I.T Hongkong Trend Group Launches "Unpaid Leave Plan"

Recently, according to Hongkong media reports, Shen Jiawei, founder of Hongkong trend group I.T, recently announced layoffs in the company, and launched the "unpaid leave plan" to save costs for the company. It is reported that I.T announces to employees by e-mail that it will implement "unpaid leave" for all employees between February and March.

Public reports show that since August 2019, the I.T group has laid off more than 300 people. Meanwhile, according to the latest earnings report issued by I.T in January 20th, the sales volume of I.T in Hongkong and Macao decreased by 33.3% over the 3 months ended November 30, 2019, while the same store sales in mainland China decreased by 5.2% compared with the same period last year, while sales in the same stores in Japan and the United States decreased by 6.1% over the same period last year.

According to the announcement, the gross profit margin of the group dropped to 62.3%, the gross profit margin in Hong Kong and Macao was reduced to 58.6%, the gross profit margin in mainland China increased to 61.5%, and the gross profit margin in Japan and the United States was 69.5%.

The decline in performance, layoffs and streamlining of spending have shown that I.T is in a poor state and is facing challenges like the entire retail sector in Hongkong. But compared with some enterprises that only have market in Hongkong, in 2002, I.T opened the first flagship store in Shanghai Xintiandi except Hongkong. Up to now, there are more than 500 direct retail outlets in the country's more than 30 second tier cities.

On line, in 2017, I.T reinstalled the official electronic business platform ITeSHOP, and then officially entered WeChat to launch a small program. At the marketing level, I.T, who was ambitious for the mainland market, announced in 2017 that Wu Yi fan, one of the top streams, became the first spokesman.

Even so, the downward trend of I.T is still evident, and earnings performance is unstable. The reporter noted that in the past two years, I.T has had inflection points in 2018 and in the first half of 2019. "The price is not dominant, the fashion shop is incomplete, the shopping experience is poor", this is the reporter's "Tucao" noticed by the reporters in the relevant message area.

It is not yet clear whether we can find our own position under the great opportunity of the rising tide of youth culture, but it is certain that I.T is changing.

When the "unpaid leave plan" came out, it was reported that Shen Jiawei, the founder of the company, was interested in letting her daughter Shen Yue take over so as to inject more fresh blood into the company. In the Chinese market, which is bundled with stars and fashion, as the daughter of famous film actress Chingmy Yau and Shen Jiawei, Shen Yue, who was selected to participate in the Paris Prom dance, can bring a certain amount of traffic to I.T regardless of succession. But traffic is both an opportunity and a test.