During The Epidemic, The Designer'S "Self Rescue" Plan

Despite China's efforts to defend itself, the new crown epidemic is heading for a better direction, but the fashion industry has been hit hard. For most luxury goods that are honored by serving customers, it is especially hard for them. Many fashion companies have announced their market expectations in 2020.

The state has begun to pay attention to the difficulties of many small businesses, and has been helping the small bosses on the brink of collapse while resisting epidemic. But at this time, simply waiting for the country to launch is obviously far from being able to hydrolyze near thirsty. How to "save oneself" has become a top priority for Chinese designer brands.

In fact, as the whole world economic operation mode has been affected by changes in sales channels and consumption habits, it has embarked on a completely different road. More and more brands and designers have realized that many of their previous experiences are becoming obsolete at the naked eye. Online sales, webcast live with goods, net red with goods...... Too many new things test designers who have focused on making products before. They saw the great crisis in the economic transformation that swept the globe. They also understood that we must quickly self adjust and seize the opportunity. In the domestic market, some designer brands have begun to adjust the brand management mode and try to get rid of their inherent thinking.

Recently, everyone is taking the story of SARS, Ctrip and Jingdong in the 2003 SARS. Is it possible that the epidemic will also become a catalyst for major changes in the domestic designer's brand?

Today we have invited 5 designers to see how they plan to deal with this hard fought battle against their different brand positioning.

Bronze Lucia

Designer: Lucia

The sudden new coronavirus seems to have disrupted the pace of Bronze Lucia in 2020, but this is not the case.

2019 is the year of Bronze Lucia's straight growth: 6 joint and 23 show shows, 9 brand offline activities, 378 micro-blog exposures, 236 other online platforms showing, 203 stars showing up and 645 single products showing up, with a total exposure of 280 million.

In July 2018, Bronze Lucia settled in Taobao and opened Tmall flagship store in August 2019. At present, Taobao has 4 direct line shops, Taobao and Tmall have sales channels at Temple library and LOOK App. Designer Lucia said: "at the beginning of the establishment of the brand, we formulated a strategic guideline for online and offline sales channels to go hand in hand. When the outbreak came, our team had been meeting, making timely adjustments and increasing the intensity of online channels." More than two years' experience in online sales has accumulated a certain number of fans for Bronze Lucia. This has also become the basis for today's Bronze Lucia to get ahead.

Bronze Lucia will launch 6 joint plans in different directions in spring, summer, autumn and winter. Lucia said that the joint plan originally started in 2020 has already been put into effect initially. However, due to the impact of the epidemic, it has all been postponed. "We held and participated in 9 brand line activities in 2019, including the joint PLAYLOUNGE's offline flash, the joint AnyShop's offline designers meeting, and so on. If there is no epidemic situation, there will be 4 offline activities to meet with Bronze Lucia program, but now the line is completely stagnant. We plan to turn the exhibition mode to online. Because our team is mostly young people, since 2019, we have begun to live in this form, and live in Taobao and Tmall every week. Bronze Lucia also participated in the 2020 Temple library online fashion week. In February 19th, we also broadcast live on LOOK. I myself appeared, and the effect was very good. At the same time, in 2019, I also developed the brand public number to the direction of the media. At present, I have released 13 vlog, so we still have certain strength on this part of the Internet.

Lucia also said that regardless of whether the fashion week is scheduled to be held, Bronze Lucia will invite all buyers to watch the products through the Internet in March. Currently, the online fashion week and the one to one video display in the buyer group are being considered.

Because the original joint plan was postponed, after the Spring Festival came back, the Bronze Lucia team began to make poster against the epidemic, and published the front page of the shop on its own line, and also launched the expression pack to fight the epidemic. In addition, they have been updating the illustrations of the epidemic in the official media.

"For us, we ran very fast in 2019, and we originally planned to open independent offline stores by the end of this year. This sudden situation is something we all do not want to see. Although there are many problems ahead, this is not a bad thing for the team, and everything will not be plain sailing. This is also a reminder to us that brands need to have enough risk resistance capabilities. In the future, we will adjust some of them, such as capital flows, and make preparations for unexpected situations ahead of time.

　 Zhou Sheng CHAU. RISING

Designer: Liu Chaoying

In 2017, designer Liu Chaoying founded CHAU RISING in Shenzhen. Its core is to use the most luxurious diamond grade fiber to make fashionable cashmere products. Due to the particularity of cashmere products, the annual autumn and winter ordering season in March is particularly important for Chau. The arrival of the epidemic will be a great blow to the brand of chosing such a brand with autumn and winter as the main selling season. However, based on the mature R & D chain and good sales cooperation, the company will have the confidence and ability to tide over the crisis.

Generally speaking, Chau will carry out the research and development of product color and yarn in the next year from June to October each year, and will finish the research in October and February next year. The designer Liu Chaoying said that the development of cashmere in 2021 and autumn has now been completed by 80%. Although the epidemic is serious, Chau's R & D progress has not been greatly affected.

At present, Shanghai Fashion Week show and order will be postponed. It will still have some influence on Chau rise. "Delay is on the one hand, on the other hand, customers can not go out, but whether or not we can successfully place orders in April, we will conduct one to one video ordering for customers who can not reach the scene." This is not the first time that Shenzhen has adopted such an order mode. "Our company is in Shenzhen. For the Northeast customers, the cost of on-site ordering is very high. Some of our customers in Shandong have a round-trip cost of up to ten thousand yuan. Our sales relationship with our customers has lasted for a long time, and our customers are familiar with our sales version. Video ordering is a good choice for customers who can not be there.

In addition, Liu Chaoying also talked about the possible impact of the epidemic on the future: "many customers buy the products of spring and summer, but consumers can not go to stores, the goods are backlog, resulting in the reduction of funds used to buy autumn and winter products, and buyers will make more targeted orders, which reduces the order quantity of the brand, leading to the start of autumn and winter funds. In spite of the good capital reserves of Chau, but taking into account the pressure of buyers, we will increase the number of orders and make multiple orders to replenish the goods so as to relieve the pressure of buyers.

Liu Chaoying also told us: "in fact, the proportion of sales channels under the rising online and offline routes is very different, and the number of channels under the line is 90%. The sales performance of Wuhan stores is very impressive on the one or two day before the new year, but fortunately, the customers have their own operation ability. Some customers who have done well in media, live broadcast, jitter, and social marketing have not been greatly affected. The outbreak made stagnation of fixed sales, such as general merchandise stores, stagnant, but it was less effective for Chau and our customers.

Despite the fact that the sales of Chau rose well, Liu Chaoying still believes that all channels outside the offline stores should be emphasized. She said she would try to build up her own fans community in the future, so that fans could participate in interaction and enjoy welfare in the community.

　　 YES BY YESIR

Designer: Ye Qian

In 2019, YES BY YESIR opened 6 brand Direct stores nationwide. Up to now, YES BY YESIR has 12 BY brand stores in 10 cities including Beijing, Chengdu, Nanjing, Wuhan, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hangzhou and Shanghai. The epidemic is particularly damaging for brands such as YES BY YESIR, which own a large number of offline sales channels.

Ye Qian said that due to the delay or even cancellation of Shanghai fashion week, the 2020 autumn winter fashion conference of YES BY YESIR was cancelled, but the order of YES BY YESIR will be held in April. Shanghai fashion week two times a year is the most important selling season for designers, buyers and other circles. The brand's performance in fashion week will greatly affect the sales volume of the whole quarter. "We need to do a good job in the reception and arrangement of one to one buyers. The current situation is that all brands in China are deeply affected, and this year is a special year.

The preparations for the 2020 autumn and Winter Conference were cancelled, and he had to seek another exhibition channel. Ye Qian, who is not familiar with live, video and other online display channels, must now go deep into research. He thinks that when choosing the online display, the brand should seriously consider how to display the product characteristics more directly to the audience, seize and meet the needs of consumers and buyers, maximize the function of online display. But for Ye Qian, no matter whether it is live broadcast or elaborate video, it is far from buyers or consumers directly to see the product directly.

Fortunately, due to the YES BY YESIR own factory, the order and production schedule plan has not been disrupted. As of now, YES BY YESIR can still maintain the delivery task of buying the order on time. Through the epidemic, Ye Qian also said that in the future, he would work out a more flexible and orderly work plan: "advance the development cycle, so that there may be more time to deal with all kinds of contingencies that affect daily life and work."

　 Angs

Designer: Da La

Angs, founded in 2005, is the design studio of jewelry designer Lanxiao (Wang Qian) and Dala (Zhang Shaofei). Early Angs provided product design services for traditional jewelry brands such as SWAROVSKI, I Do and LAN. Until 2010, Angs decided to start independent operation.

Da La told us: "this epidemic can be said to disrupt all the plans of Angs in early 2020. Normally, the Spring Festival and Valentine's day after the Spring Festival are the two time nodes in the jewelry market demand. Especially this year's Spring Festival and Valentine's day are relatively open on the date. However, due to the impact of the epidemic, China is in a relatively sensitive period. For brands, we need to be more careful in deciding when to promote and publicize. We are tentatively scheduled to launch new products in March.

Despite the impact of the release plan, Angs's online sales experience has played a huge role at this time. In 2013, Angs opened its own Tmall store, which has been in existence for 7 years. "The sales ratio of Angs online and offline is about 7 to 3," Da La said. "Our starting point in e-commerce is relatively early, and today we have a relatively mature business model." At the end of 2019, Angs began to try to broadcast such an exhibition. Although there was no great expectation at the beginning, the live broadcast became one of the ways that most designers recognized the brand. "Live broadcasting is actually more accurate than other modes of electronic commerce. Angs receives feedback after trying to live broadcast, and is also looking forward to communicating with its fans in the future in the future."

In the face of the current shortage of factory recovery rates, Da La said that Angs would make specialized statistics based on the sales volume of each quarter, so as to estimate the order quantity of each quarter and prepare stock in advance, so Angs's inventory is still ample, and it is not affected by insufficient capacity. Rich online sales experience and detailed analysis of quarterly data helped Angs smooth through this difficult period. But for the uncertain future, Angs still chose to respond positively. Dala told us: "what Angs needs to do now is to expand channels of promotion in the future, increase exposure and traffic, and we will continue to expand our sales channels and customers. Some group buying and welfare activities will be organized in the future.

　　 Triple tipsy

Designer: River

Triple tipsy was born in a London pub. Three designers and friends who graduated from central Saint Martin and London Fashion Institute Co founded this interesting, relaxed and cheerful designer jewelry brand. In January 12, 2020, triple tipsy launched a new line of Party under the new line in Shanghai. In addition to launching the new triple tipsy2020 series, the event also prepared wine, food, interactive games and generous gifts, and received good feedback.

Designer River told us: "triple tipsy originally expected to launch two new series after the Spring Festival, and also released the form of Party under the line. However, affected by the epidemic, the next season's new product release had to be postponed, and the offline release was not possible."

Triple tipsy's current sales channels include proprietary WeChat applets, little red books, Taobao, online and offline buyer shops. River said: "at present, we are not in a good position under the offline buyer's shop. The sales volume is greatly affected. We will shift our sales focus to online channels in the first half of 2020, and do activities to stimulate consumption in VIP customers. At the same time, online live with cooperative shops.

Despite the fact that triple tipsy's experience in sales and marketing is not very rich, timely strategic adjustment has made the brand crisis a lot easier. For the jewelry brand, the new product release time node has a very direct impact on sales volume. Triple tipsy postponed the new series that was originally planned before Valentine's day to May 20th. At the same time, summer is the hot season for jewelry. This adjustment can help the brand avoid losses.

So far, River believes that the biggest problem is sales. The rising cost and low settlement price make the cash flow somewhat tense, but triple tipsy has been trying to widen its promotion and sales channels. "Although this period is rather difficult, the team has been trying to overcome these difficulties and adjust the brand strategy, and we will learn some lessons from the impact of the epidemic."

In the special period, the brand should promptly communicate internally according to the development of the epidemic situation, and adjust the development strategy in the future. While speeding up the expansion of brand online display, promotion and sale channels, we should make full use of existing offline channels and actively cooperate with buyers and partners to negotiate replenishment plans. Affected by the epidemic, the flow of core consumer funds has been reduced. It is estimated that the effect of 2020 autumn and winter ordering is not as good as in previous years. The brand should replan the next quarter products according to the needs of consumers and make full preparations.

For designer brand, rich market experience is as important as being able to make timely adjustments. Designers should learn from this crisis and draw up more mature research and development, release, promotion and sale models, strengthen risk awareness, make contingency plans, and enhance the ability of brands to cope with emergencies.