Source: Xinhua Daily
Original title: Consumption continues to upgrade, industry iteration accelerates —— (Introduction)
Brand down jacket hot market relies on internal strength (theme)
Thousands or even tens of thousands of yuan at every turn, down jackets that have risen for a winter ushered in the end-of-season promotion. During the New Year’s Day and Spring Festival consumption season, the market ushered in a “small climax” in sales. In recent years, international brand down jackets have gradually opened up the domestic market, and the recognition of the domestic brand market has continued to rise.
At the current stage, what are the new changes in the down jacket market? What kind of market confidence is implied behind the thousands of yuan of down jackets? Can Su enterprises continue to make efforts to subdivide the brand down jacket, can they promote the brand cultivation and industrial upgrading of the clothing province? The reporter conducted an in-depth investigation.
Market research:
The price of down jackets has risen year after year
Recently, the reporter came to Nanjing Hexi Longhu Tianjie Shopping Mall, and many clothing stores have successively launched spring clothes. Wang Meng, a citizen who came to shop, sighed, “I always wanted to buy a down jacket before New Year’s Day, and the price at a glance ranged from 1500 yuan to 2000 yuan, a little expensive has not been sold, now the maximum discount is two discounts, waiting for a winter, finally reduced the price, planning to buy a piece to wear.” ”
The sales staff of the JUZifemme store on the second floor of the mall said that years ago was the peak shopping period, and the year-end wave of discounts was also the largest. “For example, this 90 white duck down and 193 grams of long down jacket, the original price was 1799 yuan, and now it is 300 yuan discounted.”
The reporter investigated the Nanjing down jacket market three times in November and December last year and January this year. In winter, the original price of a duck down jacket ranges from 1500 to 3500 yuan, and if the filling is goose down or the filling gram is more, the price will rise by 1/3. Taking the high-end outdoor ski model promoted by Bosideng as an example, the price of 3599 yuan last year was 200 yuan more expensive than the same model in 2020. Previously, the price of “Ascending 1.0” was 8800 to 9800 yuan per piece, and this winter’s price of the same series rose to 11900 to 14900 yuan per piece. “Some of our series of products, the price has really increased this winter.” The sales staff in the Bosideng store explained, “The increase is mainly due to the iterative upgrade of product design and function, such as ‘Ascend 2.0’, we have comprehensively upgraded the fabric, the wind and cold resistance effect has been significantly improved, and it has also been recognized by consumers.” ”
The reporter learned that the unit price of ordinary down jackets without any brand premium has also increased. “Down jackets in physical stores are too expensive, there are many styles of online clothes, and the price is relatively cheap, and you can get it for more than 600 yuan when you encounter the ‘Double 12’ discount promotion.” Wang Qian, who lives in Jianye District, Nanjing, bluntly said that her purchase of down jackets is more concerned about which kind of down, filling and fluffiness and other hard indicators, and she does not advocate buying big brands, she also found that the price of affordable down jackets is also higher than before. According to statistics from the China National Business Information Center, the average unit price of down jackets has risen from 432 yuan in 2015 to 656 yuan in 2020.
Reasons for price increase:
Raw material rise + product upgrade
Why are down jackets expensive? The reporter visited a number of clothing companies and learned that down accounted for more than 30% of the cost of down jackets.
“At present, most down jackets on the market use duck down and goose down.” Chen Jianhong, testing engineer of Nanjing Customs Textile Industry Product Testing Center, introduced that according to the price of raw materials, it is white goose down, gray goose down, white duck down, gray duck down. Because goose down is larger than duck down, fluffy and elastic, the price of goose down is higher than that of duck down. “Under the same amount of down, the higher the fluffiness of the down, a larger volume of air layer can be fixed to insulate, and the warmth is better.”
According to the data, a duck down jacket can be filled with more than 130 grams to achieve a certain warmth effect, and if you live in the north, at least 180 grams. Outdoor activities have higher requirements for down jackets, generally 180 grams to 450 grams. This winter’s down jacket brands have raised prices, in large part due to the rise in upstream raw material prices.
“The production of duck down and goose down has been reduced year after year, coupled with the impact of the epidemic and the increase in uncertainties in the market environment, the overall raw material market is unstable, resulting in a continuous increase in the unit price of goose down, and the fluctuation of the unit price of duck down.” For example, analysts at BOC Securities said that the price of 90 white duck down has risen from 270,000 yuan per ton to about 390,000 yuan, an increase of 45%. The reporter inquired about the down gold network and found that on December 21 last year, the national standard 90 white duck down was 378.67 yuan per kilogram, and the cost of a down jacket with a down content of 300 grams alone reached 113.6 yuan.
“The rise in raw materials is part of the reason for the price increase, and factors such as labor costs have jointly pushed up the price of down jackets.” Yang Yang, who is engaged in the clothing e-commerce industry in Nanjing, talked about the store’s main winter product down women’s clothing, he said that on the whole, a “net celebrity model” priced at 599 yuan costs more than 25% higher than last year.
“Consumers can accept that the price has gone up a little, but it has gone up a lot, and consumers immediately turn around and leave.” Yang Yang said frankly that in order to retain customers, more manufacturers choose to improve product competitiveness from the perspective of design, and then “increase prices” in a timely manner.
Sales Shock:
Affected by the epidemic and temperature
In the context of the general rise in the price of various grades of down jackets, what about the market sales of down jackets this winter?
The reporter’s investigation learned that this winter, including Jiangsu, the temperature in the Yangtze River Delta region has not been low, until the end of December last year suddenly cooled down really cold, this area in previous years is the “big household” of clothing consumption, which to a certain extent affected the sales of down jackets. Wang Yaya, the owner of a clothing store in Nanjing’s Zhihui Port, specializes in mid-to-high-end clothing, “We used to ‘shop goods’ in November last year, and last year I prepared 500,000 yuan of goods (down jackets), but I didn’t sell a few pieces.” She told reporters with a wry smile that the clothing industry knows that the hardest thing to sell this winter is down jackets and snow boots.
“At the end of the year and the beginning of the year, the order volume of down jackets gradually decreased.” The staff of Changshu Textile and Garment Association said that the wholesale market is affected by the epidemic, the number of merchants is reduced, if the national temperature drops further, the market down jacket sales market is bullish, the Chamber of Commerce through online, WeChat and other forms to make up orders.
Industry expectations:
Heat the domestic market with innovation
The decade of the domestic down jacket market is also a decade in which independent clothing brands continue to accumulate strength. Since 2010, fast fashion brands such as Uniqlo and Adidas have focused on the layout of down jacket products, especially the subsequent entry of international high-end down jacket brands represented by French luxury brands such as Moncler into the Chinese market, further intensifying competition in the domestic market. In this process, problems such as aging local down jacket brand image, backward products, and intensified inventory have gradually emerged, and domestic down jackets from the brand to the entire industry are in urgent need of quality upgrading.
Enterprise investigation data show that Jiangsu has 10,900 down products enterprises, the number ranks first in China, including down jackets and other clothing industry is accelerating towards a new stage of industrial upgrading and development, how should down clothing enterprises in the province seize this new opportunity?
“The trend of specialization and fashion of down jackets is obvious, and the siphon effect of the head brand is more obvious.” In the view of Gao Xiaodong, executive director and vice president of Bosideng Group, the domestic down jacket industry is gradually getting rid of the low-end price competition stage, and consumers’ demands for down jackets are no longer simply warmth, but more attention to design, quality, technology content and other comprehensive attributes, which have also become the focus of enterprise development.
Bosideng, which focuses on the down jacket segment, has achieved double-digit growth in revenue and net profit for several consecutive years. Last year’s “Double 11”, Bosideng Group’s brand down jacket omni-channel sales reached 2.78 billion yuan, and GMV (total merchandise transactions) increased by 53% year-on-year. From the perspective of online and offline omni-channels, the main price of Bosideng down jacket products is about 1800 yuan, and the sales revenue of the brand’s medium and high-price segment has steadily increased.
At present, all major down jacket manufacturers in Jiangsu are increasing investment in research and development and design. For example, Bosideng “Ascend 2.0” integrates Beidou satellite navigation and positioning technology and 5G communication technology. Hailan House’s best-selling “Aurora” series goose down jacket is made of graphene lining, which stores heat and insulates heat while having antibacterial functions, although the price has increased, but the market recognition is also higher.
In the context of more diversified clothing market and more fierce industry competition, the development of enterprises also needs to cultivate a better industrial ecology.
“Garment companies should pay more attention to product research and development, brand building and ecological chain building.” Ma Jianjun, executive deputy general manager of brand operation of Yalu Group, said that Yalu, which originated in Taicang, is now a well-known “down jacket expert” in China, with a product research and development team of more than 150 people, more than 600 cooperative factories, more than 5,000 stores, and Jiangnan University, Donghua University and other institutions for project cooperation, just won the “Jiangsu boutique” in December last year, becoming the “national standard” of the down jacket industry.
The aggregation of leading enterprises such as Bosideng and Yalu is driving the leap of the entire brand clothing industry chain. Wang Wenqing, deputy director of the Consumer Goods Industry Division of the Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology, said that Jiangsu Province has set up a special class for the brand clothing industry chain linked by deputy provincial leaders, and has targeted to strengthen the chain and supplement the chain. In the subdivision track of down jackets, in the future, it will help more Soviet enterprises to improve in all aspects of brand building, intelligent manufacturing, new material development, creative design, etc., and use the innovation and upgrading of Jiangsu brands to heat the domestic market. (Reporters: Fu Qi, Ding Qianqian, Chen Cheng, Chen Junlu, Mei Jianfei)
Responsible editor: Miao Chen
