China News Service Client, Beijing, July 11th (Zuo Yukun) When it comes to the famous underwear brand in China, Antarctic people count as one. If you have Antarctic thermal underwear in your closet, please cherish it, because it is difficult to buy the products produced by the Antarctic brand now.
Searching for "Antarctic" on the e-commerce platform, you will find that underwear is not all of it. The business scope of the Antarctic people has expanded to clothing, home textiles, outdoor supplies and even food, etc. Are these "Antarctic people" real?
Data map.
There are no tags that Antarctic people cannot sell
"My mother bought a kettle and it looked like the Antarctic brand. Why did the Antarctic people show anything?"
Recently, some consumers posted such a complaint on Weibo, which attracted many people to watch. Everyone found that the brand of "Antarctic" has already jumped out of the "comfort circle" of underwear and began to "kill the Quartet".
Generally speaking, a brand has only one official store on an e-commerce platform. However, if you search for "Antarctic" on Taobao Tmall, all kinds of flagship stores, official stores, specialty stores, direct stores, and factory stores can't be pulled at all; as for the scope of business, they are eaten and worn It is the most dazzling e-commerce brand in China.
So which of these shops are Li Kui and which are Li Gui?
The answer is that it can be said to be true or "false". "True" is because they have obtained official authorization from Antarctic people; "false" is because they are not the original Antarctic "self".
Taobao screenshot.
Back to the history of Antarctic people. In 1998, Shanghai Nanjiren Textile Development Co., Ltd. was established, and the "Nanjiren" brand, which started with thermal underwear and was well-known by Andy Lau, was formally established.
With good product quality and crazy TV commercials, Antarctic people have become well-known brands in China. Even now, when asked about the most impressive thermal underwear brands after the 70s, 80s, and 90s, many people first responded as "Antarctic."
In 2008 became a turning point for Antarctic people. On its tenth birthday, the financial crisis ended the golden decade of the textile industry. Zhang Yuxiang, the founder of Antarctic who graduated from East China University of Political Science and Law, decided to make the transition and start a business model of brand authorization.
To put it simply, Antarctic people do not produce commodities, they are just porters of tags.
In 2008, the Antarctic people cut off the two heavy asset links of production and sales, sold all factories that have operated for more than ten years, only retained the "Antarctic people" brand, and launched the Antarctic Community (NGTT) business mode.
The former "Antarctic man" is gone, replaced by the enhanced version of "Antarctic e-commerce".
There have been media reports that taking Tmall as an example, as long as you pay a deposit of 100,000 yuan and a fee of about 8 yuan per tag, whether you are a massage chair worth nearly 10,000 yuan or a disposable mask for fifty cents, you can Join the Antarctic family.
Fortune password, hidden in the depth of traffic
In terms of Antarctic profits alone, authorization is a good business that is effortless and profitable.
In April 2020, Antarctic e-commerce released its 2019 annual report. During the reporting period, the company's total operating income was 3.907 billion yuan, an increase of 16.52% year-on-year; the net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies was 1.206 billion yuan, an increase of 36.06% year-on-year.
In the composition of operating income, 31.76% is the brand comprehensive service business, with an amount of about 1.24 billion yuan; 1.68% is the dealer brand authorization business, with an amount of about 65 million yuan. The total revenue related to brand licensing is about 1.3 billion yuan, which is why the industry is called "selling trademarks" to earn 1.3 billion a year.
Image source: Antarctic e-commerce 2019 annual report.
Where did so much money come from? The Antarctic e-commerce annual report shows that during the reporting period, the company has a total of 1113 cooperative suppliers, including about 500 main cooperative suppliers; a total of 4513 cooperative dealers and 5,800 authorized stores.
Why are these 5,800 shops willing to spend money for Antarctic people?
A person in the business consulting industry told ChinaNews that for a small business, having an Antarctic aura means more traffic and a higher premium.
"Offline shopping malls, if you are an unknown brand, shopping malls will not let you settle in. If you have a little money on hand, many small brands will choose to join the big brands at this time,'attach' to a big brand to enter the mall The logic is the same online, and entry into the e-commerce platform requires a certain threshold, and Antarctic people provide opportunities for these small bosses." The consultant said.
Pay with one hand, authorize with one hand
Some media once calculated such an account: the jeans produced by a certain clothing family business are sold for 79 yuan in their flagship store. But after hanging the Antarctic tag, the two are sold in Antarctic stores for 129 yuan. In addition to the 8 yuan standard fee, it also made more than 30 yuan in profits.
Zhang Yuxiang once admitted that the Antarctic people embarked on the road of trademark authorization, imitating the practice of another warm clothing giant-Hengyuanxiang.
As early as 1991, Hengyuanxiang began to explore the "consortium model", using trademarks to cooperate with factories, and the other party used Hengyuanxiang's brand trademark, and the profit was divided by half. By 2007, Hengyuanxiang had developed nearly 100 franchise factories, with a turnover of 300 million yuan that year, of which 266 million yuan came from trademark royalties, accounting for 89%.
In 2008, Antarctic people were "successful and ambitious" and embarked on the same path.
In fact, the OEM model is not new. Owning your own foundry is also an open secret of big brands. In the OEM business, the most important thing is the "brand". The key to keeping the "brand" is the quality control work.
Some brands of Antarctic people. Image source: Antarctic e-commerce official website
In fact, the most serious problem for Antarctic people lies in quality control. The "one-handed payment, one-handed authorization" model has led to a significant difference in the quality of Antarctic people's commodities.
According to media reports, Antarctic dealers purchase goods from authorized manufacturers without headquarters coordination. They only need to sign a nominal contract with an authorized factory to purchase Antarctic trademarks in the name of the factory, and then go to the wholesale market to purchase goods and hang tags. Sales. In addition to the Antarctic brand name, it seems that all other factors are uncontrollable.
There are consumers vomiting, thermal underwear made by Antarctic people, and now the quality is not as good as the goods. "I used to buy Antarctic thermal underwear in winter, and the set price was less than one hundred yuan. As a result, the clothes shrank seriously. I bought 175cm, 180cm, and 185cm in height, and all of them showed shrinkage and could not wear it."
How long can it last for a while?
According to media reports, in the past few years, Antarctic people have been listed on the blacklist of unqualified products by the National Quality Supervision Department and local consumer associations dozens of times, from silk quilts, underwear, cotton clothes, children's clothing, jackets to electric clippers and curly hair. Devices, massage sticks, all of which are on the quality inspection black list. Of these, five were national inspections conducted by the former General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine and the current General Administration of Market Supervision and Administration.
On July 6, the Beijing Municipal Market Supervision Administration announced the results of random inspections of children's clothing sold on the Beijing market. Among them, the three-piece color cotton kimono with the trademark "Nanjiren" and the baby underwear have the problem of unqualified straps. The trademark licensor is Nanjiren (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. and the manufacturer is Danyang Haoqi Clothing Co., Ltd. .
Tianyan check shows that Antarctic (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. is now renamed Antarctic E-commerce (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., and its major shareholder is Antarctic E-commerce Co., Ltd., which holds 100% of the shares.
In the view of economist Song Qinghui, this game of Antarctic people is very "business-minded", but unsustainable, which is why these brands often have quality problems.
"The practice of well-known trademarks of domestic products is tantamount to smashing signboards, quenching thirst, and difficult to last." Song Qinghui believes that under the influence of big foreign brands, the only way out for domestic brands is to rely on innovation to win and conquer consumers with good reputation.
Perhaps Antarctic people are also aware of this. On February 27, Antarctic e-commerce invested in the establishment of Shanghai Polar Cosmetics Co., Ltd. It is expected to launch cosmetics in the second half of 2020.
Would you like to pay if the original Antarctic factory came back? (Finish)