniform industry standards and uneven quality are the biggest problems in the outdoor products industry. Because of this, consumers often have a headache when choosing outdoor products. They only dare to believe in big shopping malls and big brands. But even so, many consumers still feel that the quality and publicity of the products are quite different.

Sheng Faqiang told reporters that the current outdoor brands in the market are numerous and complicated, which does bring difficulties to consumers' choices. And a responsible outdoor enterprise must first face the quality of products. It is gradually becoming a trend that we only know one or two of professional technology, or we always use others' technology.

　　 Brand: unclear positioning

There are many outdoor sports, and outdoor products are also very detailed. Different sports demand such as professional limits, long distance travel and outdoor recreation are also different. With more and more outdoor sports entering China, people's choice of outdoor products is more and more diversified.

Therefore, many Outdoor products enterprises There is also a lack of uniformity in the launch of products. In this regard, Sheng Fa stressed: "each brand can only have a positioning." Sheng Faqiang believes that during the development of outdoor products enterprises, we should strive to find different positioning, have different knowledge of the market, and conduct in-depth marketing according to their own positioning, making subtle differences in the same category.

　　 Channel: management confusion

There are two modes for outdoor goods enterprises to develop in the market channel, that is, franchisees and direct stores. The advantage of franchised stores is that they can fully mobilize local resources, the cost of expenditure is relatively small, and the profit space is larger; direct shops are direct manufacturers, with higher expenditure, but enterprises are highly controllable.

Reporter survey found that, in order to expand the market share as far as possible in a short time, some outdoor brands lack clear planning in the channel development, blindly pursue the number of franchisees, and lack of explicit requirements for franchisees, leading to confusion in the standards of regional stores, some of which are small and small counters in shopping malls, often mixed with other brands. This greatly reduces the consumer's trust in the brand.

Toread also depends on the rapid expansion of a high proportion of franchisees, but Sheng Qiang said that although the proportion of each household control is different in the construction of franchised stores and direct stores, there must be a division of this system. "Direct store is very important. It is the source of data acquisition, product judgement and establishment of standards. It is also the source of our management methods to franchisees." Sheng Faqiang said that it is very important for an outdoor brand to establish its own system, and there is a certain risk in trying to launch new products. In order to protect the franchisee's interests, these are to be completed in the direct store.

　　 Price: Chaos

　　 channel management Confusion often leads to confusion in product prices. Some outdoors enterprises are "big and small" in channel management, only wholesale prices and retail prices are determined by franchisees themselves. Some enterprises, though stipulating a unified retail price, do not have enough supervision. As a result, the prices of the same products vary from place to place. While consumers complain, brand image is also seriously damaged.

Sheng Faqiang believes that the fundamental reason for the emergence of price chaos is that the management of enterprises is not in place. The fundamental problem of price chaos lies in enterprise management, including inventory control. No regular discount is usually caused by backlog.

"In fact, the inventory problem is widespread in the clothing industry." Sheng Faqiang said, do not make a fuss about inventory, try to shorten the time of production and sales, and monitor and predict reasonably, so that inventory control can be better controlled. "If we receive 10 thousand orders, we usually only do 5000 pieces, and the market returns back, sell well, then make up the bill quickly."