Can I.T Group Catch The Hearts Of Young Consumers?

According to the world clothing shoes and hats net, from 1980s in Hongkong

Shen Jiawei and his Levi group, which started with the jeans of "Levi s" jeans, and gained influence from the trend time lag at home and abroad, are now disappearing.

The name has nothing to do with information technology. It is said to come from the initial letter of Income Team: its name has been fulfilled, and its revenue has reached 8 billion Hong Kong dollars last year.

It has more than 10 private brands: izzue, b+ab and AAPE, etc., representing more than 300 tide brands and designer brands, including Off-White, Kenzo and Tsumori Chisato.

As the first to open in the mainland

One of the companies of Select Shop, it now has nearly 70 small I.T (self created brand, medium price foreign high street brand) and nearly 30 big I.T (main designer brand and high price tide card).

One thousand more than two thousand square meters of shops gathered more than a dozen brands, I.T group from the selection of well sold brand shop alone.

What brands do I.T sell and business components? (source: I.T group earnings)

In October 24th, I.T group announced the 2017~2018 financial year semi annual report, which does not look so optimistic.

In 2017 3~8, its total revenue increased by only 0.2%, to HK $3 billion 650 million.

There is good news: the net profit in the half year has increased by 54.7% to HK $60 million 400 thousand.

The increase in profits came mainly from the exchange rate and the improvement of joint ventures, mainly the Department of general Lafayette.

The joint venture, including the Beijing store of Lafayette department store, lost 3 million 890 thousand last year, and this year it made a profit of 4 million 110 thousand.

Although the previous loss has narrowed, this is the first time I.T group has mentioned Lord Buddha's earnings.

In addition, nearly 5 million of the net exchange gains came from the exchange rate, and the corresponding part of last year was a loss.

In the past six months, the market in Hongkong and Macao continued to shrink.

Its total sales in the mainland increased by 7.3%, but almost all of them were driven by new stores, considering that the same store grew by only 0.9% in the same half of the year (the same store sales increased by 4.6% over the same period last year).

That is to say, there are not more consumers to shop in shops that have been operating for more than a year.

This is not a satisfactory result if it is measured from the same store sales and sales.

In the past six months, including the beginning of March and the end of August, the I.T group has made two "Thanksgiving discounts" (also an annual practice). Small I.T will buy three to one or four to one discount after a low discount.

But even this does not allow more people to spend.

It has made some new moves since June. In August, I.T group first had a spokesperson, Wu Yifan, announced that it would open second old Lafayette department stores in mainland China in Lujiazui, Shanghai; in September, it launched the online shopping mall ITeSHOP, and the attempt of "experimental" new retail business -- I.T blue block and zi.ti zi.ti..

I.T group same store sales in past years (data from: I.T financial report)

From the end of September to recently, you can see a series of ads for small I.T brands at b+ab, izzue, 5cm, mini cream and so on at some of the main sites of Shanghai Metro.

It is hard to say that these intensive trends are not due to the slowing growth of the mainland market.

For I.T group, expanding consumer groups, especially in a more popular market, has become extremely urgent and important.

Although it has been close to stars, it was not until two months ago that I.T was the first group spokesperson.

Not long ago, they just opened a new zi.ti zi.ti store in Shenyang and Xuzhou, selling products with lower average price than the main brand of I.T.

Two new brands, GreenishPink and CCAABB, have emerged in this so-called "younger" shop. According to our estimate, the difference between a sweater and the main brands such as izzue and b+ab is about 100~200 yuan.

Chen Huijun, executive director of I.T group and chief executive officer of I.T, said that this is to "bring new brands to customers who used to feel that our products are relatively expensive."

Price (cost performance) is one of the reasons why consumers are questioned about the size of I.T.

In the discussion about what to buy and what is worth buying, I.T has a lot of voice after discount.

This may enable some potential or unfaithful consumers to move to Taobao or Zara, which is less expensive, keeping pace with fashion week and T trend.

Of course, some people think that I.T pricing is more reasonable.

Sharon, a white-collar worker in Guangzhou, said: "it used to be a high price.

Now, its positioning has not changed, but for us, the price is better accepted. "

She thinks this may be related to faster average price rises.

Now, I.T plans to pull in some of the consumers who are away from the price sensitive ones, and even closer to the young consumers who can't afford izzue and other brands through the new brand of "more price conscious".

But a real question is, does I.T really have an edge when the price of the product is closer to the fashion?

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Entering the low tier cities is also a manifestation of expanding consumer groups, which began around 2011.

Over the past two years, it has accelerated the sinking of channels.

In the last fiscal year, I.T group entered Changzhou, Guiyang, Kunming, Ji'nan, Taiyuan, Nanning and Changchun.

In the first half of this year, it entered Xuzhou again.

At present, it has sales outlets in 29 cities, and nearly more than 300 of its six hundred stores are in Shanghai, Beijing.

"At present, our layout in super cities is relatively in place, and we are continuing our shop in the capital cities of the second tier.

In the future, we will work hard in the three or four line cities.

Chen Huijun told reporters.

In these places, I.T is not unknown.

Some consumers have seen I.T in key business circles in the first tier cities.

In Zhangzhou, Fujian, moye, who knows the I.T and its brand from her sister's mouth, will go to Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hongkong when she travels.

Now that I.T has a spokesman for Wu Yifan, who is very hot recently, maybe it will be easier to open these new young markets.

Zi.ti zi.ti store

Before I.T group did not pay attention to the electricity supplier, now the strategy has also changed.

In 2012, it launched the official mall and entered Tmall, but at that time it was just testing water.

In an interview with reporters, Chen Huijun admitted that many products sold by Tmall were off season and played a major role in clearing inventory.

"At that time, the average consumption price of the guests was relatively low. At that time, the guests were not the most consistent with our I.T," he said.

The channel of fashion retailing has changed.

Even proud luxury brands such as Gucci, Givenchy and Dior are offering exclusive products on China's online shopping or social media.

YOHO and Hypebeast have also joined the camp of electric providers in recent years. In 2016, Hypebeast listed in Hongkong; YOHO! Last year's sales volume reached 2 billion yuan.

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Young consumers may spend their time visiting physical stores on cell phones and computers.

Isabella, who works in Shenzhen, says, "there is little shop in the last year."

She's recently used App shopping in Lian and Free People.

She would also go shopping in the size I.T of Hongkong.

Another problem is that the number of consumers choosing Hai Tao is increasing. They can bypass some I.T intermediaries to buy some products of their brand names (although I.T still has channel advantages on some joint limited products).

The China Electronic Commerce Research Center predicts that in 2018, the number of Chinese ocean scouring will reach 35 million 600 thousand, and the scale of the sea scouring will reach 1 trillion yuan.

Under these shocks, the I.T group can not be in no hurry.

Compared with the "test water" five years ago, this year's I.T electricity supplier looks more like that.

It established a logistics center in Kunshan, and invited Giovanni Cirillo, who worked in YOOX and lafovo, to manage the newly established electricity supplier department.

Now, it has opened a separate Tmall store for its brands, such as Fingercroxx, Fred Perry, AAPE and CHOCOLATE, etc. (formerly its brands are clustered under the flagship store of I.T Tmall).

Chen Huijun emphasized that the online and offline businesses will try their best to achieve the same price.

After picking up the electricity supplier again this year, he said, "the momentum is still healthy and steady."

It remains to be seen whether this trend will remain.

In addition to the electricity supplier, everyone is talking about new retail.

I.T group also made some attempts to diversify, for example, it opened a I.T blue block in Hangzhou in July.

The biggest difference between this store and the previous small I.T is that it takes into account the needs of the social media such as consumers taking pictures and uploading friends circle in the interior design. In this shop, it also sells fruit juice (though the clothing brand sells a coffee drink or something, it's not new).

I.T group tried more in Hongkong, where the small I.T also sells 3ce and other brands such as beauty makeup.

In the first half of the year, I.T and Japan's dessert company FLIPPER 'S Pancake agreed to introduce the brand into Hongkong.

It has recently acquired SIFT, a Hongkong dessert brand with 6 stores, and these two initiatives are reminiscent of Chen Huijun's mention of the possibility of introducing restaurants in I.T stores in mainland China.

Whether to update the store design or to introduce catering, these are all aimed at enhancing the experience and attracting visitors to the store.

After all, apart from the discount, most of the small I.T stores are far from Zara or UNIQLO.

I.T blue block indoor

After entering the Chinese mainland market in 2003, for a long time, its "port tide" and "Japanese tide" style led the trend of young people in the first tier cities.

In 2008, there was also commented by the users: "the place that we are dreaming of.

Every time you pass by, you must go in and shake.

Once bought a lot of things... "

However, since then, some consumers have begun to criticize the design of clothes or store services.

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Not long after 2013, it began to suffer the first downturn. China's same store sales stalled, net profit dropped sharply, and total sales growth was the slowest.

Its problems are beginning to appear: failure to grasp the trend change, and no early prediction of the Korean Trend over Japanese and Hong Kong.

At that time, many people regarded it as the "second Esprit", and thought I.T would be on the road of rapid decline and close shop.

After internal adjustment, especially the small I.T brand iteration (reducing Japanese brand and increasing Korean brand), it basically resumed its original growth in the next fiscal year.

I.T group, because of its "multi-level, multi brand, multi-mode" retail mode, and designer brand and some foreign brands, are still close to these old money, and still have a certain competitive advantage.

The speed of information dissemination and the change of channels have weakened the fashion discourse power of I.T.

In the past, I.T has time advantage because the domestic trend is lagging behind.

Young consumers can go to their stores and get "fashionable education", where they can find new brands or buy designs and styles.

Nowadays, Instagram and other social media and fashion bloggers can let consumers know the prevailing trend at the first time.

Some niche brands have grown from local to domestic, and then consumers have begun to sea.

The role of I.T in recommending new brands to consumers has been relatively weakened.

At the same time, competition is intensifying.

When the demand for "the most popular clothing of the season" comes out, consumers choose more.

Zara, domestic brands such as Taiping bird and even Tao brand are also referring to the elements of fashion Pyramid spire, and consumers may choose a faster brand.

Relatively speaking, the I.T group may become passive.

Will the I.T group, which is 30 years old, still catch the hearts of young consumers?

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