Zhongxin.com client Beijing, June 12 (Zuo Yukun) You can see a trendy store called IT in the bustling business districts of many cities. Many people may not be familiar with this brand, but they may know its boss, female star Qiu Shuzhen.
The aura of the goddess failed to become an eternal amulet of IT. Recently, the IT Group's fiscal year 2019/2020 performance report shows that the company has suffered a loss of 746 million Hong Kong dollars.
It store in Beijing. Photo by Zuo Yukun
With a loss of more than 700 million Hong Kong dollars a year, it is difficult for a "profit team" to make money
Not "information technology", not even "it" in English. The full name of the IT Group is "Income Team", which bluntly stated the simplest and most eternal wish of everyone-just want to make money.
Not only does the slogan sound loud, IT is serious about making money. As the industry recognized "the originator of tide brand", IT holds IT and it two brand lines.
IT's business scope is high-end luxury brands around the world and some designer brands with relatively high prices, with prices ranging from several thousand to tens of thousands of yuan; and it focuses on young products, selling young trendy brands in Europe, Japan and South Korea. Mainly, most commodities are within a thousand yuan.
The IT brand matrix is rich, covering multiple consumption classes such as luxury, light luxury, and the general public. The layout of the commercial layout is not vast. However, this still cannot stop the decline in performance.
In the IT Group’s final annual results as of February 29, 2020, the performance for the fiscal year 2019/2020 was not satisfactory: total turnover decreased by 12.6% year-on-year to HK$7,719.4 million, including regional and brand segment revenues. The data of several important indicators in the company fell, and the net loss reached 745.8 million Hong Kong dollars.
IT Group said that several major operating markets have been hit hard because of the increased instability of Hong Kong society last year, the slowdown of global economic growth, the Sino-US trade disputes and the outbreak of the new coronary pneumonia epidemic.
IT Group currently has more than 800 global stores. This fiscal year saw a net increase of 5 stores in Mainland China, but closed 28 stores in Hong Kong and Macau.
What has happened to the enlightenment of a generation of fashion?
The boss started from scratch, "purchasing" represents the legend
The experience of Shen Jiawei, the founder of IT Group, is not legendary.
Born in Hong Kong, China in 1968, poor family, started working after graduating from high school. Work in the bank during the day, open a small shop at night, and do two jobs to support the family.
It was this small shop that later turned into an IT group for the famous listed company.
It store in Beijing. China New Network Photo by Zuo Yukun
The store’s idea of making money is simple: Shen Jiawei found that Hong Kong has a strong concept of fashion, and many foreign fashion brands are sought after by young people in Hong Kong. However, the fashion industry in Hong Kong was not mature at that time. Some big foreign brands had a huge difference between Europe and Hong Kong. To buy clothing from foreign brands, it was necessary to spend several times or even dozens of times the original price.
Shen Jiawei smelled the business opportunities and found many flight attendants flying international routes with her network resources accumulated in her work in the bank and asked them to bring the goods back. Through this resale and resale, Shen Jiawei made a big profit soon.
Speaking of which, you may find that this is not the current purchase?
The operation path is exactly the same, the only difference is that Shen Jiawei is a few decades earlier than today's purchasing.
In 1988, Shen Jiawei and sister Shen Xiuhui opened an IT company in the Elizabeth Building in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong. At the beginning of the establishment, it was only a small shop of about 200 square feet. It included many world-renowned fashion brands and gradually developed into one of the largest fashion groups in Hong Kong and Macau First, it is also the oldest Chaozhou Group in Asia.
Marry a generation of goddess, "carry goods" brings the peak
"Become the CEO, marry Bai Fumei and go to the peak of life." I have to say that Shen Jiawei's career and life have ushered in a new level of transition, which is to marry "Bai Fumei" Qiu Shuzhen.
In the movie "God of Gambler 2", Qiu Shuzhen's sitting at the table and the title card in her mouth became one of the most classic beautiful moments in Hong Kong's film history, and Qiu Shuzhen has also become a generation of beautiful people who have been dreaming by countless people.
After a lapse of several decades, Qiu Shuzhen, who was over half a year old and has been in the shadows for many years, can still defeat the veteran celebrities and Xiaohua Xiaohua, and became the first goddess in the mind of straight men in the Hupu community.
The picture shows Qiu Shuzhen in "New Shaolin Five Ancestors" stills. Image source: ICphoto
In 1999, Qiu Shuzhen was married to Shen Jiawei, setting another record for a star to marry into a giant. It is reported that the Ferrari F50 wedding car used at the time of marriage is only four in Hong Kong, and the price was more than 5 million.
After marriage, Qiu Shuzhen can be said to be doing all she can to help her husband. For the listing of IT, he will not hesitate to deposit all his savings-IT Group's prospectus shows that "Ms. Qiu Shuzhen's bank deposits" used to be one of the collateral. At the same time, she personally acted as a spokesperson for the image, and even flew to Europe, Japan and South Korea all year round to pick up goods for the company.
The star effect coupled with extraordinary taste, the brands approved by Qiu Shuzhen's try-on are mostly in line with the tastes of Hong Kong people, and are sold as soon as they are introduced.
Speaking of which, you may find out again, is this not what the celebrities now bring?
"Purchase + bring goods" double killing, the couple can be said to have known the way to make money decades ago.
Qiu Shuzhen, who owned 25% of the company's shares at the beginning of the listing, had a net worth of more than HK$2 billion by the peak of the IT group's stock price in 2011, far exceeding the net worth of many stars during the same period.
However, the stock price of the IT group has fallen to about HK$1.3, and the company’s total market value is less than HK$1.6 billion. Qiu Shuzhen’s net worth has naturally shrunk. As the saying goes, most people can't keep it. Beauty is late, a generation of "overlord" negative income.
When the "tide" water hit, Qianlang turned over the boat?
Not just IT, the ebb of the old fashion brand seems to have become a curse in the fashion industry recently.
In May, ESPRIT, which was brought by Lin Qingxia, announced that it would close all stores in China; in March, the old Navy of GAP Group officially closed all sales channels; in October 2019, Forever 21 filed for bankruptcy and closed in China, Japan and other markets Shop exit.
In stark contrast to the sad exit of the old brands, the new fashion brand has moved from the niche to the public and has become one of the most profitable businesses.
According to the Nielsen's big data report on street fashion, in recent years, the growth rate of street fashion consumption has reached 62%, which is 3.7 times that of non-fashion brands; McKinsey's "2019 Global Fashion Format Report" also shows that Chinese young people are in the trend brand in 2019. Spending on 35 billion to 38 billion US dollars, has surpassed the United States to become the world's largest fashion market.
It store in Beijing. Photo by Zuo Yukun
But IT apparently did not receive this dividend.
In the opinion of the industry, the digital era has brought more channels for clothing companies to contact foreign trends. From the rise of e-commerce to many buyer stores, IT, which has profited from the time difference between domestic and foreign trends, has encountered difficult challenges in recent years.
Today, there are endless collections of buyers, overseas purchases are quick and affordable, and all kinds of emerging niche brands around the world can easily buy them. IT groups that rely too much on offline physical stores have once maintained the advantages of collections.
Of course, IT realizes that its substitutability is becoming stronger and stronger, and in recent years it is also seeking new calling methods.
In 2017, IT launched a new concept store. The concept of a store integrating fashion, catering, beauty, and lifestyle products was welcomed by local consumers in Hong Kong, but it did not cause much splash in the mainland.
On the online side, in addition to the normal operation of the mainland's layout of e-commerce, IT also signed star Wu Yifan as a global spokesperson in 2017, hoping to keep the brand "younger" and attract post-90s consumers.
But among the rising fast fashion brands and the turbulent "national tide" forces, these IT initiatives still seem to have little effect.
The beautiful woman in memory still sits on the table with a card in his hand, scorching in red. But in this world, people have never been good for thousands of days, and flowers are not red for hundreds of days.
The front wave is too late to be nostalgic, the back wave is already rolling. As one netizen said: This may be the essence of fashion. (Finish)