Fragile terminal - the biggest weakness of China's thermal underwear

Thermal underwear can be said to be the most lively and topical branch of the textile and apparel industry, and it is also the most unbelievable branch. The thermal underwear industry was not a long time to be born, but in a few short years, relying on overwhelming advertising campaigns and conceptual battles came out of a very large but very fragile market. Although the brand has a high reputation, it can not be said about reputation, unstable sales channels, consumers are also unstable, fierce and chaotic sales competition, manufacturers to launch new concepts every year, but it is a new bottle of old wine every year At best, it's time to work on fabrics. After shuffling through the market, many of the old star companies in the industry have lost their scenery.

On the one hand, due to fierce competition and the increasingly transparent nature of the industry, thermal underwear products have faded and the profitability of products has been declining. On the other hand, manufacturers have to continuously invest a lot of advertising costs and hire celebrity spokespersons. , to maintain the visibility of its own brand. Obviously, the era of industrial profits has passed. Compared to those companies that do traditional underwear and women's underwear, thermal underwear companies seem to be not too casual.

Insiders say that what is needed for doing warm underwear is passion. From the boss to the dealer to the company's salesman, they all need passion and dare to fight. It is said that in the past, there were many brands of the boss who, with great courage, hugged all their personal assets on CCTV and custody on celebrity endorsements, and quickly became famous, crafting a so-called “brand”.

Although the Antarctic people and the Arctic velvet are still playing the role of the industry's flag bearers, they have increasingly felt that they are in a dead end in propaganda and promotion. They are still repeating the conceptual hype. Although Tingmei, who is good at hype, has also joined several major brands in the thermal underwear industry, the market has been shaken upside down. However, Tingmei is more like a guerrilla general. After occupying the position, Tingmei is likely to target new goals again.

Looking at the thermal underwear industry, we often have the following questions:

First, why do thermal underwear brands invest so much in advertising costs, and in addition to the brand name and its image spokesperson, it is difficult to leave a deep impression? Why does the thermal underwear brand invest so much in advertising every year to maintain brand awareness?

Second, why cat underwear can achieve remarkable success in recent years? And the Antarctic people are willing to excavate their original president Li Xiaoping with 5 million yuan in annual salary.

Third, why three shots, appropriate and cool and other traditional underwear companies do not invest in advertising, just through product extensions, but also easily from the thermal underwear market share. And it seems hard for thermal underwear companies to get involved in basic underwear?

Fourth, why do thermal underwear companies need investment every year?

Behind these issues, we conduct in-depth analysis, it is not difficult to find that the cat's success, in addition to its clear "fashion underwear" positioning, its powerful terminal image absolutely contributed. Although many of the thermal underwear brands claim to have tens of thousands of sales outlets, there is no such thing as a unified terminal image. Moreover, their sales terminals will almost disappear from the market in the off-season and it will be difficult for consumers to sell them. Continuously deliver clear brand information. Therefore, the author asserts that the fragility of the terminal is currently the biggest weakness that restricts the development of thermal underwear companies.

The terminal with a good image is itself the best and most direct advertisement for consumers, because the terminal combines the specific product and the nearest distance with the consumer, and it is a long-term display of brand image to consumers, so it is better than outdoor print ads. The television advertisements are more persuasive and are more likely to impress customers. The vulnerability of thermal underwear terminals is mainly manifested in two aspects: First, the lack of a unified and distinct terminal image. Second, its terminals will disappear in the off-season, forming faults and failing to deliver brand information in a coherent manner.

Why did this happen?

First, due to the characteristics of the product caused by the terminal congenitally

Because the thermal underwear products are monotonous, the style is monotonous, the variety is not many, and the seasonality is very obvious. Therefore, it is impossible to open a specialty store, and thus it is impossible to build a complete terminal monopoly image. Also because the product is simple, entering a shopping mall, supermarkets and other counters is actually a few square meters of shelf display, and many of the shelves are provided by the mall, the style of the shelves are determined by the mall, and the brand sold by the VI The image specification has nothing to do at all. Therefore, many stores' thermal underwear brand image almost depends on the product packaging. The packaging, after all, changes with the features of the product's style and function, and it is difficult to have a unified performance center. Moreover, how can we effectively convey the image of the brand by relying solely on packaging?

Moreover, because thermal underwear is a seasonal product, once the Spring Festival is over, many thermal underwears in shopping malls and retail stores will begin to withdraw their cabinets. Therefore, the thermal underwear industry has also started its “sleepy sleep” for up to six months. The poorly-operated company never sleeps when it sleeps. "Sleep" often leads directly to the disappearance of the terminal, as well as the shift in the focus of the customer's operations and the loss of customers.

Second, because of the faults in the development and operation of the market

Because of the reason of thermal underwear “sleeping in summer”, the main task that is usually reserved for thermal underwear companies in the first half of the year is to carry out business invitations, prepare autumn and winter goods, and design packaging. Ready to wait for the second half of the shipment sprint. As a result, in the first half of the year, major lingerie exhibitions, such as full-needle exhibitions, became a hot stage for investment in thermal underwear companies. The scale of corporate participation was larger and larger, and the investment was larger than that of a family. The annual cost of an enterprise only spending on exhibitions and investment conferences will account for nearly 10% of the turnover, or even more. At the same time, in the first half of the year, investment invitations for thermal underwear will also be seen in major media. The rules are very simple. If you do not have a good client in the first half of the year, you should not think about how much sales you have in the second half of the year.

In this way, market development in the first half of the year, while customers introduce products for sales is the second half of the year. There is a long time lag between them, making it difficult and impossible for customers to guarantee the construction of terminals according to the company's image standards. Moreover, in the second half of the year, once the shipment began, terminal outlets were spreading at almost a rapid rate, and the company did not have much time to supervise the construction of outlets.

Third, because of customer characteristics

Because of the characteristics of the industry, customers operating thermal underwear are almost always aiming for short-term benefits. General agents have such ideas, first to make money to make a profit, and who knows that the brand they manage does not exist after six months. Therefore, they prefer to spend a lot of money on advertisements and promotions, and are unwilling to put money into building terminals. The terminal retailer is usually sure not to only operate a warm brand. He must also consider the sales of his products in the first half of next year, and he is not willing to invest a lot of money to do the specific terminal image of a certain brand. Therefore, it is also destined to the lack of sales and confusion in the sales terminal of thermal underwear.

Fourth, because of the quick success of the manufacturers marketing techniques

Thermal underwear manufacturers usually have basic requirements for terminals: shipments, shipments, and shipments. Manufacturers want to ship as soon as possible within a limited number of months in the second half of the year to recover the investment in the first half of the year. So the marketing focus is also on concept hype and crazy price war promotions. The terminal construction of this piece of the sales performance improvement, the effect is slow-type, the manufacturers do not pay attention, even if they do not pay attention to realize. The methods used by general manufacturers to operate the terminal are as follows: Design and manufacture some terminal standard image books to be distributed, or directly design some standard terminal models and engrave CDs to dealers, and then ask the dealers to refer to the standard for decoration, but In terms of cost considerations and other reasons, dealers often arrange their own terminal according to actual needs. Many shopping malls and supermarkets even have ready-made shelves to provide, which brand is the same, let alone do it according to standards. Therefore, it is inevitable that the terminal is not doing well.

If the terminal can't deliver stable product information, or if the image is not uniform and non-standard, it will be difficult for consumers to leave a long-term good brand impression. Now, the biggest impression on thermal underwear terminals seems to be crazy promotions. Moreover, the terminal's dormancy disappeared for nearly half a year. In half a year, it is enough for consumers to forget a lot. Therefore, it takes a lot of money each year to awaken consumers' memories.

In terms of marketing methods, some traditional underwear brands are really lackluster, but they occupy most of the market share of underwear products. The real sales volume in the market is still three shots, appropriate and cool, AB and other conventional underwear brands. They have a wide range of products that you can buy at least all year round. Such as three shots, should be cool, you can see them all year round everywhere, they can see counters of tens of square meters. These terminals continue to give the manufacturers the memory of the brand. This is the most obvious advantage they distinguish from thermal underwear brands.

Faced with this situation, for thermal underwear companies, it is necessary to seek a healthy, stable, long-term development. Product transformation is almost the only way out. But how to transform? This has always plagued warm clothing companies. The high amount of advertising money invested in the market has made a lot of popularity, so that the brand nature of “warmth warming” has been established, and it has been transformed into other products. Can consumers accept it? At present, many thermal underwear companies are involved in other areas of clothing, such as women's wear, such as down jackets, but there is almost no precedent for success, as if entering a dead end, but do not know how to drill out. Antarctic people have introduced summer cool T-shirts, but people who think of Antarctica are very likely to think of “warmth”. Will consumers feel cool when wearing “Antarctic” T-shirts? It seems that to solve the brand's "warmth" impression formed by consumers, the road is long and far!

The author suggests that if thermal underwear companies want to achieve long-term development, they must break through the narrow circle of “warmth” underwear, gradually dilute the “warmth” brand concept, broaden the scope of products and advertising, use comprehensive clothing or The emergence of underwear brand must pay attention to and strengthen the image of the brand terminal. For example, other related products can be derived from sub-brands to enrich the product line, reduce the seasonality of products, and gradually establish and improve a stable terminal, so as to deliver stable brand information and form a stable customer group. This will not only save a lot of advertising costs, but also avoid the huge cost of repeated investment.