Contradictions Between Luxury Brands And Chinese Luxury Agents

During the years of deep ploughing in China, the "joys and sorrows" between agents and agents have been staged.

According to foreign media, Vittorio Missoni, President of Italy's famous knitting brand Missoni, revealed at 2012 Milan global fashion summit that they have terminated their cooperation with the original Chinese agents.

The reason for Missoni is: "they do not understand our brand at all."

Missoni is looking for new partners to restructure its business in China.

Yes, luxury goods.

It is not easy to look at the story of the luxury brands that have been firmly in the Chinese market to "start a new business" independently or to "tear down the bridge" to know the "bitterness" of agents.

But luxury brands also feel wronged. It seems to them that it is inappropriate to pay attention to profits and damage the brand image of the agents. Of course, they have many other considerations.

Although many luxury brands regain agency power in China for various reasons, more luxury brands, especially new entrants, still need to rely on Chinese agents to open up channels and markets for them.

How can a luxury brand and an agent maintain a healthy and long-lasting relationship? How can the cooperation and division of labor be controlled?

Weighing heavily

Like other foreign brands, luxury brands looking for agents in China often hope to find a trustworthy partner, which can maximize the brand's original flavor, and at the same time, give consideration to appropriate localization, so as to make the brand sustainable development.

But different from other brands, luxury brands have more rich cultural and artistic genes, which also leads to more rigorous consideration of agents by luxury brands.

In an interview with reporters, Chen Zhilong, chief operating officer of Mercure China, said: "agents usually put profits first. Luxury brands put the brand equity in the first place, inspecting the thinking mode of agents to the operation of luxury brands, whether they can form a consistent price view, and secondly, the strength of talents, funds and government relations, shopping malls resources, and so on." Paris,

Acting as a brand agent for many luxury brands, Jie Cheng has found that agents and luxury brands share common values. It is especially important to understand the history and culture of each other and work together to develop the local market so that both parties can cooperate for a long time.

In an interview with the newspaper, Bi Shaopu, director of Mark Bishop, stressed: "only when we really understand the luxury brand that we represent, can we bring the unique essence of it to the new market."

Based on this, the luxury brand's considerations for agents include: do you know enough about the local market?

Unlike consumers, different market environments and consumer needs are different, brands need to have local agents to jointly balance global and local market strategy formulation and implementation, and whether there are stable and effective channel resources. Agents with effective and stable channel network are usually the priority of branding.

Collaboration and division of labor

But in the process of cooperation, luxury brands and Chinese agents are divided and contradictory.

In Bi Shaopu's view, some Chinese agents made mistakes in the early days. They usually paid too much attention to profits. Sometimes, in order to save costs, they could recover the huge investment at the early stage. The agents did not pay enough attention to the brand image control and related services, resulting in the brand image being affected, and the credibility of the agency itself was also lost.

How can the cooperation and division of labor between the two sides bring control to a healthy and long-term relationship? Bi Shaopu believes that in the process of jointly developing the Chinese market, agents mainly help the brand understand the local market and consumer demand, and the brand dealers need to fully communicate with agents to make accurate market positioning.

After a clear positioning, agents need to build a suitable and effective channel network for the brand, while brands need to introduce products or services that can better satisfy the needs of local consumers.

In the process, the most likely difference between the two sides is how to localize the brand.

According to Chen Zhilong, in the course of operation, domestic agents failed to adhere to the operation philosophy and standards of internationalized enterprises, and gradually infiltrated into too many Chinese thinking, which led to greater differences between the two sides.

The original agent of a luxury brand in Shanghai has done a very good job in the early market development and brand maintenance. However, because of its later use in the management of large clients, such as Invoicing, consumption subsidies and invisible public relations in the Chinese market, luxury brands are worried about an unmeasurable crisis, and resolutely terminate the contract in violation of the contract.

Bishop suggested: "generally speaking, brand associations insist that the original culture is not changed, and the agents know the local demand better, hoping that the brand can make proper localization adjustment.

Therefore, full and effective communication between the two sides is very important. We should consult and act together. "