In the highly digital retail environment, live streaming, social media and KOC are regarded as one of the breakthrough points for women's clothing brands. According to the report, from the perspective of the Youzan platform, the steady growth of China's women's clothing began in the second half of 2016 and ushered in an explosive period in the second half of last year, mainly due to the entry of traditional brands and Tao brands into social e-commerce, which provided the foundation for the emergence of grass-planting transactions in 2019.
Youzan emphasized in the report that with the maturity of the digital social environment, more and more female consumers will be affected by the word-of-mouth effect and make purchases, especially in the scenario of "try-on + explanation" in the live broadcast environment, the conversion rate of women's live broadcast is as high as 21.2%, much higher than that of other categories.
From the perspective of user consumption data, women's clothing consumers are buying more and more categories, adding new clothes in different seasons has become a rigid demand, and traditional upper and lower clothing still occupies the main consumer market, accounting for as much as 62% of the sales share, especially T-shirts, dresses and leggings and other items, accessories and basic underwear are also increasing year by year in the social e-commerce environment. From the perspective of user distribution, consumers in coastal and central cities are more keen to buy clothing, shoes and bags, and the strongest purchasing power is in Guangdong Province, accounting for 11% of sales.
The Harvard Business Review wrote in an earlier article that industries around the world are "pandering" to young people, and China's entertainment and media industry will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 8.3% over the next five years, higher than the global average. Compared with the development of the global entertainment industry, China's entertainment industry is more advanced in innovation in "pleasing young people", and is shifting from competing for users to retaining users, that is, from attention to loyalty. Sticking to consumers through values is the most effective way to build loyalty.
And in the highly saturated womenswear market, as long as the brand's interest tag and values are unique enough, there are still opportunities for brands. Once consumers identify with a brand, as long as the brand continues to provide high-quality products that reflect the values, it can attract consumers for a long time, even if it does not create frequent topics. What's more, unlike consumers who were previously biased against domestic products, young consumers who are about to grasp the spending power are identifying with domestic brands at an all-time high. This also means that domestic clothing brands ushered in the best time in a short period of time.
In addition, in the face of the accelerated rise of aesthetic consciousness of male consumer groups, China's men's clothing market is on the eve of an outbreak. In an earlier report, the WeChat public account LADYMAX pointed out that the new urban middle class is usually highly associated with "anxiety", and while they pursue quality, they are no longer satisfied with the choice of basic models, but need clothing products that are easy to match, suitable for multiple scenes, and can also express personal values and identity. According to data released by market research agency Euromonitor International, from 2017 to 2022, men's clothing sales will surpass women's, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 2%.
Another industry insider expects that although the current consumption data continues to weaken and the leading brands are also in the adjustment period, the performance opportunities will recover as soon as 2020, and sportswear is one of the sub-industries that is easy to give birth to large-capitalization companies. Since the beginning of this year, Li Ning's share price has risen by more than 200%, recording 204%, and its market value has exceeded HK$600 billion, a new high in the past nine years, making it the best-performing stock in the MSCI AC Asia Pacific Index and the best performing among global apparel stocks. The share price of Anta Sports also rose by 9%, with a market value of HK$114 billion, surpassing Shenzhou International to become the largest apparel group in China.
What is certain is that no matter what the category, in an increasingly crowded track, the era of selling products with simple packaging is over, and any brand must become more distinct, sharper, and more recognizable to remain attractive. In this era of partial prosperity, it is more important to find that "part" than to find the "whole".