Market Analysis: China'S Fashion Buyers' Ability To Raise Prices

In recent years, fashion buyer's shops have been growing rapidly, occupying the mainstream area of shopping malls. At the same time, well-known buyer's shops have also suffered losses year after year, which reveals the embarrassment of low flat efficiency of this business.

Expert analysis believes that most of the current buyer's shops are high-end luxury goods, but in the real "personality" taste, it is not in place. Only by focusing on scarcity and balancing cost performance can we win long-term favor.

blowout

The number of stores increased 6 times in five years

China's fashion buyer's shops show a blowout growth. According to a set of data revealed at the 2019 China fashion conference sponsored by China Fashion Designers Association, the number of Chinese buyer's shops has grown from more than 70 to more than 500 over the past five years, an increase of more than six times. The city distribution of buyer's shops also spread from first tier cities such as Beijing and Shanghai to second tier and third tier cities.

Driven by consumption upgrading, young consumers hope to buy more distinctive fashion products. Driven by demand, there are more and more buyers. Compared with department stores, the layout of goods in the buyer's shop is relatively flexible, and the rental capacity is higher, which gradually becomes the substitute of the main stores in the shopping mall. This trend is particularly obvious in the Beijing market. For example, Hanguang department store launched Hangang select store this year, mainly domestic designer brands; blue harbor also introduced luxury goods buyer's shop this year, with world-class stores in the West; Xidan old Foye department store introduced brand direct sales counter, but also set up a number of buyer areas on the second, third and fourth floors; last year, Beijing SKP added new "SKP home select" on the fifth floor of Beijing SKP, enriching the "SKP" self-employed buyer shop Select "category.

The head of a buyer's shop in Beijing's international trade area told the Beijing Business Daily that consumers want to spend relatively little money to buy personalized and high-quality clothing, but fast fashion brands tend to bump into each other and the quality is average, and luxury brands are too expensive. Consumers who are more sensitive to the fashion and style are more willing to choose a buyer's shop. In addition, in the source channel of buyer's shop, many experienced buyers have established a good cooperation relationship with fashion brands overseas. Overseas minority brands hope to enter the Chinese market through the buyer's shop and online celebrities. Both sides will win-win in terms of operating costs and exploring the market.

bottleneck

Low plateau efficiency often loses money

On the one hand, the buyer's shop has become the "new favorite" of shopping malls, on the other hand, it is also facing business difficulties.

Recently, Joyce boutique group, a boutique buyer in Hong Kong, announced its restructuring plan. Once the restructuring takes effect, Joyce boutique's listing status will be revoked. It is worth noting that Joyce boutique has suffered losses for four consecutive years, totaling nearly HK $200 million.

Meanwhile, the Shanghai store of 10 Corso Como, an Italian boutique, was closed at the end of May, withdrawing from the Chinese market. Industry experts said that the failure of 10 Corso Como in China was related to the loss of its operations for successive years. The rent pressure of prime location, localization positioning dislocation and the retail business model in China are all the reasons for its failure in the Chinese market.

Ren Li, a business expert, said that the frequent news of the closure and acquisition of fashion buyer's shops means that the buyer's shop is facing transformation. "High end stores should not focus on the scarcity of buyers; otherwise, there should be no significance for the existence of luxury stores."

In addition, the development of e-commerce also makes the homogenization of fashion products more obvious, and homogenization will increase the customer acquisition cost and reduce the conversion rate of customer flow. Under such dual pressure, the operation of the buyer's shop is under unprecedented threat.

Hong Tao, a professor at Beijing business and Business University, believes that Chinese consumers are used to shopping around. Nowadays, the products introduced by fashion buyers tend to focus on high-end luxury goods. It is not in line with the traditional domestic consumption concept and it is difficult for fashion buyers to build competition barriers in the absence of price advantage.

Lai Yang, executive vice president of Beijing Society of business economics, also believes that the promotion of consumption power is the best condition for cultivating buyer's shops. The active purchasing power accelerates the incubation of buyer's shops, but the improvement of consumption power does not mean that the products of buyer's shops must be high. "If the price of goods in the buyer's shop is too high, many consumers will just look at it and not buy it. While emphasizing individuality and experience, buyers' shops should also pay attention to the cost performance of their products, "says Lai Yang.

choice

Don't homogenize "personality"

The reporter learned in the interview that the brand of the buyer's shop is becoming increasingly small and diversified.

For example, many famous brands, such as alamrart and mrart / MR, have been brought into fashion by many famous brands such as alamrart and Mr. At the same time, most of the new brands of Hanguang are bought from Hanguang department stores. There are also many stores in Beijing, such as the stores of curitys and stores in Europe_ De, E8 by miista, etc., these brands appear in the push of some fashion bloggers.

In this regard, Ren Li believes that some buyers are out of the market, and the "blank market" will be a new market to be developed for the buyers and independent designers in transition. From the point of view of the market, designers are in a weak position. Independent designers, new designers and buyer's shop customers have some common characteristics. Designer brands enter the market through the buyer's shop, which also reduces the cost of "admission" to a certain extent. For designer brands, entering the buyer's shop is also one of the important ways to explore the market.

At the same time, the reporter also noted that the goods sold by the above-mentioned buyer's shops are not only limited to fashion clothes, but also cover a wide range of categories. For example, SKP select has international high-end men's and women's wear, designer's works, shoes, jewelry, accessories and home furnishings; besides selling women's clothing, hanguan select also has accessories, accessories and home furnishings; and look Store specializes in women's clothing, jewelry and backpacks.

Some analysis points out that under the background of increasingly fierce competition and consumers' preference for many changes, how to compete for more market share through consumption experience and products and services that are more in line with the demand of segmentation will become the key to win. The supply chain of buyer's shop can also create good operation momentum. Ren Li believes that the rise of young domestic designers is providing a rich product channel for buyers. In particular, the brand should reconstruct the supply chain, promote the transformation of business model, and establish joint purchasing among retail enterprises to break the market closure caused by regional agent manufacturing.