Lululemon'S Offline Stores Appear In China Four Years Later

More than a year after opening the Tmall store, Lululemon's offline store finally appeared in China before the end of 2016, four years after its initial move to China (first entering Hong Kong and Shanghai through Yoga Showroom). However, the promise of "launching Chinese websites in 2015" made by its general manager in Asia has not yet been realized.

　　 There's nothing wrong with coming to China for a share

According to the World Clothing, Shoes and Hats Network, Lululemon is a Sportswear The company, starting from the high-end female yoga product market segment, is positioned as a "new middle class" consumer group, who are less price sensitive and more concerned about quality. It opened its first independent store in November 2000 and went public in 2007. From 2007 to 2008, Lululemon's sales reached 350 million US dollars, becoming "the first professional sport in Canada" brand ”。

At present, Lululemon has more than 300 stores in the world. In the three months ended October 30, 2016, net income increased by 13.5% year on year to $544.4 million, gross profit increased by 24% year on year to $278.4 million, and net profit increased by 28.5% year on year to $68.3 million. The Group's net profit in nine months increased by 12.5% year-on-year to USD167.2 million, and its net income increased by 14.6% year-on-year to USD1.55 billion.

Lululemon's desire for the Chinese market can be seen from his actions in recent months. In addition to opening three stores in Shanghai IFC International Finance Center, Jing'an Kerry Center and Beijing Sanlitun in mid December 2016, he has held large-scale activities in Chengdu and other places to test the water temperature in second and third tier cities.

In December 2016, a senior executive in Lululemon Asia Pacific publicly said that China would be a focus of development next, which was given high expectations by the company. He pointed out that the yoga trend in China is rising, some yoga courses have become very popular, and people have begun to wear yoga clothes and tight exercise pants to meet friends.

Analysts also pointed out that at present, the development speed of China's yoga market is three times that of the United States. Nike、Adidas、Under Amour、 Decathlon and other large sporting goods brands have launched sports underwear Yoga clothes And other products, even Chinese Antarctica and Langsha also joined in. Lululemon cannot miss this market opportunity.

On November 18, 2015, the official flagship store of Lululemon Tmall officially opened, offering yoga, running, leisure, training and other types of products. New products will be put on the shelves about every two weeks, and will gradually be launched in the same style as those in the North American market. The official once pointed out that Lululemon's global development strategy has always been very cautious, and the opening of Tmall stores is very important for its entry into the Chinese market, because Tmall platform has gathered a huge new middle class group in China, which is very consistent with Lululemon's customer positioning.

　　 What's the result of more than one year's operation?

Admittedly, entering Tmall is easier than opening offline stores or running a Chinese website, but can it really help Lululemon open up the Chinese market? Especially in this high-end yoga sportswear field. You should know that Nike and Adidas have accumulated deep into the bone marrow for many years in China Armour also chose a strategy that seemed more "sincere" - offline stores, Tmall stores, JD stores, Chinese official websites and other channels, and invited NBA star Stephen in 2015 Curry came to China for brand promotion.

However, when opening the official flagship store of Lululemon Tmall, according to the World Clothing, Shoes and Hats Network, the business is a little lonely. From November 2015 to the present, more than a year ago, there were only more than 1300 brand concerns. The products ranking first and second in the total sales volume were yoga mats, and the highest sales volume was only more than 2000. The monthly sales of many major products were single digits, and many products were 0.

In terms of pricing, Lululemon's strategy seems to have gone too far. For example, a women's tight sports trousers with high monthly sales at present, the price of Tmall flagship store is 850 yuan, and the price of similar products in Nike official flagship store is 400-600 yuan, Under The price of similar products in Armour's official flagship store is between 500-700 yuan. Other products, such as women's basic sports vest, sports Bra and even low tech sports hair band, are also more expensive than Nike and Under Armour。 At the same time, the price of products in Lululemon Tmall is almost 150-180% of its English official website.

In terms of social media marketing, Lululemon's current achievements are not very encouraging. The reporter checked his official microblog and found that his account was opened on November 25, 2016, with only more than 2000 fans. This is incomparable with Nike and Adidas, which have hundreds of thousands and millions of micro blog fans Armour also has 290000 fans on its official microblog.

In addition, the headline articles of Lululemon WeChat official account in recent months (November 2016 January 2017) are almost thousands of readers (up to 6000), and are not updated every day. Compared with the same period, Under Almost all Armour WeChat articles are read more than 10000, Adidas is tens of thousands of levels, and Nike often has 10W+.

　 How many chances are there to win when the blue ocean has turned into a red ocean?

Perhaps it was because Lululemon realized that it was naive to try to move the Chinese market just by opening a store in Tmall that he opened three offline stores in mainland China. At the same time, it hopes to help more Chinese consumers establish emotional ties with the brand by sponsoring local yoga coaches and holding community activities.

However, the challenge before Lululemon is obvious.

According to the research data of Mintel, a global market research organization, there are about 10 million people participating in yoga practice in China at present, which is growing at three times the speed of the United States. On the Double 11 in 2015, when Tiantian Cat sold 180000 yoga mats and 150000 yoga clothes, the overall sales of yoga products increased by 101% year on year, making it the fastest growing branch of all sports products year on year. However, yoga clothing industry has a huge incremental market in China, but also faces inevitable fierce competition.

In addition to Nike Adidas、Under In addition to Armour, these international sports brands, ZARA、H&M、 Fast fashion brands such as Uniqlo, lingerie brands such as Victoria's Secret, Antarctica and Langsha have all participated in the competition, and some local emerging small and beautiful yoga brands are also coming. For example, at the end of 2016, the yoga brand Wake, which was founded just one year ago, announced that it had completed a round A financing of 20 million yuan. While "selling", hiyoga also continued to develop a "yoga life hall" with the attributes of media and training institutions.

In this situation of intense competition, the market is constantly changing. According to public information, China's yoga clothing market has gradually entered the fashion trend. Xia Pengcheng, CEO of Youkalian, has pointed out that in the past year, people's pursuit of yoga clothes has changed from Zen clothes popular three or four years ago to clothes for sports and fitness; In terms of fabrics, fast drying and elastic fabrics are more and more popular; In terms of color, in addition to the classic black and white, color printing is particularly popular. Wang Qiang, the founder of hiyoga, also said that the current yoga clothes will no longer only meet the needs of classroom use. Many people bring yoga clothes into their daily life, which has become a sign of fashion and health.

In contrast, Nike, Adidas and other major sports brands are deeply rooted in China, with a broad user base and brand awareness; Fast fashion brands such as ZARA and H&M hold a considerable number of young consumers; While professional yoga brands such as Wake and hiyoga quickly occupy users' minds by means of localized means such as short video teaching, live broadcast, social media marketing, and yoga studio construction. Lululemo, who has hesitated in China for several years and has only begun to take real action now, must realize that the wind has changed. How to steal Chinese users from these competitors in the future is not a simple problem.

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