Daphne Is Accused Of Buying Shoes At A Loss, Forcing Franchisees Not To Renew Their Contracts.

Daphne has been in a state of anxiety recently.

Its semi annual report shows that the decline in the electricity business of the company is in urgent need of emergency, and the franchisee who is not disappointed by the renewal of the contract is coming to discuss it collectively.

Daphne has been busy with its tail this summer: it has to clean up the stock in the summer with its low discount, and deal with business pformation and market expansion.

The pition period between Daphne and franchisees is hard to end in a moment.

Selling shoes at a loss

There are at least 4 Direct stores in Daphne and its brand shoe cabinet on the road of Chun Xi Road in Chengdu.

Walking in the bustling crowd, far heard Daphne salesmen "99 yuan for each pair, 99 yuan!"

"This kind of sales promotion has been going on for more than a week."

One of the shop assistants said, "this is the company's need to clean up the stock of summer shoes."

For Daphne's Direct stores, such a move seems to have little effect on performance. They can clean up their inventory before landing new models in the autumn.

But franchisees are under great pressure.

"They are now asking for 99 yuan of shoes. Our initial purchase price is 120-150 yuan, which is not clear enough to make us lose money."

In a media interview, a provincial franchisee said that in such a way, Daphne had forced the franchisee to "sell two shoes" or sell shoes at a loss or sign a contract that no longer would be renewed.

It is reported that Daphne started last year because of the pformation of the company.

Renew the contract.

Its franchisees expressed their dissatisfaction with the view that "Daphne has gone through the river and broken the bridge", which has broken the way for franchisees to survive.

Recently, many franchisees joined the Daphne company in Shanghai and wrote a statement.

Normal expansion of Chengdu market in pition

In fact, since 1995, when Daphne brand owner wing en investment (Group) Co., Ltd. changed its top level, it began to implement new business strategy and shift its channel strategy to direct stores. Now the proportion of direct shops is about 83%.

Against the dissatisfaction of some franchisees, Huang Yingzhe, director of Daphne public relations, told reporters, "Future Ltd will focus on the development of self operated channels. The existing franchisees will assess their contracts according to their comprehensive conditions and decide whether to renew their contracts.

All our actions with franchisees are based on the agreement voluntarily concluded between the two parties. There is no breach of commitment. "

Huang Yingzhe told reporters that the existing Daphne shops in Chengdu are mainly direct outlets, and a small number of franchisees.

Reporters learned that the Shanghai Daphne headquarters to ask for the views of the franchisee, there is no Chengdu franchisee.

"With regard to the no longer renewal of contracts, the franchisees in Sichuan market have successfully communicated."

He also said that the future development of Chengdu market is still expanding according to the plan.

Electricity supplier layoffs online sales strategy frustrated

3 years ago, Daphne began to set foot in e-commerce, trying to gain more profits from the electricity supplier.

But Daphne's online sales are not satisfactory.

According to Daphne's semi annual report released in 2012, the company turnover increased by 28.9% in the first half year, and the gross profit increased by 27.8% compared to the same period last year.

Last year, Daphne brand more than 5000 stores in the country amounted to HK $8 billion 570 million, while e-commerce revenue was less than 5% of the total turnover.

Subsequently, the news came out of Daphne's electricity supplier layoffs. Nearly 300 employees in Shanghai headquarters were laid off, and another 3 electric business department heads were also laid off.

Huang Yingzhe told reporters, "only the optimization of personnel and post adjustment."

He said that this move is to enhance the competitiveness of enterprises to adapt to the future development goals, and is the normal adjustment of the progress of enterprises.

But the news of layoffs still sparked discussions within and outside the industry.

"

We still have deep confidence in e-commerce business. "

Huang Yingzhe said: "retail business has always been the core business of the group. There is no such thing as increasing investment in line under the obstruction of the electricity supplier."

Huaxi Metropolis Daily reporter Hou Tingting