The Nordic Clothing Brand'S Revenue Increased By More Than 90%, And The Driving Force Behind It Was Sima

In 2013, Vice President Unit of China National Garment Association Sima Group Sign a cooperation agreement with Marc O'Polo to become the general agent of the brand in China . It is reported that, Sima Mainly responsible for Marc O'Polo's brand development and market expansion in China.

With China Local clothing With the successive rise of brands and the recognition of independent designer brands in the market, the traditional European and American brands are no longer dominant. At this time, a Nordic brand with a history of 51 years can still maintain an annual income growth rate of more than 90% in the fifth year after entering China. What is the driving force behind this brand's success Chinese market Revitalize and maintain rapid development momentum? Recently, Marc was interviewed by the fashion headline reporter Mr. Jin Kejun, CEO of Sima International Business Unit, O'Polo's Chinese partner.

Marc O'Polo by Rolf Lind, G ö te Huss and Jerry O'Sheets was founded in Sweden in 1967, focusing on the liberal philosophy of "following nature", with the purpose of providing consumers with refined and casual clothing and lifestyle.

In 2013, Sima Group signed a cooperation agreement with Marc O'Polo to become the general agent of the brand in China. It is reported that Sima is mainly responsible for Marc O'Polo's brand development and market expansion in China.

The data obtained by Toutiao, Marc O'Polo's annual sales growth rate has remained above 90%. Up to now, the brand has 52 stores in China, which are incorporated into two e-commerce platforms, Tmall and JD, to open online flagship stores.

On August 24, 2018, Marc O‘Polo In Shanghai Xingye Taikoo Hui, China's first image spokesperson conference was held and the environmental protection limited capsule series co branded by the brand and the spokesperson was unveiled. In addition to the spokesperson Zhang Zhilin, Marc Massimo, Global Sales Director of O'Polo Francese、 Jin Kejun, CEO of Sima International Brand Business Department, Zhou Ying, CEO of Xingye Taikoo Hui, and Ma Yun, founder of the "Flying Ant" platform, the first used clothing recycling agency in China, also attended.

From another point of view, star strategy is only the first shot of brand popularity. The most important key is how to make the brand more vigorous and achieve sustainable growth. How to stand out from many European and American brands, Marc O'Polo has opened a new path - the field of "sustainable development".

In recent years, China's apparel market is still in the period of consumerism, and consumers have a strong desire to consume, but their consumption awareness is not mature enough. To some extent, sustainable fashion is regarded as the embodiment of "anti consumerism". With the introduction of "sustainable development" into the global fashion language system, domestic apparel groups have begun to follow this trend, accelerating the promotion of fashion and environmental protection concepts to conquer consumers.

Some analysts said that China's sustainable fashion has started no matter from the perspective of production, consumption or communication. Once people get through the bridge between sustainable fashion and business logic, this concept may be a new opportunity for domestic clothing groups.

It is worth noting that compared with the conservatism and hesitation of other clothing brands, Marc O'Polo took a bold first step. On the same day of the press conference, together with the "Flying Ant" platform, the first used clothing recycling agency in China, launched the "Marc" with the theme of sustainable fashion O'Polo × Zhang Zhilin × Fly Ant "limited co branded series, aiming to convey the new concept of fashion and environmental protection to consumers.

When asked what changes have been made in the strategy of traditional European brands since they entered China, Jin Kejun said that in terms of product structure, Sima International Business Unit has made adjustments according to the special needs of the Chinese market. Marc The proportion of men's and women's wear of O'Polo in most regions of Europe is 40% for men's wear and 60% for women's wear, of which the proportion of women's wear sales is generally as high as 70%. The proportion of men's and women's wear sales in the Chinese market is relatively average, more than 40% and more than 50% respectively.

According to the data released by Euromonitor International, a market research organization, in 2017, the retail sales of the global apparel and footwear market increased by 4% to 1.7 trillion US dollars. Among them, men's clothing and women's clothing increased by 3.7% and 3.3% respectively to US $419 billion and US $643 billion, and the growth rate of men's clothing has exceeded that of women's clothing.

　　Marc O'Polo invited Zhang Zhilin as the brand spokesperson and launched a limited series of men's environmental protection concepts. On the one hand, to attract female fans, on the other hand, it can be seen that in the Chinese market men's wear It will also be a very potential and promising category.

Other data show that China has about 200 million to 400 million new middle classes, which have become the driving force of social development. According to the definition of the middle class by The Economist magazine, this group is well-educated, has a certain amount of leisure time, pursues quality of life, and is distributed in China's major first and second tier cities. The demand for quality products in Chinese society has taken shape.

In view of the growing new middle class in China, Sima Group has been accelerating its layout in recent years Middle and high-end market And build multi brand "moat" through acquisition. Jin Kejun said that the fastest growing consumer in China in recent years is undoubtedly the middle class consumer, and the fashion awareness is gradually awakening, so this group has certain requirements for brand and lifestyle. This group is the main research and service object of Sima Group. Although the acquisition strategy of Sima Group at this stage is still focused on the clothing sector, that is, men's and women's clothing, shoes, clothing, hats and other accessories, but not limited to this field, it also includes other surrounding brands or businesses related to life, such as catering, life and home furnishing. Except Marc In addition to O'Polo, Sima Group also invested 25.5 million yuan to establish a joint venture with South Korea's SISUN Group to introduce IT MICCHA, LEWITT and other Korean brand resources into the Chinese market.

For SISUN Group, the advantages of Sima Group lie in its retail ability and understanding of the Chinese market. After the break in period of cultural differences between the two countries and companies, the Group will now feed back more market conditions to the SISUN Group, so as to better meet the needs of Chinese consumers.

Through this acquisition, Sima Garments will also have a diversified and rich combination of children's clothing brands from the public to high-end positioning, have market access and business capabilities in major markets in Europe and Asia as well as other international markets, and have a global supply chain layout.

For the strategic consideration of brand, the planning of Sima Group is "going out" and "bringing in". In the future, it will continue to introduce more excellent international brands to enrich the shopping choices of domestic consumers. As the purchasing power of Chinese consumers increases, the Group will pay more attention to the layout of the high-end children's wear market. At the same time, Balabala, the children's clothing brand of the Group, has set up international design studios in France and South Korea. At present, it is actively expanding in Russia, the Middle East and other emerging markets. In the United States, the brand has conducted online cooperation with Amazon. In the future, it will not be ruled out that it will extend to offline and open physical stores in the United States.

When asked about the interest and incubation of the International Business Department in the new forces of Chinese independent designers and other industries, Jin Kejun said that in addition to focusing on international brands and markets, Mr. Qiu Qiangqiang, vice chairman of Sima, has participated in the investment of some potential projects. In addition to the designer sector, the Group has also invested in the Internet sector, such as Get, Uncle Kay telling stories, etc.

In the past 20 years, China's role in the global fashion industry has completed the transition from productivity to consumption. At first, China attracted the garment manufacturing industry to the southeast coast with cheap labor and low costs. After the demographic dividend period, China has now become a key market with strong consumption power from a large garment manufacturing country.

Some analysts believe that in the current economically active Chinese market, what sustainable fashion lacks is not mature market conditions, but innovative business models and truly attractive products.

After standing firmly at the leading position of the mass leisure clothing and children's clothing sector, Sima Garments has actively laid out medium and high-end brands, enriched and improved the brand portfolio, and also believes that the Group has made adequate preparations to meet the challenges from capital, management, brand integration and many other aspects.