9 problems thinking about Online clothing not do well

As the most mature segment of online development, clothing e-commerce is also facing the impact of change, the rapid development of clothing e-commerce under the exposure of some problems. In addition to what we often say in the mouth of the live e-commerce, private domain traffic and other aspects, back to the essence: online stores, how to deal with the problem, and what is worthy of attention to think about?

Table of Contents

Single model to win?

In 1992, with the film “Lover”, Leung Ka-fai made many French girls swoon over him. It opens with the following.

“I have grown old. One day, in a hall full of people, a man came up to me, he took the initiative to introduce himself and said to me: I know you and will always remember you. You were young then, and everyone said you were beautiful. Now, I am here specifically to tell you that for me, I think you are more beautiful than you were when you were young, and I love your current battered face more than your youthful appearance.”

For online shopkeepers, the style will always be out of fashion, only the brand, to become a long-lasting lover of customers.

Registered trademark, group goods, apply for store, baby on the shelves, open for sale. This is the basic steps of our online store. Then, we naturally fall into the title optimization, promotion, as well as the search, drilling, to create a burst of research.

All of this work is important. Network as the most promising brand marketing channels, mastering these channels characteristics of marketing tools, it is very necessary.

But think about it: I can push every baby in the store, on the first three pages of the search? I can make 20% of the babies are explosive? The answer is obviously not. We do not deny the value of pop-ups, but want to always rely on pop-ups profit, which is too unscientific.

Think back again, completely for the optimization of individual products, that is not the traditional offline wholesale model? A single paragraph to win ah! But why there are so many, by the wholesale to earn the first bucket of gold boss, to do the brand?

The answer is actually simple, focus on a name (trademark), than one style in turn to push, to cost-effective ah! There are still times when the pop-ups are off the shelves.

Who has a pop production line, please private message a to me? Moreover, the brand has a premium, do not have to fight the price, easy to spread, to retain a lot of the cost of old customers. The brand does well, but also can become an intangible asset, used to attract the franchise distribution, and continue to add value. The benefits are too many.

If you want the long term, or rely on the brand.

What is a valuable repeat customer?

According to some figures, the investment of maintaining a regular customer and bringing in a new customer is 1:6. The actual ratio should be much larger than that. Because the old customers not only repeat their own purchase, but also help us to promote. This output is impossible to calculate. What kind of old customers, to have value? As long as the deal has been counted? Not really.

By the low price promotion to attract customers, is not a valuable old customers.

In them to engage in old customer marketing, a large extent is a waste of energy and investment. Or the same as the above question, people just with you a little, you have to pull people to renew the love, this is really a little difficult.

Can advertising smash a brand?

Direct traffic is used to drive traffic to a single product, and drill-through can promote a store. They are both advertisements.

There is also a percentage of paid traffic and free traffic. How does free traffic come from? The natural ranking of the search. There are only a few tofu blocks, desperately squeeze. What baby usually has a chance to squeeze up? The store sells the best pop-ups. How do you make the best of it? The straight-through car, drilling, on the activity, brush, all the 18 martial arts used. This is not or advertising money smashed out of it!

So, even if the entire store’s ROI reaches 1:4, the actual cost of advertising, but also far more than 25%. This is basically more than the advertising budget of traditional brands.

Are there other more cost-effective advertising channels?

There are. And everyone has one. It’s the product itself. It’s hard to have your ads bombarded overhead every day, but as long as business is going on, your merchandise is flowing day in and day out.

Have you ever seen a T-shirt with three sleeves?

So, the big brand is not smashed out by advertising.

First there is a good thing, and then widely known, the product is always the root.

LV created a flat-top suitcase, solve the era of steamboat transport, people folded the difficulties of the dome suitcase, which is the beginning of fame; Burberry’s waterproof trench coat to make it with the First World War and rise to fame; the lack of materials after World War II, GUCCI innovative bamboo material applied to the bag, the classic bamboo bag to make GUCCI fame.

History and jeans, bikinis, slant cutting, faux leather and other innovative applications, the achievement of many brands.

The problem is that these products on the revolution, how accessible and unattainable ah. A T-shirt with one front piece and one back piece and two cuffs. Have you ever seen a T-shirt with three sleeves?

The answer may not be in the T-shirt, the physical attributes of the product itself, but in the T-shirt as a commodity, other commodity attributes.

How much work do we have to do around a T-shirt? Design, procurement, packaging, pricing, series planning, shelf time, visual performance, promotion methods, with the combination. All these work, so that a factory flow down the T-shirt, complete the transformation into the distribution field: from product, to commodity.

Accordingly, this T-shirt has different dimensions of commodity attributes: style attributes, time attributes, price attributes and so on. Any one of the attributes of innovation, may make your T-shirt, different.

Or for example.

In the early years, ZARA’s innovation lies in the merchandise attributes, the supply method and presentation of creativity – a small amount, a variety, fast supply, the form of the biggest brand (store location and store design) to present the most affordable products.

These combinations of product attributes satisfy the vanity of people’s hearts.

Uniqlo’s innovation lies in the creativity in many aspects of product attributes, such as physical properties of products, product sequences, and presentation – the development and use of ultra-light and warm fabrics, the basic sequences ……

What ultimately made it possible was the most appropriate time: the 20 years when the Japanese economy was lost. Affordable, practical, versatile without losing status. So during this period, it would be such a clothing brand owner who became the richest man in Japan, rather than a finance, real estate, or entertainment industry big shot.

The value of the commodity’s attributes is closely related to the social environment and public psychology.

If you can use your creativity in any of the attributes of the commodity, then you have a great chance to go farther than others.

Got a little inspiration?

Is it you they remember, or is it the e-commerce?

“This dress is really nice, who’s it from?”

“Taobao.”

If customers communicate with their friends in this way, it means that we are still in the stage of making goods, far from the brand.

“This dress is really nice, who is it from?”

“Inman.”

That’s right.

Only follow the market?

Taobao, a pop-up, there will be thousands of the same models appear, spelling the speed and price of doing goods. This is not really based on market demand and develop products. At best, it is chasing hot spots.

“Mom says life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get.” The line from “Forrest Gump” is regarded as a classic.

In everyone’s heart, there is a desire for a little excitement and surprise that is unexpected. And this little surprise is exactly what we want to do.

Your money, is it enough?

The law of twenty-eight is magical and ubiquitous. Online is the same: 20% of people make money, 80% of people accompany. They are hardworking and not short of ideas, only, on the day the cash flow dried up, had to regret leaving the field.

In the mother-in-law’s business, love can take square meters to calculate, let alone waiting to pay taxes on the palm? All affairs are ultimately reflected in the money coming in and going out: who, when, what way, how much money (negative represents expenses, positive represents income).

As for why is who, why is this time, why is this way, why is so much money, that is three A4 paper can be drawn full, a qualified boss should be the business ideas.

Give an example.

First purchase, or first pricing? Many people are getting the goods, and then pricing. For example, a T-shirt cost 25, how much to sell it? Look at the market situation. Well, search to see, data analysis. 65 is the main transaction price band.

Well, I attack the cost performance, 55 to sell, in addition to 10 yuan shipping, 25 cost, each piece can still earn 20 yuan! Can not run the volume? And then reduce 10, 45 to sell! If not, I 35 package shipping is not a loss, earn popularity!

So down, the corresponding gross margin, respectively, 55%, 44%, 28% (gross margin = (selling price – cost) / selling price), minus the postage net profit margin of 36%, 22%, 0.

It should be the other way around. Do your market research first, determine the retail price, and then work backwards on the cost.

For example, the budget 25% of the promotion costs, 15% of the packaging postage rent labor and other costs, 10% of the net profit, then the average gross profit margin of the product must be at least 50%, if the main retail price is determined at 45 yuan, then the main product purchase unit price, it can not exceed 22.5 yuan.

T-shirts above this price can not be produced or taken.

Money, for sure, is there. Money, definitely, is not enough.

Planning well, in order to do what should be spent, the tight tight. The loss of care often leads to out-of-control operations. Therefore, no cost concept of the designer, is not a qualified designer.

And the design without planning, that is called graffiti.

The number in the budget table, to a certain extent, has decided the fabric of the T-shirt, and the pattern on it, whether it is embroidered, diamond-encrusted, or printed.

Business without a budget is irresponsible to your money and time, but also a waste of social resources.

Do brand, how are all earn?

There is a common saying in the apparel industry: do brand, how are all earn. Do a good job to earn a lot of cash, do not earn a warehouse stock.

Everyone loves cash, inventory is always the biggest black hole that eats up profits. Listed companies on the financial report, inventory is always made into assets, but savvy financial investors, always love to look over their cash flow.

Unless the e-commerce business to change the rules, all stores mandatory pre-sale system, or sales to production, will always be a myth.

How many stores are crushed by a single event? Stockpiling leads to inventory.

How to reduce? By the dynamic adjustment in the operation.

For example, the principle of stocking not stocking in purchasing.

In merchandise planning, products are always divided into different series. After the sale, there will always be best-selling and lagging models. The advantage of e-commerce is that the data is timely. It takes less than two weeks, is a mule is a horse out of the slippery slope.

Find out the relative best-selling models, analyze the style points, and the design team immediately extends the new series of styles and terminates the listing of the same series of products that are not selling.

The principle of sourcing for materials and not for models is particularly important. Terminate the purchase of the slow-selling models and use the fabric for the new collection. This is a common way to bring sales back on track.

Even if the goods have been purchased into the warehouse according to the plan, according to the mechanism of product planning, once there is a serious unplanned slow sale, you should immediately stop the listing of similar subsequent products and develop new models that are relatively best-selling in time to replace them.

If losses have already been incurred, the rational approach is to minimize the negative impact and increase the positive revenue. After all, it is time that is the invisible yet largest financial indicator in the budget sheet.

Stop losses in time and find ways to expand profits within the budget cycle. It’s what means that you have the opportunity to move on to the next budget cycle that turns the tide. Time is the biggest cost.

There is no Tao brand, only brand

Online and offline, the nature of business is the same. Don’t be frightened by the traditional brand flocking online.

Advertising + channels to support a name, that is not the real brand. When advertising stops, the channel advantage is no longer, the so-called advantage is no longer. The only advantage of traditional enterprises, is the money (or so rude high, the money is burned faster online oh ~ ~).

The Internet is perhaps the most likely to achieve a number of real Chinese clothing brands. There are no offline layers of channels, the middleman constraints. The development of products and the use of products seamlessly, timely and comprehensive feedback, are conducive to a real desire to operate the brand, will focus on the product, image, promotion. And these, in turn, are the roots of the brand.

Budget and creative mechanism are rational, creativity is emotional. For a brand, they are equally important.

There is a line from “The Lion King”: “All life in the world lives in a delicate balance. And at the same time, the young lion says, “This is my land, and if I don’t fight for her, who will?”

Even a one-man business with a rational mind and a creative mind is a business in the modern sense.

And a reckless and disorganized company, even if it is large, is only a workshop of enormous size.

Pan Pan

Pan Pan

Hi, I'm Pan Pan, the founder of BoloTex , I've been running a factory in China that makes Print Fabric for 10 years now, and the purpose of this article is to share with you the knowledge related to Fabric from a Chinese supplier's perspective.

Start Your Business By  small MOQ  With Custom Print Fabric

FABRIC: 200+ 

MOQ:100 Meters Per Design

DLIVERY : 5-12 Days 

MATERIAL : Polyester, Cotton,Acetate,Silk ……

DESIGNS : Millions available

Try to import Hot Selling Fabric From China

Subscribe to get 《the Top fashion drawing guide》

This guide collects all kinds of fashion drawing patterns by 200 years of historical records, whatever by handwriting or computer graphics