Why Clothing Brand Agents Are Abandoned Repeatedly

When the Chinese market has become the main profit growth point of international brands, the big brands began to abandon the agents and explore the huge cake of China in a deeper penetration way. They are more willing to open direct stores to enter China's first tier cities at this time, and brand agency rights have been withdrawn. As a matter of fact, not only international brands, but also domestic brands that have established direct stores without agents have emerged in endlessly. a clothing agent once jokingly said to the brand business that the product belongs to you and the customer belongs to you. After several years of busy work, it is found that even "I" belongs to you. I really don't know if my weight is just a few outlets and dozens of shelves in your eyes? What's my tomorrow when the contract is signed year by year? Now, brand companies have simply terminated their contracts, and the list of brands gradually withdrawing their agency rights this year has a long list: Zegna, coach, Loewe, Montblanc They got rid of agents and expanded. These agents who help foreign brands open up the Chinese market seem to have a bleak future. In mid September, Chlo é Xi'an Chang'an International Plaza, which was operated by Hong Kong agent I.T group, was closed. Before that, Chlo é Beijing Xinguang Tiandi store, also operated by I.T., had been closed. As a result, the second largest luxury store in Suzhou is operated by the Swiss group. Chlo é is not alone in regaining its agency rights in China. Dunhill, a British men's wear brand, is taking back its agency rights in Wenzhou, Ningbo and Hangzhou. This year, the whole business of luxury goods has been in full swing. "For foreign clothing brands, relying on agents when they entered the Chinese market in the early years was just a stopgap measure." Mr. Zhu, general agent of an American leisure brand in China, said, "before 2004, there were a lot of restrictions in China's market, and the market prospect was not clear. Therefore, most foreign brands hope to pass on the risks. Finding a Chinese agent is the best way to pass on the risk. For foreign brands, the cost is very small, almost zero, and these agents are more familiar with the Chinese market, and some already have ready-made sales channels. " Therefore, naturally, international brands have begun to look for Chinese local enterprises to act as agents, and Chinese enterprises hope to improve themselves by international power, and the two sides hit it off. with the help of these agents, international brands have made huge profits. Zegna, who came to China in 1990, is one of them. At that time, the Italian fashion brand wanted to open its shop in a five-star hotel and sell its products to foreigners on business in China. It found a local partner, Wenzhou Xiameng company. Since 1991, Zegna's sales in China have increased by 20% every year. Now China is the fourth largest market of Zegna in the world. unlike Armani's repeated emphasis on wholesale business, Zegna focused on the development of Direct stores in retail business in 2008. Since 2005, Zegna has invested heavily in Direct stores in China, and has stopped renewing contracts with agents. In recent years, the number of Direct stores has increased to 43, far more than its competitors. In recent years, Zegna has also closed five department stores and three exclusive stores cooperating with agents, including its first store in Shanghai in the Hilton Jing'an hotel. brand is the most important element for Zegna. In 2003, Zegna and Wenzhou Xiameng set up a joint venture called Xiameng Yijie, which accounts for 50% of the shares. The company produces piombo, a designer brand acquired by Zegna in Italy. However, Zegna soon found that this strategy damaged their brand position in the Chinese market, so the cooperation did not last. Summer dream brand has been gradually forgotten. n reasons to cancel the agency in the process of international brands competing for China, they are faced with channel problems, localization problems, talent problems, intellectual property issues, etc., any of which can make a top brand lose out of Macintosh. The biggest problem is in China's intellectual property market. "it's not that we don't want to crack down on counterfeit goods. We are just the agents of the brand, and the protection of intellectual property rights is the business of the brand owners. They are not willing to fight, and we have no way When the market, international brands of counterfeit goods rampant, agents often shirk their responsibility with such a excuse. after some international brands are produced locally in China, the agents will directly take the goods from the factory. When the sales channels represented by these agents are too strong and the relationship with the processing plant is too close, the foreign brand manufacturers will lose control, which leads to many grey areas. The protection of international brands in China is very limited. another reason for brand merchants to choose direct marketing is that the poor management of agents will damage the brand image most valued by big brands. The agent pursues the maximization of short-term profit, while the brand merchant pursues the maximization of brand image and profits on this basis. Therefore, the symbiosis between agents and brands has never stopped. "Direct stores will invest more in the brand image. Many agents will think that the brand is the company's, and it is not worth investing too much in the image. It is better to invest more money in the goods. Therefore, the agent will cut corners in the shop decoration, and it will cost 50000 yuan for the decoration. He only spent 20000 yuan. There are also brand culture, franchisee training, agents will not attach great importance to. " Mr. Liang Feng, general manager of Hong Kong crocodile T-shirt brand management, said. due to different investment in brand image, there is a big difference between the agent's shop and the brand merchant's direct store. British menswear brand Dunhill stores in Shanghai and Beijing are mostly direct sales, the rest of the region are using agents. However, the store image of Hangzhou and Ningbo is completely different. The latter is far away from the low-key and luxurious British gentleman style that Dunhill wants to convey. Therefore, dunhill began to take back the agency right in this area this year. an industry person who has worked in both agents and brand companies disclosed that in Wenzhou, for example, agents often act as agents for multiple luxury brands, and only one or two people manage the window display of more than 30 different brands under its banner; while in an independent brand such as Zegna, there is a window display team of 20 or 30 people, and each single store has a designated one The staff of our company assist the display specialist to take care of the store image. the Countermeasures of agents facing the abandonment of many peers, many agents began to worry about whether they would encounter the same fate one day. However, this is the rule of shopping malls. The two sides of cooperation can not always be intimate. If agents can bring huge profits to the brand, they should treat the brand as their own, and should not be too stingy in the brand image. Brand companies will not easily pull out this cash cow. in this game, the important thing may not be which is right or wrong, but the agent must be aware of such a reality: in order to continue and obtain more profits, the agent must be good enough and smart enough to play with the brand. In order to protect itself, agents must be able to provide more benefits for the brand in exchange for more in-depth cooperation with it. some smart agents already have a solution: in addition to signing a longer agency term as far as possible, they will also adopt automatic renewal terms to protect their own interests. Automatic renewal means that the agent and the brand holder first formulate a series of indicators within the agency stage. At that time, as long as the agent can complete the task according to the indicators, it can automatically obtain the renewal of the contract in the next stage after the expiration of the contract, and the brand holder can not change the agent at will. agents have accumulated more profits than their own brands for many years. Editor in charge: Yang Jing