American retro style, street graffiti style... Since the end of April this year, a number of new stores of young Hanfu brands that are popular on the Internet have appeared in Beijing, leaving many female consumers saying that they "can't go there."
In recent years, more and more domestic new-generation Hanfu brands are accelerating the pace of offline store expansion. From brand concept to style pricing, how do these "treasure" stores win the favor of female consumers?
The new generation of Hanfu brands are accelerating the expansion of stores in Beijing
In shopping malls with concentrated customer traffic such as Joy City in Xidan, Beijing, a number of them have become popular through the Internet The new generation of Hanfu brands are accelerating their offline store expansion.
On April 26, Unifree’s first Beijing store opened on the first floor of Xidan Joy City. Neon-like store signs, iconic large-area purple and pink decorations, industrial-style clothing display racks...these in-store elements all highlight the brand's personality.
Unifree’s first Beijing store in Xidan Joy City is mainly decorated in representative purple and pink colors.
"Unifree gives me the overall feeling of 'sweet and cool style'." "There are many Y2K and hot girl style clothes in the store, and many of the items are very easy to match." Several people went into the store to buy together. The girl told reporters.
As a "national girl trend brand", Unifree pursues individual style in terms of brand concept, advocating "independence, avant-garde, and fearlessness", aiming to satisfy the mavericks of "Generation Y" and "Generation Z" , consumer demand for novelty.
The photo wall in Unifree Beijing Xidian Joy City store.
Pingping (pseudonym), a blogger at Xiaohongshutandian, told reporters that she was "planted" into this brand by her favorite female star, and she had already purchased several products at the brand's online flagship store before. There are only a few clothes and skirts, but as soon as I enter the physical store, I still feel "full of girlishness".
Consumers purchase clothing in Unifree stores.
Not only Unifree, the second store opened in Beijing by a blueberry, a fast fashion Hanfu brand of "Generation Z", also opened on the second floor of Huiju Mall recently. In December last year, when a blueberry opened its first store in Beijing, the scene was once described as a "celebrity autograph session." This time, the popularity of the brand has not diminished. As early as the pre-opening period, many consumers queued up to check in and receive souvenir hair ties and ornaments.
a Blueberry Beijing’s second store opened in Huiju Shopping Mall, attracting many consumers to shop.
“This brand previously opened its first store in Beijing in Heshenghui. I heard it is very popular, but it is too far away from me. The new store is closer to me, so I came to take a look.” Consumer Xiao Zhou said.
In order to meet the dressing needs of young women in different scenarios, a blueberry provides consumers with American retro style, street graffiti style,Ballet style, Asian workwear style and other fashion styles.
In addition, the reporter noticed that a blueberry physical store also provides consumers with a free service to modify the size of clothing. "Changing the waist, changing the trousers, shortening or smaller can be done", hoping that female consumers will Those who want to get rid of the "S/M/L" size anxiety.
a blueberry marked in the store "If the size does not fit, it will be modified free of charge."
In addition to stores in shopping malls, the first Beijing store of TWOI Design Lab, a designer brand focusing on "cream style", also officially opened on May 1 at Langyuan Station in Chaoyang District. The coffee shop outside the clothing area, the healing low-saturated colors in the clothing area, and the "milk-in-milk" clothing style make female consumers feel like they are in a "cream department store."
“Affordable price + individuality” captures “Generation Z”
From what the reporter learned, many young consumers believe that Unifree, a blueberry The relatively affordable prices of other brands in shopping malls are a major factor that attracts them to enter the store.
The reporter saw that the new stores opened by Unifree and a bluberry in Beijing currently sell spring and summer clothes, and many T-shirts or shirts are sold for around 100 yuan or 200 yuan. During the opening event, Unifree also offers a 10% discount on 3 pieces and a limited-time discount of 99 yuan on co-branded T-shirts. Some consumers said after shopping at Unifree: "I bought two big bags of clothes and spent just over 1,000 yuan."
In addition, the unique brand concepts and cultures of the new generation brands also cater to a great extent. The consumption characteristics and needs of its main customer group "Generation Z".
China Merchants Securities Research Report believes that "Generation Z" has avant-garde consumption concepts and strong consumption power, and is becoming the main force of emerging consumption. Regarding clothing consumption, "Generation Z" attaches great importance to catching up with trends, and also prefers to use personalized outfits to highlight their social status.
In addition, "Generation Z" is also becoming more and more "daring to wear". The highly exposed rock and roll style and the exquisite and relaxed oversize style are among the favorite styles of this group. Be at the forefront.
From the perspective of clothing brands themselves, in order to further enhance the psychological proximity with consumers, new generation brands have begun to increasingly emphasize the youthful attributes of their teams. For example, a blueberry emphasized in its official introduction that the brand design team is “Generation Z designers” from domestic and foreign institutions such as Donghua University, Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology, and London College of Art. Because of this, they also “know Z best.” What the generations want”.
The pink seats outside the Unifree Xidan Joy City store attracted many consumers to take photos.
Accelerate the transition from online to offline
Represented by brands such as Unifree, the current new generation of clothing brands often have some common characteristics - they are young enough , "hot" enough, and is accelerating from online to offline.
Unifree, founded in 2017, has accumulated 2.48 million fans in the Tmall flagship store as of press time. Official information shows that its total number of fans across the entire platform has now exceeded 4 million. In January 2021, the brand's first nationwide store opened in Intime Department Store Hangzhou Wulin Store. After April 2023, Unifree will successively open physical stores in Changchun, Taiyuan, Chengdu, Yantai, Shanghai, and Xi'an. The opening of this new store makes Beijing the eighth city where the brand has settled.
a blueberry was founded in 2021, even later, and emphasized its "online student" attribute at the beginning of its establishment. On the one hand, the brand mentioned that "young consumers are accustomed to seeking personalized and differentiated lifestyles online"; on the other hand, it also mentioned that the team's "Generation Z designers continue to bring endless fashion through online information and digital technology." plan".
At present, a blueberry has opened physical stores in many cities such as Hangzhou, Shanghai, Beijing, Suzhou, and Wuhan. Data shows that when the brand opened its first store in Shanghai in December 2023, its first-day sales exceeded 260,000 yuan. For future offline store expansion plans, the brand has proposed the goal of "ten stores in one city" and stated that it will be committed to creating different shopping experiences in the same city, so that each store has a different theme and style.
For "Internet celebrities"Brands are gradually moving from online to offline. Clothing industry analyst Yang Dayun believes that this is actually an inevitable trend.
In Yang Dayun's view, there is a big difference between the new generation of clothing brands that first became popular mainly through online channels and the traditional clothing brands that first expanded offline stores and then entered e-commerce platforms and social media. Through high-intensity marketing on online platforms such as Xiaohongshu and Douyin, "Internet celebrity" clothing brands can easily establish close ties with consumers directly in a short period of time.
“Most of the ‘Internet celebrity’ clothing brands now rely on the ‘traffic + capital + speed’ approach.” Yang Dayun said.
But at the same time, the disadvantage of this business model is that once the brand's investment in online marketing weakens or disappears, feedback from consumers will also be quickly lost.
“Therefore, it is an inevitable result that 'Internet celebrity' clothing brands will continue to open offline stores after developing to a certain extent. Through offline channels, brands can build a longer-lasting and more lasting relationship with consumers. Stable relationships will enhance consumers’ stickiness to the brand,” Yang Dayun said.
For the new generation of clothing brands, if they want to "grasp" both online and offline, they must adopt different sales models and strategies. "For example, building a stable supply chain through offline channels is often a big challenge for this type of brand. Only by completely transforming the idea of online operations can the brand maintain its vitality in offline channels and develop for a long time." Yang Dayun said.
(China Business Daily reporter Yu Jiaxin text/picture)
