In 2015, Daphne Closed Another 800 Stores, And The "Glory" Disappeared

The brand is aging and has little attraction to consumers. Daphne's brand "Brilliance" has disappeared.

Wang Fang runs three companies in a city in Sichuan Province Daphne Shoes Store . "The business has not been good in the past two years, and she is very confused." She introduced that she has joined Daphne for ten years. At the best time, the sales of a store a month were 200000 yuan, but now only tens of thousands of yuan. "Too much talk is all tears," Wang Fang sighed.

In fact, the situation of franchisees like Wang Fang reflects the current situation of Daphne, a brand of women's shoes, to some extent: the brand is aging and has little attraction to consumers. Even in such a small city where Wang Fang lives, Daphne's brand "Brilliance" has disappeared.

The decline of the brand affects more than Franchisee The biggest benefit is actually the company itself. The latest profit warning for the fourth quarter of 2015 issued by Daphne International Holdings Co., Ltd. shows that its sales have further deteriorated. In 2015, the same store sales of Daphne International's core brand fell 18.5%.

The store operation is also not optimistic. In the fourth quarter, the Group accelerated the integration of store portfolio, and the number of net closed stores exceeded the total number of the first three quarters, reaching 405 (including 384 direct stores and 21 franchisees); In the whole year, the Group had 805 net closing stores (692 direct stores and 113 franchise stores). According to statistics, as of December 31, 2015, Daphne core brand store The total number was reduced to 5597 (5056 direct stores and 541 franchisees).

It may be expected for Daphne to close the store. "At present, whether we or other brands in the industry, it is unlikely to open stores at the rate of 700 or 800 stores a year as in the past." Huang Yingzhe, director of public affairs and communications of the company, said in September 2015 that retailers in the low price shoe industry such as Daphne have been greatly impacted by e-commerce, and their profit margins are becoming thinner and thinner. "Consumers of affordable shoes are more sensitive to price. It's OK to buy offline, but once online, even the difference of 30 yuan to 50 yuan per pair can affect their decisions."

"The rise of miscellaneous brands (for Daphne) has a great impact." Wang Fang analyzed to reporters based on her experience. "If you go deep into the market, you will find that in some small cities and even below, some miscellaneous brands have sold very well in recent years."

One brand she exemplifies is Dadong. According to the introduction on the official website of this women's shoes company, which started in Zhejiang Province, there are more than 3000 stores nationwide, with a cumulative sales of 28 million pairs of shoes a year. The company claims to have more than 200 designers working for it, and designs up to 3000 shoes a year.

According to Wang Fang, being able to design so many styles is "very powerful" in the same industry, because several conventional big brands in the market often lose in the lack of new styles. Moreover, in terms of price, because such "inferior brands" cannot compete with the "famous brand" Daphne in terms of reputation, the cost performance ratio is much higher. "Two pairs of boots of Dadong are only sold for 120 yuan. If the materials are the same PU leather, and the brand is not very powerful, as a consumer, why don't I buy the cheap ones?" Wang Fang concluded.

Another reason may be that Daphne herself is willing to admit. In the past few years, this company has adjusted its strategy, and in order to recover the agency, it has constantly clashed with its franchisees. "They bargained at random in the first two years. We bought 130 yuan and sold 99 yuan directly in the direct store. It made the franchisees lose heart," Wang Fang said.

In this regard, Cheng Xiongwei, general manager and chief consultant of Shanghai Liangqi Brand Management Co., Ltd., said that this is very common among retailers now. Brand owners expect to rely on agents and franchisees to open channels in the early stage, but this mode is actually risky for the latter. Not to mention small franchisees, even a giant like Belle will face the situation of raising the market and not playing with its brand. For example, in 2013, Italian men's shoes brand GEOX "decided to break up" after its five-year agency with Belle expired. During the agency period, through the efforts of Belle, GEOX expanded its outlets in the domestic market from more than 90 to 340. The abrupt end of cooperation means that Belle's five-year channel investment is difficult to obtain long-term benefits.

Not only Daphne, in fact, some domestic shoe brands founded more than ten or twenty years ago are now facing the problem of brand aging. "In the past, as long as market expansion was carried out, many problems could be covered up, but now with the increasing rationality of consumers, it is no longer feasible. No refined control will be eliminated by emerging consumers." Cheng Weixiong pointed out.