Can Tide Designers Help Daphne Achieve Its Self Salvation?

According to the world clothing shoes and hats net, July 27th, shoe king.

Official delisting.

With the departure of BELLE, the legend of women's shoes in Hong Kong stock market remained.

(00210) one family.

Coincidentally, Daphne announced the first half of its business data on the eve of the delisting of BELLE.

Average 2 days to close 3 stores

According to the data obtained, Daphne closed 306 stores in the first half of this year, equivalent to closing 3 stores on average 2 days.

Shutting down shop and stopping bleeding is a strategy that Daphne has been implementing since 2015.

As of June 30, 2017, the group had 4292 stores nationwide.

However, reducing the number of stores is only a cost reduction, and can not improve the sales situation, especially in the domestic women's shoes brand generally can not keep up with the consumer aesthetic today.

It is understood that in the second quarter of 2017, Daphne had the same name.

The growth rate of "Daphne" and "shoe cabinet" in the same store sales in the mainland dropped by 10.2%; in the first half of the year, the same store sales growth rate dropped by 10.7%.

In addition, the group said in its announcement that sales fell due to a sharp decrease in sales and sales of stores during the same period.

The gross profit margin and operating profit margin of the group in the first half of this year are comparable to those of the same period in 2016, but net profit margins have declined.

This is mainly due to a number of temporary balances and tax losses which have resulted in the failure to identify deferred income tax assets.

Perhaps because the performance downturn has been reflected in the stock price, compared with other companies with a negative share of the operating data, the stock price of Daphne's 27 day performance is still "calm".

As of 27, the Daphne closed at HK $0.73, down 1.35%.

Since July, the stock has fallen by 12.05%.

Although the stock price has been in the vicinity of 1 Hong Kong dollars for more than a year, but some investors said at the stock forum that Daphne is very much looking forward to the changes.

Investors' judgment of Daphne will not be groundless.

In fact, compared with the same period in 2016, Daphne's business data has improved in the first half of this year.

On the one hand, the number of stores closed in the first half of this year decreased compared with the 450 stores closed in the same period in 2016. On the other hand, the decline in sales in the same store narrowed slightly. In the second quarter of 2016, Daphne's same store sales fell by 15.9%, while the same store sales in the first half of the year dropped 11.7%.

Plus, Daphne has a lot of new moves in the first half of this year.

Voice in the industry speculated that the turnaround in Daphne's performance may be on the rise.

Reinventing brand image and employing big brand design

In May, Daphne announced that former chairman Chen Yingjie resigned and chief executive Zhang Zhikai served as chairman of the group.

According to Zhitong finance and economics APP, Zhang Zhikai, 36, is the son of Daphne group co founder Zhang Wenyi, and Chen Ying Jie as his cousin.

It joined Daphne in 2003 and is mainly responsible for product R & D, production, procurement and overall management.

According to the HKEx regulation, the role of the president and chief executive officer should be differentiated and should not be held by one person at the same time.

But Daphne said that the two roles, together with Zhang Zhikai, could ensure a unified leadership within the group and make the overall strategy plan more efficient.

After taking office, Zhang Zhikai implemented a series of reform measures to Daphne, including rebuilding the brand image of Daphne.

In the past, Daphne was the main player in the middle - end women's shoes, which was relatively low - age, more nifty and lovable.

As consumers increasingly pursue product personalization today, compared with the unique niche design brand, Daphne's more popular brand style is obviously limited.

Reinventing brand image, including changing logo.

Daphne has adopted a more international and concise English DAPHNE logo to replace the currently representative flower type totem logo.

Meanwhile, Daphne redesigned its store style.

In the past, the main colors of Daphne stores were pink and purple.

According to Zhitong finance and economics APP, the new Daphne flagship store is mainly black, white and gray, with gold lines as embellishment.

In addition, it also changed the past promotion mode, before, Daphne likes to sign first line stars to endorse and shoot advertising posters.

Recently, the group began to cooperate with foreign models, not only from the dependence on star effect to highlight the display of products, but also enhanced the fashion sense of posters.

For Daphne, it is far from enough to replace the Logo or reorganize the store to save consumers' hearts. Only the more personalized and fashionable products are the most important.

You know, in the past, Daphne was most criticized for its lack of innovation and design.

It is understood that Daphne has reorganized its design team and invited Michal Zawadzkl, the designer of many international shoe brands, to serve as vice president of commodity design.

Daphne also launched a cross-border cooperation series with the fashion brand OPENING CEREMONY of the United States.

Cooperative products, including shoes and bags, are designed by OPENING CEREMONY's founder, KENZO's creative director Humberto Leon and Carol Lim.

According to public reports, the two founders of OPENING CEREMONY, during the KENZO creative director, helped KENZO brand pformation and created a fashionable fashion such as tiger head shirt.

The above cooperation series is expected to be launched in Daphne Tmall flagship store and offline Pop Up Store in August and limited sales in selected stores.

Standing at the crossroads

Besides brand and product will have a greater change, there is another concern that is Daphne's sales channels and inventory conditions.

In terms of sales channels, Daphne used the form of Street store in the past, and since 2002, it has been expanding with the speed of setting up hundreds of franchised stores in the mainland every year.

But as competition intensifies and the market is sluggish, many stores become cumbersome.

In recent years, Daphne has been adopting a closed shop strategy, in addition to reducing costs, there is also to reduce the proportion of street shops in the overall retail network, optimize the sales channel portfolio.

In the first half of this year, the number of closed stores decreased considerably compared with the same period in 2016.

This also reflects from the side that Daphne has already reached a certain stage of sorting out offline channels.

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In addition, Daphne also said that it is continuing to force the electricity supplier channel, but its annual report did not disclose the specific sales data of the electricity supplier channel.

In terms of inventory, the group said in its 26 day announcement that the inventory level and stock turnover days of the group declined further because of good progress in clearing inventory in the past quarter.

Perhaps Daphne's self rescue strategy can save its performance and share price.

But the risk still exists. After all, Daphne has been in the minds of consumers for nearly ten years in the past, such as public, exploding, lovable, and so on. Moreover, the lack of novelty and lack of comfort in its products has also created an inherent impression in the minds of consumers.

Change is not done overnight.

In addition, women's shoes have always been a competitive industry. The threshold is not high. Besides the famous international brands and famous brands, there are many independent designer brands. Unless there has been a brand culture recognized by consumers, there will be almost no moat.

When BELLE came out of the news of the delisting, the outside world also wondered whether Daphne would step into its old dust.

Because the paths of the two are very similar, they were once the king of Volkswagen shoes.

Today, BELLE's presence in the Hong Kong stock market has only its backs and sighs.

For Daphne, whose market capitalisation dropped from HK $19 billion 500 million to 1 billion 200 million, I am afraid that time is running out.

More interesting reports, please pay attention to the world clothing shoes and hats net.