Creating Individuality And Professional Brands: China'S Clothing Marketing Strategy Needs Adjustment

In the current world economic downturn, China Lingnan Guangzhou, the core city of culture, bucked the trend, and was hosted by the Guangzhou Municipal Government, organized by the Guangzhou Municipal Economic and Trade Commission clothing The 2012 Guangzhou International Fashion Festival and Guangzhou Fashion Week jointly organized by industry associations and others announced that Lingnan Guangzhou clothing began to turn luxuriously from "Made in China" to "Created in China". Therefore, it is necessary to adjust the brand marketing strategy in the new economic situation.

1、 The Economic Environment of Chinese Clothing Brand Marketing

Clothing brand marketing is Clothes & Accessories The embodiment of marketing culture in culture. To do a good job in brand marketing, first of all, depends on the grasp of the market economic environment and the formulation of marketing strategies.

From the 1980s to the mid-1990s, the marketing strategy of Chinese clothing was: "beautify the Chinese people and go to the world." At that time, the well-known slogan of the Chinese clothing industry was: "Let the world know China and let China go to the world." Under the guidance of such strategic thinking, by 1994, China has rapidly developed into the world's largest apparel producing country and the world's largest apparel exporting country, making new contributions to the construction of the world's apparel culture.

In 1996, under the situation of China's rapid economic growth, Chinese clothing announced that it had entered the brand era and started brand marketing. But then came the Southeast Asian financial crisis that broke out in 1997: South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and other countries experienced currency devaluation and shrinking wealth, and the biggest impact on China's economy was deflation.

The economic downturn lasted for five years from 1997 to 2002! At that time, the central government stabilized the economic ship and quickly introduced three policies: first, to stimulate domestic demand and implement housing reform, so as to tap a huge market demand; The second is to join the World Trade Organization (WTO) and strive to open the international market; Third, we will implement proactive fiscal and monetary policies to help enterprises overcome difficulties.

The marketing strategy of Chinese clothing brands was then adjusted to: "stimulate domestic demand and go global." That is to guide the growth of clothing consumption in China, while actively integrating into the international market. The slogan is still: "Let the world know China, let China go global."

Today, the world financial crisis has reached the hardest year of 2012, and almost all countries' clothing brand management has reached a low point. The cruelest fact at the moment is that Europe is in the sovereign debt crisis, the US economy has bottomed out twice, and the European and American economies may fall into a long-term downturn. China's garment export has suffered a long winter.

At home, although the reform and opening up has expanded the clothing consumer class, affected by the world financial crisis, the sales of the clothing industry fell by 20% year on year, and the sales of those mainly engaged in foreign trade dropped by 40%. According to the statistics of China National Business Information Center, in August 2011, China's clothing retail began to decline year on year, and all kinds of clothing retail of the country's 100 key large-scale retail enterprises fell 1.98% year on year, which is unprecedented since the reform and opening up.

Most of the clothes closely related to the people showed negative year-on-year growth, including men's shirts, T-shirts Leatherwear The retail sales of clothing, pants, knitted underwear, cashmere and woolen sweaters, etc., which have been selling steadily, also declined year on year. Although the revenue of many brands is rising on the surface, the increase in retail prices cannot keep up with the increase in costs.

As a result, the sales volume increases and the profits shrink. In response, Professor Lang Xianping, a famous economist, pointed out: "This is stagflation"! The horror of stagflation lies in: "The surface is rising, but actually it is falling. Although the surface is no longer high growth, it is still slightly rising, but actually it is declining"!

At present, the marketing of Chinese clothing is in a difficult economic environment: ⑴. Inflation is high, manufacturing costs are rising rapidly, and industrial upgrading is out of reach; ⑵ Private credit is blocked, and SME loans are difficult; ⑶ Private enterprises are heavily taxed, rents are high, physical stores are dying out in large numbers, and foreign brands occupy the market.

Looking at the economic environment at home and abroad, I think it is time to adjust the strategy of Chinese clothing brands from "stimulating domestic demand and going global" to "expanding domestic demand and taking the road of internationalization"!

2、 Expand domestic demand and take the road of internationalization

1. The core of "expanding domestic demand" is "meeting differentiated needs"

The "expansion of domestic demand" of Chinese clothing brands is to improve the ability of brands to meet differentiated needs.

What is "domestic demand"? For Chinese clothing, "domestic demand" is the needs of citizens and the country. This is an important government affair.

Premier Wen Jiabao once said: "China has 1.3 billion people. China is the most populous country in the world. The clothing problem of Chinese people can only be solved by ourselves."

Now the question is: "expand domestic demand", what exactly "expand"? In my opinion, what is now called "expanding domestic demand" is to meet the demand of domestic consumers for clothing differentiation.

Over the past three decades of reform and opening up, China clothing In terms of meeting the demand, it has gone through the "quantity stage" in the early stage of reform and opening up, the "variety stage" in 1986, and the "quality stage" in the mid-1990s, and has entered the "brand era" that continues to this day. Since the 1990s, clothing brands around the world have also planned various marketing methods by making use of the "people-oriented", "fashion law", "fashion effect" and "value law" of clothing, which not only satisfies consumers, but also cultivates enterprises and expands the market.

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However, after entering the 21st century, when the demand for quantity, variety, quality and so on has become the basic needs, the information of fashion trends and the tips of clothing indexes are released regularly like weather forecasts, and become a routine of life, the market has aroused the wave of "personalized" clothing, and the industry has responded with "customized marketing". However, such "customized marketing" can only be "different people have different opinions" because there is no standard.

Today, the clothing of the domestic society has entered the era of "differentiated demand". What is "differentiated demand"? It is the demand contradiction that is far apart but not intensified. It is a high-level demand that is higher, more refined and more flexible than the "personalization" mentioned above.

The "individualization" of clothes mentioned above can be pursued by many people, such as professional clothes, while "differentiation" is absolutely individual difference, which is a materialized product under the guidance of high-level spiritual needs. The "advanced customization marketing" that has sprung up in recent years is likely to enter this level, but it is not just called "advanced customization marketing".

Because to meet the real "differentiated demand", we need not only to have a unique understanding of "differentiation", but also to optimize the combination of all links of the clothing industry chain, make concerted efforts, and with many conditions, we still need to go a long way. In fact, as far as I know, many famous people in Lingnan and Guangzhou designer And clothing brands have begun to do so. It can be predicted that in Lingnan and Guangzhou, China, the world's most populous country, if the "differentiated demand" becomes a common practice and is well solved, then our clothing brand marketing will have unlimited room for growth.

2. "Taking the road of internationalization", the core is to "create an international best-selling brand"

The reasons why Chinese clothing takes the road of internationalization and creates international best-selling brands are as follows: First, in the long run and in the strategic direction, this is the social responsibility of Chinese clothing brands. Clothing is not only a commodity, but also a cultural expression. Second, "China is a responsible big country". To the international community, the responsibility of Chinese clothing is to ensure the diversity of world cultures, promote cultural coexistence, and participate in building a harmonious world. Third, as a member of WTO, China should actively participate in relevant international trade activities, and of course use international best-selling brands to win the market and achieve reasonable economic benefits.

At the same time, what was said in the past is "going to the world" and what is said today is "going to the international road", which is an upgrade. The difference is that in the past, when we said "go to the world", we meant "let the world know China". At that time, "China" should mean "the traditional image of the Chinese nation". The "China" in today's "taking the road of internationalization" is the image of "a China with international taste" and "a responsible big country". Such "Chinese clothing" is both Chinese and international favorite, so it can be called "internationalization".

There is a Chinese saying, "Don't be afraid to be illiterate, but be afraid to compare goods". "Taking an international road - creating an international best-selling brand" also needs to be achieved through competition.

Chinese people's sense of competition was not strong. However, as long as the competition goal is clear, there will be a belief in winning. For example, sports competition: Archaeology has proved that Chinese sports have been for self entertainment or self-defense since ancient times. It was not until someone slandered the Chinese as "the sick man of East Asia" that they could not sit still. Since 1984, China has officially organized a team to participate in the Olympic Games, which has been strongly influenced by the Olympic spirit and the sense of international competition. Therefore, it has become a sports power by winning gold and holding silver, breaking the record.

Another example is clothing marketing: practice has proved that western businessmen have a stronger sense of competition than we do. I remember that less than three months after China announced its reform and opening up, the first person to come to China was Pierre Cardin of France.

At that time, the clothes of Beijingers were still a "blue ocean", and the Pierre Cardin brand was not very popular in the world. At first we saw that his fashion was also out of place. But with the sharp sense of a designer and businessman, he believed that China, a place without fashion, might be the best fashion market. He hired Chinese people as assistants, Actively applied to the Chinese government. After three rounds of repetition, they were finally allowed to bring works to China, allowing "Chinese officials and technicians in charge of foreign trade to do internal observation".

He brought 8 French female models and 4 Japanese female models to perform French fashion. At that time, we had no experience in appreciating foreign fashion, and we also wondered why he wanted Japanese women to perform French fashion. It took us a long time to realize that he used Japanese female models to bring Chinese people closer to French fashion, and he hoped Chinese people would buy his French fashion.

It can be seen that Pierre Cardin wants to enter the Chinese market, not only to compete with other international clothing brands, but also to compete with Chinese local clothing products. After hard work, some Chinese factories processed clothes for him under his banner, and his marketing performance also ranked top in the Chinese market. Now the Pierre Cardin brand has a considerable "territory" not only in clothing, but also in a variety of daily necessities and even building materials.

Many foreign brands like Pierre Cardin that have entered the Chinese market have been "blooming everywhere" for decades. Their keen sense of competition, high sense of crisis and marketing strategy of always leading the market provide a direct example for Chinese clothing brand marketing, which is worth learning and thinking.

Chinese clothing brands that follow up quickly grow up through competition. However, those garment factories that only rely on orders to process foreign brands, although much simpler than their own brands, have not only been in a low income state, but also have to cope with the rising threshold. Once the orders shrink, the enterprise will be in crisis. Let's finally understand how to create our own brand, international best-selling brand, and the world famous brand The need for, but also let us feel the past lost a lot of valuable time.