Down jacket brand winter 4 cruel facts, 3 rules of survival

Text|True Detective Alphaseeker Wang Meng.

According to the logic of brand development, after experiencing the "Les Miserables" such as OEM, white label, and extreme cost performance, down jackets should enter a new stage of "branding" and "brand high-end". But a fact that everyone can feel is that the consumption trend has shifted to "low price" - 4 of the top five in the list of Douyin Double 11 hot models this year are down jackets with a price of no more than 700 yuan;Bosideng's interim results show that the revenue of its cost-effective sub-brand Snow Fly increased by 52% year-on-year2%, Chairman Gao Dekang emphasized the need to increase the layout of the Pratt & Whitney down jacket trackOn the other hand, the growth of Canada goose in the Asia-Pacific region has slowed.

This trend is across the board. In the third quarter, the most resistant luxury goods were the first to survive the winter. Kering's revenue, which owns Gucci, YSL and Bottega Veneta, plunged 13 percent, Rolls-Royce deliveries fell 9 percent year-on-year, and Porsche was also cold in China. In stark contrast, the strong growth of Pinduoduo and MINISO is excellent.

The down jacket brand is encountering huge resistance to "going up" - it has encountered a downward trend in the upward stage of the brand. And this year, the down jacket category has to face more challenges such as cost, strong replacement cycle, and cross-border attack of "jackets" and "military coats".

Four harsh realities are more brutal than imagined.

First, the cost**.

In April 2022, the new national standard for down clothing was officially implemented. The new national standard changes the labeling content "down content" to "down content", "down content" refers to the percentage of down content in down and feathers, and "down content" refers to the content percentage of down and down silk in feathers and feathers. For the same batch of down, the value of "down content" is higher than that of "down content". From this detail alone, it can be seen that the new down garment standard has increased the requirements for down quality, and the procurement cost of raw materials has increased.

Affected by the raw materials of duck down and goose down***, the use of goose down filling in brand clothing also further increases the cost of down jackets. According to the data of the down gold network, as of December 5, the white goose down with 90% down content ** has increased from 785 half a year ago26 yuan kg rose to 81686 yuan kg, an increase of about 4%;The unit price of white duck down with 90% down content increased from 377 at the beginning of August62 yuan kg rose to 40448 yuan kg, an increase of more than 7%.

Huaying Agriculture is a leading enterprise in down production, and its customers are Bosideng, Xuezhongfei, Qianrengang, Anta, Xtep, Heilan Home, Seven Wolves, Yichun, etc. In November, it said on the investor interactive platform that the down market this year with different specifications of down ** was better than the same period last year. This also confirms the ** of down raw materials from the upstream point of view.

Second, a weak sense of fashion and a strong renewal cycle.

Due to the high durability and seasonality of down jackets, the replacement cycle of products is relatively long. iiMedia data shows that in the 2023 survey on the number of down jackets owned by Chinese netizens, only 30 consumers buy and update 1-2 down jackets every year21%, more choose to buy a new one in 2 to 3 years, accounting for 6227%。After the down jacket***, people usually think that the more expensive ** represents higher quality and stronger durability, and after buying the expensive down jacket, consumers may further reduce the frequency of purchase.

But in conflict with it, the current down jacket brand is dazzling with a variety of "fashionable" models. It is indeed a trend for functional clothing to move towards a sense of fashion, but the word "fashion" has become a curse when it is placed in the down jacket category. From the first chain, the process of down jackets is more complex, it is difficult to achieve fast fashion "small single quick return", rather than cater to the ever-changing fashion trend, attack from all sides, resulting in inventory squeeze, it is better to concentrate on making a longer life cycle of "big items".

Third, cross-border competition leads to market diversion.

Down jackets are functional products, and their sales are strongly linked to temperature. Under the warm winter, down jacket manufacturers have realized the lack of growth of heavy down jackets, and have instead developed a lot of light and thin down products with light wear and fashionable versions. When the cold is no longer the absolute advantage of down jackets, other categories of winter coats have also taken this opportunity to enter this winter battle.

For example, the military coat in the short ** was worn into the classroom by college students, and after the explosion, it became a hot search on Douyin e-commerce, and the monthly sales of the best-selling link were as high as 50,000+ pieces;Another example is the jacket with both fashion function and identity label, JD data shows that since 2023, the turnover of jackets has increased by 165% year-on-year, and the turnover of jackets during the Double 11 period (October 20-25) has increased by 200% year-on-year.

The sales of jackets are on the hot search.

Fourth, it is difficult to attribute and verify the investment in scientific research and consumers' perception and reputation of the product.

The cold resistance of down jackets provides a wide range of space for down jacket brands to invest in scientific research, and the "sense of science and technology" has also become an important marketing highlight and involution direction for the brand, showing its image and helping the brand to obtain further premiums.

The Dengfeng series of down jackets launched by Bosideng not only uses more windproof, defensive, and anti-friction 3S (Super Storm System) fabrics, but also has a filled goose down with a fill volume of up to 1000 to enhance the warmth of the down jackets, and the price is up to 1490,000 yuan. Another down jacket brand, Skypeople, also hangs in its official website with terms such as "diamond white goose with a filling power of 800, with a down content of 90%", "lightweight technical fabrics", "box down filling technology" and other terms with a sense of science and technology, even the cheapest down jacket costs 3,800 yuan.

But we have to admit that just as all long-termism is difficult to fully attribute and verify in the short term, it is difficult for us to see a direct relationship between R&D investment and sales in a short period of time. This will test the strategic determination and scientific research determination of the down jacket brand even more.

Bosideng Dengfeng series (left), Skypeople down jacket (right).

The cost of the three survival rules, the challenge of internal innovation and the competition of external competitors can be described as "wolves at the front door and tigers at the back door" for domestic down jacket brands, but opportunities are always bred in the crisis, and this winter, down jacket brands also have their own "winter" method.

First of all, from the perspective of product structure, a large number of down jacket brands have carried out more detailed layering of their product matrix and widened the first belt.

For example, the Ai Laiyi brand, which is mainly aimed at women, only costs 211 yuan for a light and thin down jacket in Douyin, and the down jacket style that can be applied to daily commuting starts from 451 yuan with a filling capacity of 100g-150g, and there are 27 models in the same belt, and the upper limit in the store is a long goose down jacket, with a price of 1599 yuan, and there are as many as 43 styles with more than 1,000 yuan, and the product matrix is distinct.

Qianrengang brand situation is similar to Aileyi, thin down jackets and down vests** at the lowest of 204 yuan, the main products are styles below 1,000 yuan, and there are 35 styles above 1,000 yuan, of which the most expensive style ** is as high as 3999 yuan.

The cheapest down products in the store are 99 yuan for down vests and light down jackets, and the most expensive style is 1799 yuan, including this, there are only 3 down jackets of more than 1,000 yuan in Yalu, and the styles are concentrated in the ** belt below 1,000 yuan.

From the point of view of sales, the products between 300 yuan and 600 yuan of Ai Laiyi and Yalu brands are the "mainstay" of the store, with the highest sales of 20,000 styles, and driven by live broadcasting, some styles of more than 1,000 yuan have been sold in hundreds.

Ai Laiyi (left), Qianrengang (middle), Yalu (right), Douyin*** sales.

Secondly, continue to maintain online market share and re-evaluate the value of offline stores.

For the current down jacket market, online is not only the marketing focus of down jacket brands, but also the main sales channel, and its importance can be seen. Various down apparel brands have also expanded their online share by building a cross-platform and storecast account matrix, so as to achieve a wider range of user reach and multi-dimensional accurate conversion.

For example, Duck Duck Down Jacket has increased its live broadcast on the Xiaohongshu platform this yearGao Fan's store broadcast matrix on Douyin has also reached 16 accounts, covering Gao Fan Official***Gao Fan Children's Official***Gao Fan** Official*** Gao Fan** Official***, etc., of which Gao Fan *** has the highest number of fans, reaching 15220,000, and there are 7 down jackets with sales of more than 1,000 yuan in the storeAs of September 30, 2023, the Bosideng brand has added more than 3 million followers and more than 900,000 new members on Tmall and JD.comIt has more than 37.6 million fans and 14.6 million members on Tmall and JD.com. At the same time, the Bosideng brand has added more than 1 million fans on the Douyin platformThe Bosideng brand has more than 9 million followers on the Douyin platform.

However, it is an indisputable fact that online traffic is getting more expensive and business is getting more and more volatile, so brands have rethought the value of offline.

Taking Bosideng as an example, its approach to offline channel construction is relatively comprehensive: on the one hand, it closed inefficient stores, and as of September 30, the total number of regular retail outlets (excluding peak season stores) of the down apparel business decreased by 110 to 3,313 compared with the end of the previous fiscal yearOn the other hand, it focuses on improving the efficiency of single stores, according to the management, this year Bosideng has focused on more than 500 TOP stores offline, which contribute more than half of the business, and starting in October this year, the management will also go deep into the lower-tier market to reorganize the store plan.

Stores are critical to Bosideng's sales value, while for other brands, stores have other meanings.

Descente opened a landmark store covering an area of 1,200 square meters in Sanlitun, integrating archives, museums, ski resorts and other scenes, and the store has become a window to display the brand imageGao Fan opened a luxury boutique to anchor high-net-worth consumers with geography and enhance brand power.

Of course, in the context of the integration of online and offline traffic, the user operation of down jacket brands also shows a trend of integrated operation.

Yaya has introduced its own smart new retail in the use of ** stores, and further activates local traffic through the combination of "regional traffic experts + intra-city traffic accurately matching the nearest store", attracts online users to offline stores, and then locks users with "strong experience".

On the opening day of Yaya Shuyang at the end of September, dozens of Shuyang local experts came to Yaya brand *** to check in and release exclusive welfare coupons, which attracted many fans and consumers to the store for consumption on the same day.

The opening of the Duck Duck Shuyang store Source: Duck Duck **.

Third, adjust the brand marketing strategy and take the opportunity to expand the brand voice.

At present, Yaya has formed a star matrix of Wang Yibo, Chen Zheyuan, Lei Cheng, Zhou Yiran, Tong Liya, and Zhao Lusi as brand spokespersons, Wan Qian as brand ambassadors, and Chen Yihan, Wang Herun, and Chen Muchi as brand friends. Among them, there are not only powerful actors who set the tone for the brand, but also cutting-edge traffic artists who are in the hit drama to attract young consumers for the brand, planting grass and building the brand tonality at the same time, killing two birds with one stone.

In addition, down jacket brands are also actively seeking international forces to endorse the brand, such as Duck Duck, Alayi and other brands debuted at Milan Fashion Week in September, Gao Fan and the British royal family jointly launched a haute couture model, Bosideng and former Hermès designers launched a co-branded down jacket, all of which are to demonstrate the strength of the brand and penetrate the brand's high-end cognition.

However, at present, the down jacket marketing cases we see are relatively conventional, and there is a lack of explosive stalks that have become a hot spot for the whole people, which may also be the direction in which down jacket brands need to be more open and innovative, after all, in terms of products and channels, there are not many actions that can achieve immediate results.

Duck duck down jacket brand spokesperson matrix.

From the perspective of the pattern, the down jacket brand has not changed much from last year. According to the "Tmall Double 11 2023 Apparel Brand Sales List", Bosideng's cumulative GMV ranked second, and the Duck Duck and Snow Fly brands ranked seventh and ninth respectively from last year's TOP20In the brand **Double 11 brand list released by Douyin (October 20-October 31), five brands of Yaya, Bosideng, Gaofan, Yalu, and Xuezhongfei were on the TOP10.

However, the competition of down jackets is far more than down jacket brands, Uniqlo, Muji, lululemon, zara and other brands have down jacket categories, and under the operation of all seasons, ordinary clothing brands often have stronger brand power to occupy the minds of users.

This seems to be another "bitter industry", * low frequency, mental penetration is difficult to sustain, and market expansion is difficult to form a big offensive, but down jackets as a winter just need category still have a broad market increment waiting for gold diggers to excavate, which also requires the brand to continue to cultivate, with "professional" as the weight of the brand's long-term survival and development.