British hipster brand NEW LOOK starts to embrace China

Anders Kristiansen is a hard worker who likes to roll up his sleeves. As the British fashion brand NEW LOOK global CEO, his performance recovery since he took office is more proof of this. From 2011 to 2012, NEW LOOK global sales fell 2% to 1.5 billion pounds, while the UK market's year-on-year sales fell by 5.7%. This turmoil continued until January 7, 2013, when Anders took office. According to the results report released by NEW LOOK, as of the first 7 weeks of December 28, 2013, NEW LOOK's UK market sales grew by 2.9%, same-store sales increased by 1.5%, during which time the Group’s overall sales increased by 2.6%, including e-commerce sales performance. Outstanding, an increase of 62%.

On February 28th, 2014, the cold and chilly, the 45-year-old, thin and tall Danish man was walking around in the NEW LOOK store in Beijing Guorui Shopping Mall, preparing to deliver another fast-track record for his last CEO in 14 months: In one year, he entered the Chinese market and opened the first two new stores in Beijing and Shanghai, China. A decent, dark blue suit, fast-paced Anders is a detail control, he hopes that the store will be able to welcome the first batch of Chinese guests in the most perfect image. As he talked, he pulled the media to the hanger and pointed out that the small daisy pattern and lace material used in this jacket were popular elements. “I was born into a retail family, my parents opened a store, and my uncle has a clothing store. Since I was a child, I started to help in the store. I am very happy to be able to return to the fashion industry now.” He told Global Entrepreneurs. Excited eyes reveal a sincere love of the fashion industry.

The performance of Chinese consumers did not disappoint Anders. At the moment when Beijing Guorui Shopping Center Store officially announced its business, the crowd at the entrance of the mall swarmed in and the 300-square-meter store was instantly occupied. The same day, Shanghai's Longmeng Shopping Center opened a 500-square-meter store with more than 7,000 people on a Saturday.

Tide Brand Although NEW LOOK was debuted in China for the first time, it has more than 500 stores in the UK, and 44% of British women bought things in the brand, which is considered by 30% of consumers as the favorite fashion brand. Its fur coat, large "boyfriend" jacket and various types of boots are popular in the UK.

According to Kantar Worldpanel, a well-known consumer market research company, NEW LOOK has become the UK's second-largest clothing retail company for women under 39 with its 5.8% market share. Its jeans and footwear sales in the UK have even surpassed sales of Zara's similar products, the world's largest fashion retail brand. The British royal family also became the brand's best customer spokesperson. Princess Beatrice of England was photographed through a skirt of NEW LOOK priced at £34.99. Princess Zara Philips passed a NEW LOOK maternity dress.

However, this British clothing retail giant, originally developed by Tom Singh's fashion store founded in 1969 in the town of Taunton in Somerset, England, has not always performed well. In fact, it has just experienced an extremely turbulent three years. During the Christmas season of 2010, the profits of heavy snow fell by 3.4%. Then, the sales of some stores decreased by 9.1% in 15 weeks. In March 2011, Carl McPhail, the then-global CEO, announced his departure. Founder Tom Singer, who has not participated in day-to-day management, had to act as a transitional executive**.

At the end of 2012, NEW LOOK searched for Anders, who was then vice president of Bestseller China. Anders spent more than 5,500 stores in China within 18 months of his appointment, making him the largest fashion retailer in China. It was against this background that only Alistair McGeorge, the chairman of NEW LOOK, spent only six weeks and decided to hire Anders as the global CEO. Afterwards, Alistair McGeorge told the British media, “He was born to be retail.” For Anders, NEW LOOK is in a difficult moment and is full of challenges. “I think I can change it. Now it looks like I It does a good job."

“Before listening, you need to know where the problem is,” said Anders. In the first few weeks of his appointment, he kept talking to all the company's employees, from management to clerk. After that, he realized the crux of the problem: NEW LOOK was originally selling products, not branding. Anders knows how important a brand is and knows what to do. NEW LOOK spent a great deal of time and energy turning his attention to women's fashion. In order to reshape the brand, NEW LOOK put forward the concept of “everything is omnipresent, refuses to be the same”, and increased the design style so that customers can change their shapes in 365 days.

“Fashion companies must have everyone understand fashion.” This is Anders's creed, so he made a lot of changes to the company's staff, replaced the people who do not understand fashion, and in the United Kingdom set up a 300-person design The team of engineers is designed day and night to ensure that there are 150 items that combine the latest trends every week. Anders himself often not only works with designers, he also pays attention to fashion trends in his trip to Miami and Tokyo. He also likes to go shopping with his family and learn about consumers from the preferences of his wife and daughter. He also found an important phenomenon, when NEW LOOK men's share was only 4%, competitors have a 20% or even 50% share of the men's market. To this end, he began to increase the proportion of men's clothing.

Not only are there great products, the channels are also very important. Shortly after Anders took office, he opened an official e-commerce website and started cooperation with ASOS, a British fashion website, to extend his reach to a broader overseas. In fact, 65.1% of consumers who bought NEW LOOK on ASOS came from outside the UK.

"He made a lot of changes. Including large-scale savings plans to maintain a healthy cash flow. If you have to spend money on the one hand, you have to save money on the other and have to look more closely at the details of the budget." NEW LOOK China General Manager Jane Jan Olsen said that he is a close working partner for Anders. Anders also upgraded the 145 stores of NEW LOOK, including one quarter of the UK market, four international stores and six new stores. And after three years of planning, the other stores will be remodeled. On the other hand, he reduced the number of stores in the UK market from 590 to more than 500.

From March 2012 to March 2013, NEW LOOK's financial report showed pre-tax profit of 3.1 million pounds. Although profit was low, it was finally saved from the loss of 54.5 million pounds in the previous fiscal year.

Embrace China "It was too slow before the company." Anders analysis said, "I decided to decorate the store tomorrow, but the company will say a month later, you need to make plans. If you want to become fast fashion, you must quickly, Very stylish."

Fast, but also reflected in the speed of opening stores in China. Previously, in addition to the United Kingdom, NEW LOOK also has nearly 600 stores in Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia, but this brand has been more than 40 years of history but has not entered China. In his research at the beginning of his term of office, Anders found that the most popular voice in the company is "We should enter China." The board of directors all know that China is a very big market, but they have been hesitant to invest a lot of money. "My background convinced the board that things are not that difficult," Anders said. Before Anders worked in China for 10 years, lived in Shanghai for 8 years, and lived in Beijing for 2 years. With his understanding of the Chinese market, Anders decided not to take joint ventures in markets such as India, but to invest in a single venture to obtain stronger and more efficient decision-making power.

Finding a competent manager in China is the top priority. Undoubtedly, Jane Olsen, the partner at the time of the show, is the perfect candidate. He spent 4 years in China and has extensive international retail experience. It is not easy to negotiate with the Chinese, but he knows what to do. Although China is a huge market, the field of fast fashion is definitely a Red Sea. In addition to the internationally renowned brands such as H&M and ZARA, domestic brands such as Eurospower and Metersbonwe are also growing. NEW LOOK is known as "the most cost-effective fashion brand" in the UK, but H&M's business philosophy is also to "provide fashion and quality at the best price". H&M has 160 interior designers and 100 pattern-makers. Therefore, NEW LOOK enters the Chinese market, in addition to pursuing a "faster, more fashionable" industry competition concept, but also need to highlight its own differentiated positioning, and identify China's market demand.

“We have a lot of products in the shoes, accessories and clothes category, and they are very popular. What kind of products to choose in China and what is the best product range for the consumers here?” Jane Olson recalled that they were The problems faced. To solve this problem, NEW LOOK started researching the Chinese market very early. Jane Olsen was sent to China on April 5th, 2013. An employee responsible for the research has arrived earlier than he.

The results of the survey show that many types of products are not suitable for China, such as the open-air outfit that reveals underwear, large-size clothing, maternity wear, and water-washed products that are sold in British stores. In the selection of these products, the sales team will also participate. “Our sales team is Chinese, and we will consider these factors.” Sun Qiujin, Marketing Manager of China, told Global Entrepreneurs.

Version is another problem to be solved. Chinese women are generally petite than European women. To this end, NEW LOOK redesigned a complete set of models. “We are the largest jeans retailer in the UK. In order to continue the excellent sales of jeans in the UK, we have modified the jeans. Other products have also done similar treatments, such as shorter skirts and shoulders on tops.” Narrow," Jane Olson said.

The designers also designed some products for the special needs of the Chinese market. European women rarely wear down jackets, but in China this is an important single product. So NEW LOOK researchers began to investigate what kind of down jacket Chinese women are wearing today, what kind of texture, what is the filling material, what kind of fabric. Anders personally participated in the design of this project to ensure that he can provide more kinds of coats in China.

NEW LOOK accelerated its pace as soon as it entered China. After the opening of two stores in Beijing Guorui and Shanghai Longzhi on February 28, two stores in Shanghai Metro City and Jinqiao International Commercial Plaza opened one after another on March 1, and plans to open in eight cities. 11 stores.

NEW LOOK did not follow the usual shop opening cadence. It did not first penetrate into a regional market, nor did it operate thousands of square meters of flagship stores. The stores that are currently open have a size of 300 to 500 square meters. Jane Olson said NEW LOOK's consideration: “We are truly fast fashion brands, we want speed, especially at the beginning of the stage of entering the market. In the first year we wanted to try something wrong and wanted to see if different sites would meet. What kind of result?"

There are no flagship stores with thousands of square meters, and it is not unrelated to the major locations where major clothing brands occupy large shopping centers and department stores. Nevertheless, these sites have also been carefully considered. Jane Olson took three Shanghai stores as an example. Dragon Dream Shopping Center in Zhongshan Park in Shanghai is a transportation hub with an annual flow of more than 15 million people. Jinqiao International Commercial Plaza is a local community where shoppers are nearby residents. The main consumer group in Metro City is university girls. Similar to Jinqiao, people who go shopping in Metro City are used to buying things there. “The current traffic volume of Metro City is higher than we expected. Efficient supply chain can make up for the store is not a particularly big issue, and 150 different designs are rotated very quickly each week.” He said.

NEW LOOK will also replicate its success in the use of e-commerce in the UK and cooperate with Tmall Mall to open e-commerce. But before that, Anders believes, "We have 6 to 9 months of physical sales to grasp the preferences of Chinese consumers." In November 2013, NEW LOOK launched its ASOS China e-commerce platform in cooperation with the UK. Wang Shuqun, general manager of ASOS China, has extensive experience in e-commerce. She once served as vice president at 360buy and Vanke. Under her leadership, the sales volume of ASOS that had been on-line for four months reached 26 million baht from the end of November 2013 to February 2014. According to Wang Xiqun, this is a very good result for a website that has only four months on the line. Another US fast fashion brand that has already sold well in domestic physical stores has been online for more than three years at Tmall Mall, plus double 11 sales. In 2013, it also had sales of only 30 million.

Differentiation According to data provided by Lv Huang, a partner and managing director of Boston Consulting Group, the casual apparel market, including fast fashion, has reached an overall size of 400 billion baht in 2014. The proportion of shoes accounts for 40% of the total annual growth rate. It reaches 14%. It is expected to maintain a 12% annual growth rate in the coming years. The clothing brand is a very fragmented industry. Usually a brand has a market share of only 2% and 3%. The market share of two or three brands increases does not mean that other brands will decline significantly.

However, several fast fashion brands have not relaxed the pace of opening stores. In 2007, the number of H&M stores in China, the Spanish fast-fashion brand, was close to 150 in China. The number of stores in Gaibu also expanded from 4 in June 2011 to more than 70 today.

"Our strategy is to differentiate," said Jane Olson.

The biggest advantage of NEW LOOK is that 150 new products that incorporate the latest fashion are listed every week. The frequency of other brands is generally two months. To this end, NEW LOOK has expanded its annual series from 4 to 6 to 8. The design team has a cycle concept when planning. From the time the product enters the store until it no longer appears in the store, it is a cycle, which is about 8 weeks. There are about 6 series in 52 weeks a year. "Some series will have shorter periods, so sometimes there will be 8 series each year." Jane Olson said. There is a casual series “California Dream” for sale in NEW LOOK China store.

The overall mix is ​​a way NEW LOOK advocates, that is to say, all clothes sold by NEW LOOK can find matching shoes in the store. In the NEW LOOK UK store, the proportion of shoes and pants accounts for 30%, and in China store shoes account for 15% to 20%. "This allows us to easily distinguish from other fast fashion brands," said Jane Olson.

There are few basic types of NEW LOOK. "We are aiming at the trend but we can't afford T-stage clothing and customers who like to mix and match." Anders explained. But even fashion money, NEW LOOK marked the price is very low. A clerk confirmed that there were few clothes over 400 yuan in the entire store. A coat is priced 249, and in Zara, H&M these fast fashion brands, a coat is usually priced at 499 yuan, 599 yuan, 699 yuan.

However, NEW LOOK's price is not the cheapest compared to some of the cheaper Chinese local brands. On the day of the opening of the Beijing Guorui Shopping Mall, several women who had come together and were about 30 years old had whispered about high prices after seeing the price tag. Jane Olson explained that NEW LOOK is positioned in fast fashion but does not represent cheap clothes. “We will not tell consumers that we have a low price with 99 yuan for T-shirts and 199 yuan for pants.” Such an impression would hurt the brand. NEW LOOK hopes that after the customer has bought it, he will feel that the brand's products are of good quality and good value for money. “You may not believe that we have a lot of products that are produced locally in the UK. The cost will be higher, but the quality is too important.” Anders picks up a skirt as an example.

At the opening of Beijing's first store, Daisy prints, Indian motifs, and other designs were displayed on the shelves in eight pieces. Two rows of glass shelves were filled with different styles of shoes. This is what Anders wanted. Effect: 1000 yuan to create a fashionable style of your favorite, and the next day will not regret because of quality problems. However, for the details of the control, there are still many places that need improvement. He walks to the side of the shoe rack and points out that 60 cm of space between the shoe rack and the corner is "space wasted." "Here, see it is not flat. ?" He bent over and pointed to the bottom of a lattice showing the partition. Usually, Anders is used to not random inspections to check in various stores. He is more willing to go to the scene to discover the problems that cannot be seen on the report. Sometimes, he will become a “spy” in other fast-fashion brand stores and observe how others are doing business while shopping with his family. Seeing that some fashion brands collect customer e-mail addresses and send new product information, he will immediately call the person in the relevant department and let NEW LOOK use this method as soon as possible.

In the annual fashion index list released by the dressipi.com website in the United Kingdom, NEW LOOK has surpassed the world’s largest fast fashion brand Zara to become the “Britain's most popular fast fashion brand”. Dressipi.com conducted a six-month survey of 10,000 women. The results showed that 24% of the respondents' favorite fast fashion brands were NEW LOOK, followed by H&M and Topshop. The votes were all 23%.

According to Jane Olson, NEW LOOK's differentiated positioning in China has been effective since its inception, and each category has had good results. Sales of casual wear, jeans, tights and other categories were all better than expected, with the best sales being skirts. This performance is not accidental, but because all products are selected by the Chinese. For Anders, China, which has lived for 10 years, will once again become his most important place of work. “I will fly to China once every 6 to 8 weeks,” he said.