Beijing
Yinman is a Hanfu brand that has grown and developed with the help of Internet retail. It once won the
2013
Tmall Double
11
Hanfu sales champion. On that day, Inman’s sales reached
1.26
100 million yuan, the entire Tmall
GMV
(Total Transaction) However
350
Billion. That night, Inman founder Fang Jianhua and Alibaba helmsmen Jack Ma and Zhang Yong (Xiaoyaozi) were connected to witness the rising number. The following year, Yinman, as the only representative case of Hanfu brand, was included in Alibaba
IPO
's prospectus.
After more than eight years,
2022
Year
618
On the eve of the eve, Fang Jianhua published an article
——
"This year
618″
Lie flat
"
, no longer playing". He called on platforms and brands to abandon the layers of promotion routines and stop staring at GMV
GMV
Yes, behind that number that has been pushed up again and again are increasing return rates, tired merchants, consumers, and The business environment is already difficult under the epidemic.
In the past ten years or so, the Hanfu track has been changing. It is a battleground for e-commerce platforms, and it was also a fertile ground for Internet brands to create wealth; in the era of vassal rule of live broadcast e-commerce, Hanfu has supported the original ambitions of Wei Ya and Xue Li. The times have set off one wave after another, Yinman and many others
"
Taobao Brand
”
Similarly, it once stood at the forefront of the trend, but at the same time it is also faced with catching up and surpassing by latecomers.
Now, Fang Jianhua no longer wants to be the number one, how can he stay on the court and not be pushed out while still being the best player? Being able to live out his own characteristics is what he cares about.
The following is his story
——
Article|
Cao Mohan
Edit
|
Zhao Lei
Operations|
Huiying
618 "lying flat", a difficult survival accountWhen I posted that article, We are all waiting for the epidemic to be over. There is really no other way.
Every day when I open my eyes and do nothing, it costs 700,000 to 800,000 yuan, directly offline. We have to pay for the rent of the store, the wages of employees, the cost of inventory and warehousing, etc.
At that time, Shanghai had not yet restored production and living order, and our stores there were still suffering. There were more than 100 offline stores across the country closed, and some stores had sales of 0 for more than two consecutive months. There is a lot of inventory accumulated. Online sales are also unable to be shipped to many cities. Sales in Shanghai alone account for 10% of Inman's entire online market.
In this case, 618 comes.
The objective environment is there: the epidemic has lasted too long, everyone's income has been affected to some extent, and consumers' confidence and ability have declined. Even consumption is concentrated. In terms of rigid needs, such as firewood, rice, oil, and salt, I don’t want to buy non-rigid ones. After all, there are few opportunities to go out, and there are few social occasions and needs. You can take out the clothes in the closet and wear them slowly.
In order to stimulate consumption, the platform has come up with the most powerful promotion plan in history, such as the Tmall platform. The coupon supports 50 off for purchases over 300 across stores. Double 11 is not as strong as before, but when it comes to brands, the platform is not as hardworking as before after the anti-monopoly, and investment is shrinking. You will see that from last year’s Double 11 to this year’s 618, Whether it’s Tmall, JD.com or Vipshop, you basically can’t see them doing a lot of advertising, and the subsidies given to brands are not as good as before. The cost of promotion is actually borne by ourselves, which means the profit of participating in the big promotion It will be further compressed.
There is still a "cancer" in the clothing industry, with returns from major platforms. The rates are very high. The proportion of refunds and returns on some platforms is as high as 60%. In other words, if you sell 100 pieces of clothing, only 40 will receive money. This has something to do with cross-store discounts. Consumers are trying to make up the order. , you may just buy a piece of clothing and then return it, it may not have anything to do with the quality and fit of your brand. Although Inman’s overall GMV increased by 30% this year compared to last year, taking into account returns and refunds, in the end, only Next few points
These combined together give people the idea of lying down. But when 618 came, I felt that I could no longer lie down and let every crisis go to waste. However, there is one thing that is "flat". I told our operations team that we will not engage in so many marketing tricks. All discounts should be simple. How much each piece of clothing is discounted can be understood at a glance.
▲
Fang Jianhua posted a message on his official account, saying that Inman must "lie down" during this 618. Picture/Screenshot of WeChat official account
In the past few years, when there was a big sale, there were a lot of formulas, including building buildings, attracting people, and redeeming points. Everyone followed the trend, and Yinman also I have done it, but at least from the perspective of an ordinary consumer, I can’t understand it or calculate it. Consumption is so weak this year. If you continue to do this, it will even discourage consumers.
Now 618 is over. The competition this year is not fierce. To put it bluntly, it has been very difficult for many businesses in the past two years. Many brands may not be able to survive. We have maintained growth online, which is similar to my expectations. But offline is indeed worse than I thought, and inventory pressure is increasing. The sell-out rate of Inman's spring and summer products is less than 60%. Some new spring products can only be sold in the autumn. We also need to find some online experts to help us sell unsalable clothes.
On last year’s Double 11, everyone saw that Li Jiaqi sold 10.6 billion yuan in one night, but this does not represent the prosperity of the entire e-commerce industry, because the original sales in the brand and platform’s own live broadcast room were passed on to Li Jiaqi. You I just saw how big the sales volume of the top anchors was, but they didn't make the whole plate bigger, they just redistributed the resources on the plate.
In this year’s 618, platforms no longer emphasize GMV as much as in the past, especially Tmall, which has no sales data and no rankings. This is what I hope for most. Changes we have seen. In the past, platforms competed for GMV, which was a symbol of status in the world, but you have to know that in the end, the competition is still about user reviews, experience, customer unit price and return rate. Only in this way will e-commerce become healthier, not If you blindly rush for sales, you may get nothing in the end.
In fact, you can feel it. , consumers are becoming less and less dependent on big sales. I never buy things on 618 or Double 11. The logistics pressure is so great. I like to buy on a regular basis. Due to the epidemic this year, logistics is not smooth, so some needs are solved offline. , I only bought a shirt and a set of vegetable cutting tools online. Consumers have become more rational, and the platform has also become more rational. For example, now the sales start at 8 pm, but in the past, people always had to stay up until 12 o'clock. I will rush to buy more in the future. I think this is also a good phenomenon. I hope that big promotions will not become normal sales, and that products will not be sold before the big sales, and they will all be shipped during the big sales. Daily sales must be stable, so that they can represent the true level of a brand. I think the effect of big sales is, It may become weaker year by year, and it will continue to decline. This is my personal judgment. Of course, we are also developing on the platform, and we still have to follow the rhythm of the platform, otherwise you will have nothing to eat.
▲
Fang Jianhua showed off two things he purchased online this year. Figure
/
WeChat public account
@
Yinman Laofang
From barbaric growth to painful transformationYinman has reaped the dividends of the Internet platform. Since its establishment in 2008, it was originally an online retail clothing brand. In 2010, we had no experience doing Double 11 for the first time. The system crashed and we oversold over 10,000 orders. At that time, as long as customers complained in groups, points would be deducted and the Inman flagship store would be closed down in minutes. The discount offered at that time was 50% off the entire store, and the merchant's gross profit was also very low. Everyone worked hard and just wanted to hit GMV, and we were no exception.
On Double 11 in 2013, Yinman sold 120 million yuan in one day and won the Hanfu sales championship that year. , became famous in one battle. But we are readyWith more than 400 million, the pressure on cash flow is very high. There is a price to pay for being No. 1. At that time, many people didn’t know the brand and only saw the number and the championship, but in fact we sacrificed profits.
▲
2013
Yinman Double Eleven event site. Figure
/
Screenshot of Inman's official website
I didn't think that was Inman's highlight moment. It's good to have a sense of accomplishment when you achieve something, but don't be overly excited because the challenges are coming soon. In fact, after that, the dividends of platform traffic hit the ceiling, and we had to develop offline.
As early as 2011, Inman had opened 20 offline stores, and no one knew about it. After a year of opening, we quietly closed these stores. By 2015, we made a comeback, and everyone Not optimistic. At that time, a fellow founder made a bet with me, saying that it would definitely not be possible offline, but I insisted at that time that the brand must go offline, otherwise it would be a matter of death early or late.
Our transition to offline was very difficult at the beginning, both online and offline They are completely two systems.
There is no concept of space online, but it can be placed in a store. There are 10,000 styles of clothes, but offline, the area and location of your store determine your rent. Consumers can try and touch your products, and they have to be displayed. Therefore, offline is more important. Series and matching, as well as visual image packaging, while online pays more attention to whether a single product can become a hit.
The advantage of our brands online is cost-effectiveness. Many traditional brands and international big names have not yet entered the e-commerce market, unlike now that they have come. So we also used offline when we first started. We bought that set of clothes, but soon discovered that the number of clothes we sold was more than that of traditional offline Hanfu brands, but the sales volume could not match others, and the price per customer and the joint power were also far behind. Consumers came to us, Maybe one person buys two pieces and buys four pieces from others. The method of making small profits but quick turnover will not work.
So we still had to take the road of branding and transform Inman from an original online brand to a cotton and linen Hanfu brand, focusing on comfort. I don’t think fast fashion like Zara and HM have impacted us. It's very big. Inman has always been pursuing the cotton and linen literary style. In the future, we want to achieve the ceiling of this style, not to be a Zara, nor to be a Uniqlo, the positioning is different.
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Yinman focuses on cotton and linen literary style. Figure
/
Yinman official promotional photo
Our team once mentioned to me that we hope to make N styles and N series, but I rejected them in the end. It’s not that I don’t allow trial and error. Sometimes I let them try one or two series. When they get frustrated, they will come back and become more determined in our own style.
For example, getting younger. Inman's positioning is for women aged 25 to 35, but the team members feel that today's consumers are getting younger and younger, and they want to target people aged 18 to 25. I also let them try it at the time, but after finishing it, They found that young consumers are more price-sensitive and do not buy it. On the contrary, they will weaken our original main age consumers.
Because most people aged 18 to 25 are in college or just out of school, unmarried young women of this age care more about beauty than comfort. They care less about quality and value a certain style more. And Yin Man focuses on comfortable cotton and linen. In fact, it was only after getting married and having a baby that we paid more attention to the comfort of fabrics. These things need to be experienced offline, so our offline products are online. All are sold, but there are more styles online, and the quality requirements for clothes offline are higher.
Yinman cannot cover all female consumers in the country. For example, the northern market is still blank. The seasons and temperatures in the north and the south are different, and the dressing habits and preferences of consumers are also very different. Difference.
I once went to Northeast China on a business trip and visited two or three stores. That’s totally wrong. Stores selling shirts, which are totally unsuitable for the north, have moved to the north. Although shirts are Inman’s best-selling category, northerners rarely wear shirts in winter, and most only wear one. Just wear a base layer and a sweatshirt, and put on a big down jacket. When you get indoors with heating, just take off the jacket.
The KPI I set for myself is to visit 100 Inman stores offline every year. Only when you go and experience it yourself, will all your decisions not be made in the office
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Fang Jianhua's offline store in Inman. Picture
/
WeChat public account
@
Yinman Laofang
The second one is Channels, how can we open more stores? The model we use is that you don’t need to order, it is my brand’s goods. I will distribute the goods to you, and return them to me if they are not sold out. This reduces the pressure on franchisees’ inventory. It broke the traditional ordering fair model. It turned out that many franchisees ordered a lot of goods and made money on the surface. In the end, they made a lot of inventory. This requires high profits, but our profits are not that high. For precision The requirements for online management are relatively high, and various data need to be fed back in a timely manner, such as gross profit, sell-out rate, and conversion rate.
So I have a requirement for franchisees, at least they must be born in the 80s and 90s. Relatively speaking, they are more adaptable to our new business formats and new retail methods. They have no inherent thinking and love to learn. . We will help franchisees choose a store location, including how to light a store, how to move the lines, and how to place displays. We must ensure that the brand has only one style.
The transition from online to offline is really painful, but you have to find a new path. I don't like the word "involution" very much. There is always a chance to roll in at any time. Which era doesn't roll in? But in the end, you will see whether you are swept away by others, or whether you sweep others away, and see who is swimming naked and who is still on the beach. In fact, more than 90% of the "Tao brands" that grew wildly during the same period as Inman are now dead. If they just sit around and eat the dividends, they will fall sooner or later.
It is more important to live longer than to be the first priorityThe epidemic that broke out in early 2020 was a difficult time for all mankind. Each of us is changing in our life, work, mental attitude and business management methods. Specific to the clothing industry, the entire supply chain has been under considerable pressure.
Starting from this year, the prices of raw materials cotton and down have increased. For example, cotton suddenly rose by 20%. In addition, as a labor-intensive industry, the cost of labor is increasing at a rate of 10% every year, and there are fewer and fewer workers available. At this time, the efficiency of the enterprise is crucial. If you don’t want to transfer the pressure to consumers in the form of price increases, you have to do some refined management to deal with the rising costs.
From international to domestic, epidemics, wars, trade conflicts, too many uncertain factors may It will affect the survival of the enterprise. The more times like this, the more an operator needs to think about what he should do and what he should not do.
The most important thing is to maintain cash flow during the epidemic, at least there is money in the account You must be able to afford to pay all employees half a year to a year's salary, half a year is the minimum requirement. Investments that cannot generate sales immediately must be cut down immediately. For example, we have created a lot of ineffective sales channels in the past. For a long time, we only invested little in output, so we have to cut them down in time and focus our energy on the main channels.
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Yin Manyu
<p data-from-paste="1" data-diagnose-id=" The tenth anniversary celebration will be held in 2018. Figure/
Online
Yinman's current sales, divided between online and offline, are about 60% to 40%. If there was no epidemic, it should be able to achieve a 50-50 split. Among online channels, Tmall Taobao accounts for 30% and Douyin 20%. This is our main channel, and Douyin's growth momentum is more fierce. Everyone realizes that this is a place with a lot of traffic, and potential consumers also gather here, but its ecology is also unstable compared to Tmall.
Douyin’s current e-commerce ecosystem is a bit barbaric. it isIf your traffic conversion is calculated per second, every merchant must want to grab traffic. But we have observed that it is not easy to achieve a high degree of matching between people, goods and places for content and live broadcasts. Merchants do not make much money in it, and most of them rely on investment. It is possible that even if you invest in traffic, you will not be able to generate traffic. But there are some experts with good content who can do very well without being cast off, so you have to learn.
I said a long time ago, "What you don't understand will eventually destroy you." Why do you suffer? It’s just that you don’t understand, so you have to keep learning. But at the same time, you must also know your own boundaries, what you can do and what you should not do. I have positioned myself to do one thing well in my life, so I only make clothing, and only Hanfu, and nothing else. After graduating from college with a major in fashion design, I have been making Hanfu.
We also prepared men's clothing, but gave up in the end. At that time, the team made some layouts, but I thought they were completely unacceptable. The fabrics, layouts, and craftsmanship were not up to my requirements, and they didn’t look good either. I feel like I can’t do this with my knowledge and the genes of the current team.
The supply chain systems and styles of Hanfu and men's clothing are completely different. It is a division of labor. Very specialized category. I basically don’t see companies that do well in men’s clothing and Hanfu. There are almost no such cases in the world. For example, Uniqlo's specialty is that it makes basic styles, with no preference for any gender. It can make children's clothing, men's clothing, and Hanfu, and there is no age distinction, because all it makes are basic styles.
Another example is that we have never cooperated with Wei Ya or Li Jiaqi. The big anchors are completely driven by price. For purchases, many merchants may not offer discounts in their own flagship stores, but when it comes to big anchors, they may have to lower the price. The anchors will ask for a lower price than the flagship store. In this case, users who are originally your brand may go directly to their stores. Live broadcast room. He trusts big anchors, not brands.
Each brand may have different ideas and positioning at each stage of development. If you are an emerging brand, relying on Li Jiaqi and Wei Ya to broadcast a show and suddenly increase your popularity will definitely be helpful. But if you It is a very well-known brand, and lowering the price is killing the goose that lays the goose that lays eggs, which is a disservice to the entire brand.
Looking back on the more than ten years I have been working as Inman, I have regretted many things. We used to have a lot of brands, more than 10, but then we cut them all, feeling that we couldn’t control them. Hundreds of millions of tuition fees.
The brands that were axed must be my problem. The team's energy is not enough, and my energy is not enough. What we lack is not capital, but the ability of the team and the ability of the organization. Now our group has nearly a thousand employees, so we can just focus on building the existing brand.
The previous two attempts at IPO were put on hold. In fact, they are still actively filing for registration, and there will be more in the future. Plans to go public. But this process is not something I can control. I can only run the company well, and we cannot control the external environment.
In 2015, we shouted the slogan "Thousands of Stores in Thousand Cities" and opened 10,000 Inman stores in 1,000 cities in 5 years. In fact, it was not as expected. Fast, now there are only more than 500 stores in the country. Later, we changed our mind. We will take our time and build 100 stores.
Yinman still wants to open 100 offline stores this year, and the company will provide a cash subsidy of 15 million. Why? Because at this time, everyone is lying down. It is true that many brands have closed offline stores, and many shopping malls cannot survive and can only reduce rents. I think this is a good opportunity. In the past, we relied on our brand influence.Due to lack of power, you may not be able to enter shopping malls in some bustling areas of the city, or you may not be able to get the best berths, but it is possible at this time.
Still the same point of view, don’t waste every crisis. Some time ago, I was subject to various restrictions and couldn't do anything. But now that the situation has improved, I can no longer lie down and wait. I still have to take the initiative.
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Inman offline stores. Figure
/
Yinman official website
The article is original by Daily People
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