China Business Daily (Reporter Yu Jiaxin)
"There is a lot of reluctance and a lot of thinking. Closing the store is really a helpless move and a decision made after difficult choices." Recently, there are more than 40 owners. "The Bubble", a Taobao Hanfu store with thousands of fans, issued a store closure notice, stating that the store has entered the clearance phase. The "LOSVLUE" store with 550,000 Taobao fans also announced its decision to close the store on social media platforms a few days ago.According to incomplete statistics, dozens of Hanfu online stores have been closed since this year, including many "Crown" stores with hundreds of thousands or even millions of fans. Why is Hanfu e-commerce, once regarded as a "blue ocean for entrepreneurship," becoming more and more difficult to do business?
"Golden Crown" and "Blue Crown" can't hold on anymore
"After 7 years of business, we decided to close the store." July 21, " "Sink into Deep Blue LOSVLUE" Taobao store owner posted on his personal social account related content about the upcoming store closure, and said that there are only more than 30 styles of clothing for sale in the store, and currently all have clearance discounts of 30% to 40% off.
In the Taobao store, the reporter saw that all product names were marked with the words "full store clearance", and most of the clothing was sold for tens of yuan. "More than 200 pieces of clearance items have been sold, and there are less than 500 pieces left. The current price is far lower than the cost price, which is equivalent to half selling and half giving away." The person in charge of the above-mentioned store said.
Also recently, Taobao Hanfu store "The Bubble" also issued a store closure notice on the store homepage, saying that "the store closure and clearance will begin next" and "the store's service and after-sales service will continue." A period of time until all orders are completed. ”
The store closing notice posted on the homepage of “The Bubble” Taobao store. (Picture taken from Taobao App)
The above news of store closures surprised some consumers. After seeing the "5 Crown" qualification of the "LOSVLUE" store, a consumer said that this credit rating is already relatively high on the platform, and he did not expect that such a large store would "not be able to continue".
As of press time, the reporter saw from the Taobao platform, “Sink into the Deep Blue LOSVLUE" has a store with 551,000 fans and a credit rating of "5 Crowns"; "The Bubble" is a 12-year-old store with 419,000 fans, a credit rating of "3 Crowns" and a platform "Celebrity Store" ” title.
However, the above two stores are just the tip of the iceberg among the Hanfu online stores that have been or will be closed this year. It is understood that since the beginning of the year, dozens of Taobao Hanfu stores have closed Or stop launching new ones. Among them are small shops with hundreds or thousands of fans, as well as "blue shops" with hundreds of thousands or even millions of fans, such as "Lulu Lulu", "Retro Explosion" and "Sucai Radish Studio". "Golden Crown Store" and "Golden Crown Store". In May this year, the "5 Golden Crown" store "Girl Kayla" with 5.53 million fans was also exposed to be in arrears with hundreds of suppliers, and the store owner said that he could only repay the arrears in the end. 20%.
In addition to the Taobao platform, some Douyin Hanfu stores also announced their closure this year, including the leading store "Lola Password" with more than 5 million fans. "Lola Code" once achieved sales of nearly 100 million yuan in a single live broadcast, but in this year's clearance live broadcast, the anchors broadcast for 9 hours, and the final sales were only a few million yuan, which was significantly different from the peak.
Sellers’ difficulties with “returns”
“This year, Hanfu e-commerce is particularly difficult to do compared to previous years, and many rules on the platform make it difficult for sellers to handle. "Mr. Chen, the owner of the Hanfu online store, told the China Business Daily reporter.
In the view of Mr. Chen and some of his colleagues, a series of problems caused by "buyer returns" have become a problem for clothing e-commerce practitioners.
“The loss is too great. Many clothes are returned by buyers only after they have been worn out. After we receive the goods, we often see liquid foundation and liquid on the clothes. Lipstick and other stains are difficult to remove. Some buyers will even send it back to you after wearing it for ten days and a half, but the platform will also approve it. "Mr. Chen said.
In June this year, the news that "more than 400 performance skirts were purchased online and then returned collectively" attracted a lot of attention. The owner of the store in question said that the buyer first placed the order in his online store More than 400 dresses were used for students' group performances, and within a week, all of them were returned. Not only did the returned dresses smell bad, but they also had obvious signs of use. They could not be sold again and had to be scrapped, resulting in a direct loss of more than 8,000 yuan.
“If a user buys a piece of clothing on the platform and then returns it, the merchant can lose more than 10 yuan - 4 yuan for express delivery, 3 yuan for freight insurance, and 5 yuan for packaging. Some people wonder why the packaging fee is so expensive. In fact, the costs of packaging bags, packaging boxes, hangtags, express bags, and sealing tapes all have to be borne by the merchants. If they "increase revenue and reduce expenditure" in packaging, consumers will think that the products are like "street stalls." "A Hanfu e-commerce practitioner said.
In fact, the high return rate of Hanfu online stores did not start this year. Industry insiders revealed that about 2-3 years ago, Hanfu e-commerce average of quotientThe return rate is about 40% to 60%, but by this year, this figure has increased to 80% in many stores.
Mr. Chen believes that the “surge” in return rates is related to the platform’s series of new after-sales regulations. He understands that the original intention of the platform to launch these after-sales rules is to further protect the rights and interests of consumers. "However, some customers will use the rules to 'strip wool'. After our sellers complain to the platform, the platform mostly tends to support the buyer."
Mr. Chen gave the reporter an example that he met a buyer who applied for a return and refund a few days ago. Since the buyer did not want to bear the shipping cost, he directly checked the reason for the refund as "the color/style/size/size does not match the description." ". "This reason is a 'quality refund', and the seller needs to bear the shipping costs, but the buyer must also provide corresponding vouchers. This consumer did not upload any picture vouchers, but the platform actually directly approved her return application. . I contacted her to change the reason for the return, but she reported me back for harassing her, so the platform deducted 20 yuan from us as compensation to the buyer," said Mr. Chen.
In addition, the "refund only" function launched by some platforms to simplify the return process has also allowed some buyers to take advantage of the loopholes. "Some buyers have clearly received the goods, but they lie and claim that the seller 'sent empty packages' so that they can wear new clothes without spending a penny. Even if the seller records a delivery video, it sometimes doesn't work," Mr. Chen said.
Apparel industry analyst Yang Dayun believes that a series of new return and exchange regulations introduced by e-commerce platforms in recent times will indeed have a certain impact on sellers. "The impact on consumers is relatively small, but sellers may bear more losses and expenses." Yang Dayun said.
“Personalized” stores are on the rise
Although Hanfu e-commerce sellers often complain about the high return rate, some consumers believe that the relevant responsibilities It shouldn’t all be pushed to the platform and buyers. For example, before the store of "Girl Kayla" closed, some consumers posted a lightning protection post about the store on social platforms, saying that although the products were sold at low prices, "you get what you pay for, and you get clothes you haven't worn yet." , the fabric has pilled.”
In October last year, some consumers said that "Girl Kayla" was in stock in the store.Not the case with the board. (Picture taken from social media platform)
Some consumers feel that online shopping for Hanfu is like "opening a blind box" because buyers never know how different the goods they receive will be from the "seller's show". This problem is particularly prominent in low-price Hanfu stores. “When placing an order after watching the live broadcast, you will never be able to buy the same pattern as the anchor.”
But even if the product quality is guaranteed, Hanfu e-commerce business is still difficult to do. The owner of "LOSVLUE" said on his personal social account that although his Taobao store has more than 500,000 fans and most consumers recognize the quality of his clothing, most of his fans are disappointed because the store has no outstanding memory for consumers. Loyalty is very low. "Especially for mid-range Korean-style Hanfu, there are thousands of similar stores, and you can grab a lot of them. Many consumers will pay attention to similar stores when they encounter them, and they don't necessarily just look at one." The store owner said.
“Consumers’ shopping mentality is changing. In the past, consumers could get a lot of pleasure from convenient online shopping, but in recent years, the experience brought by consumption and the impact of consumption on purchases have changed. The satisfaction of family emotional needs is receiving more and more attention," Yang Dayun said.
Consumers’ pursuit of emotional experience is bringing more and more “personalized” clothing brands to the forefront. The owner of "LOSVLUE" said that compared to his own, some stores with strong styles or "famous" stores have much higher fan stickiness. This business model is different from traditional Hanfu e-commerce and requires the creation of a unique IP for the store.
Taken together, for Hanfu e-commerce, the platform operating environment as an external factor does have room for further optimization and standardization. At the same time, traditional clothing e-commerce companies themselves also need to find ways to "break the situation." In Yang Dayun's view, niche and personalization will become the mainstream development trend of the apparel industry in the future.
“Consumers will look for better quality, more cost-effective, and more personalized products with limited expenditure to represent their own lives.” Yang Dayun said.