Under the reminder of the phenomenon that meteorologists may welcome triple La Nina this winter, the market has set off a consumption trend of hoarding warm products such as thick down jackets and electric blankets.

According to the 2022 Tmall double 11 (October 31-November 11) store / brand sales ranking released by "World online Merchants" and Tmall, the veteran domestic down jacket brand Bosideng International got rid of the dust and boosted sales of 100 million in only 10 minutes. finally, with clothing fashion second, women's wear first, men's wear second, far ahead of other brands in the industry.

But it is worth noting that there is no sign of other domestic down jacket brands in the Top 10 transaction list of these three categories.

Therefore, there has always been a saying: "there are only two kinds of down jackets in China, one is Bosideng International, the other is the other."

No matter from the point of view of commodity price or brand strength, Bosideng International has a clear distance from other domestic brands; after Bosideng International, it is difficult for consumers to have a consensus on "who is the second place of domestic down jacket brand".

According to the data released by Huachuang Securities, if divided according to the brand pricing range, China's down jacket market currently presents a pattern of "two super and one strong", that is, the international brand Moncler and Canadian goose owners push high-end products of about 10,000 yuan, occupying a high-end price band; Bosideng International's mainstream products cover the full price band of around 2000 yuan, and the leading position is solid. Four Seasons, sports, international fast fashion and other full-range clothing brand products are distributed in the price band of about 50-1000 yuan, focusing on the mass consumer market.

In the past two years, under the leadership of Bosideng International, domestic down jackets, including ducks and sky people, have begun to move in the high-end direction, killing into the price band of thousands of yuan, and some products have even exceeded the price of 10,000 yuan, and the ceiling of domestic down jackets has been continuously pushed up.

But will consumers pay for it? How much space is left for domestic down jacket brands in the high-end market? Can they snatch "cake" from international brands?

Bosideng International“It's expensive.”

The last time Bosideng International broke into public view, it was revealed that he was suspected of deceiving consumers by "raising prices first and then lowering prices" during the Singles' Day this year, sparking heated debate.

The incident successfully attracted the attention of Changshu Market Supervision and Administration Bureau, and immediately dispatched law enforcement personnel to investigate on the spot.

Although the official investigation results show that no down jacket sold in Bosideng International's official flagship store, B00145252F, is found to deceive consumers by "raising the price first and then lowering the price". However, consumers are generally not convinced of this view, and the brand reputation has been seriously damaged.

If you take a closer look at the discussion of relevant topics, you will find that many consumers'"hostility" to Bosideng International mainly comes from "whether the product is worth it or not."

A person familiar with the down jacket industry revealed to all-weather technology that the market is generally divided into three categories according to prices: the mass market with a price of less than 1,000 yuan, the middle market with a price of less than 3,000 yuan, and the high-end market with more than 3,000 yuan.

"at present, the mass market is firmly occupied by domestic down jacket brands; Bosideng International is positioned in the middle and high-end market and is moving towards high-end, and the high-end market is mainly dominated by international brands." People in the industry say.

In order to break the situation that international big brands monopolize the high-end market, many domestic down jackets have begun the process of high-end in recent years. Bosideng International is one of the representatives.

Founded in 1976, Bosideng International has been focused on the down jacket industry for 46 years. In the impression of many young people, Bosideng International has been very popular in his parents' generation, and the price is "inexpensive". According to its official disclosure, Bosideng International brand down jacket for 27 years in a row (1995-2021) by far the leading national sales.

In order to adapt to the times and market changes, Bosideng International has been adjusting his strategy to seek a better development path in recent years. After the hindrance of diversification strategySince 2018, Bosideng International's high-end strategy has become increasingly clear. According to media reports, Bosideng International raised prices by as much as 30% and 40% in 2018.

After 2019, Bosideng International launched a number of high-end products, including the trench coat and down jacket series with prices ranging from 2699 yuan to 5990 yuan, and the Dengfeng series with prices ranging from 11800 yuan to 14900 yuan, officially entering the "10,000 yuan club" of the down jacket industry.

In the past few years, the online sales unit price of Bosideng International brand has increased significantly. By the end of March 2022, the proportion of products with a price of more than 1800 in all goods increased to 46.9%, more than tripling from 14% in the same period in 2019. Down jacket products under 1000 yuan are rare.

According to Yongliu business statistics, Bosideng International put on 212 new down jackets this winter, of which 95 were below 1799 yuan, and 117 were above 1800 yuan, accounting for more than half of the total. There are 34 down jackets above 3000 yuan, accounting for 16% of down jackets-one out of every six down jackets costs more than 3000 yuan.

At present, Bosideng International's main brand has formed a distinct price echelon: lightweight down jackets priced at about 1000-1500 yuan; high-end outdoor series priced at 2500-4000 yuan, extremely cold series priced at 2000-4000 yuan; and peak series priced at 11000-14000 yuan.

However, as can be seen in the official flagship store of Tmall platform Bosideng International, the top three "hot-selling down jackets" in this store are priced at 399-1999 yuan, still concentrated in the middle and low end of the market.

In addition to keeping pace with the high-end market in terms of price, Bosideng International has also made some efforts in the sales channel.

As we all know, the sales profit of the offline channel is much lower than that of the online channel because of the difference in rent and other aspects. In order to maximize profits as much as possible, the investment will be more inclined to the less expensive online channels. However, Bosideng International not only attaches importance to the offline market, but also chooses the location of the store to select "expensive" places and take the boutique route.

According to Mei Dong, executive director and CEO of Bosideng International Group, when choosing a sales position, Bosideng International's purpose is to "choose mainstream channels that can match brand positioning and current high-end department stores." such as Beijing Wangfujing, Vientiane Group and so on.

In October this year, Bosideng International, the world's first brand experience store, officially opened its doors at Nanjing West Road, a fashion landmark in Mudu.

In this golden area of Shanghai, Bosideng International has created a super-large three-story space of more than 2000 square meters, namely, the down science and technology experience center, the scene experience center, and the member experience center. Consumers can wear Bosideng International down jackets to immerse themselves in the experience of conquering the extremely cold rain and snow environment.

Not only that, Bosideng International even designed the brand history corridor area, through six large electronic screens to show Bosideng International's development over the past 46 years. From the perspective of space utilization and location choice, Bosideng International brand experience store is not luxurious.

Entering the fiscal year 2021-2022, Bosideng International's offline channel construction, on the one hand, pays more and more attention to structural layout, mainly locking in Beijing and Shanghai, two first-tier cities and 13 new first-tier cities; on the other hand, it emphasizes channel quality, laying more high-quality stores in shopping malls, fashion circles and urban core areas by "closing small stores and opening large stores".

With the high-end development of Bosideng International's channel construction, in the total retail outlets of its brand down jacket business, the proportion of stores in first-and second-tier cities (that is, the north, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and provincial capital cities) has reached 30.1% by the end of March 2022, an increase of nearly 6 percentage points from 24.3% in 2019.

But it also means that nearly 70% of its stores are still located in third-tier and below cities, and there is a long way to go.

High-end is not just expensive.

If you want to quickly occupy the minds of consumers and establish a high-end "human setting", brand operation and marketing are also essential.

The financial report shows that in the financial year 2021-2022, due to the construction of business channels for brand down jackets, the construction of terminal stores, and the strengthening of brand promotion and marketing, Bosideng International's distribution expenses (including advertising and publicity expenses, depreciation fees for right-to-use assets, contingent rent and sales employee expenses) have become the largest expenditure of the group, up 28.4% from the same period last year to 6.171 billion yuan, accounting for 38.1% of the group's total revenue.

In contrast, all-weather technology learned from a domestic down jacket insider that even though the company has multiple spokesmen and occasional brand catwalks, each part of the expenditure is basically at the level of tens of millions, which is "a far cry from Bosideng International."

Take Anta, a sports fashion brand, as an example. When the company's product line covers clothing, footwear, sports accessories / equipment, etc., the ratio of advertising and publicity expenditure in 2021 is only 12.4%, compared with 10.0% in the same period last year. The expenditure amount is 6.117 billion yuan, slightly lower than Bosideng International.

In addition to spending money on marketing, there is also R & D investment that the market pays attention to.

According to Bosideng International, in 2021, its first trench coat and down jacket was created by Bosideng International's creative R & D director, Pietro Ferragina, an Italian designer who had worked for Armani, Versace, Prada and other well-known luxury brands, and Russell Delaney, a former menswear design director of luxury brand Burberry, who provided inspiration to achieve innovation and breakthrough in the category and production process of down jacket.

It is reported that Bosideng International has applied for 140 patents (including invention, utility and appearance patents) and obtained 20 patent certificates applied in the previous year during the fiscal year 2021-2022; as of March 31, 2022, the company has accumulated 369 patents (including patents for invention, utility model and appearance), and the use area of the scientific research and technology center has increased to 10,000 + square meters.

Although Bosideng International did not disclose his R & D investment, it can be known that his administrative expenditure, including R & D expenses and information system construction, reached 1.203 billion yuan in the 2021-2022 fiscal year, an increase of 17.2% over the same period last year.

At present, few brands can reach this kind of investment in the field of domestic down jacket.

Although in addition to Bosideng International, it is always difficult for consumers to have a unified answer to the second place of domestic down jacket. But it should be noted that Bosideng International's strength in brand and research and development does not mean that other domestic down jackets have no market space.

Strictly speaking, due to the difference in product pricing, Bosideng International and other domestic down jacket brands may not constitute a competitive relationship; to some extent, once the high-end path is available, Bosideng International may be able to give up the mass consumer market.

For example, duck, a down jacket brand that has a longer history than Bosideng International and has been developed for 50 years, its brand director Suki said that duck is currently mainly located in the mass down jacket consumer market, which is completely staggered with the middle and high-end market where Bosideng International is located. "although we have launched a product line worth more than 1,000 yuan this year, consumers who only want to reach the blank price band are currently in the testing stage."

It is understood that the current design team of duck has more than 30 people, and the product design level is mainly divided into three categories: the bottom is the basic style, and the product is mainly designed and completed by the internal team; the middle layer is the design style, which makes minor adjustments on the basic style; and the top layer is the customized model, mainly with overseas designers and cooperation in the design and development of new series, or IP joint name.

Take the duck 2022 international designer joint series as an example, in the 30 days up to November 16, the single omni-channel sales have been nearly 90 million yuan.

In the past double 11, duck online omni-channel sales exceeded 1 billion yuan, ranking TOP5 of Douyin full-category brand sales, TOP1 of clothing brands and TOP1 of down jacket brands.

"We made a deal of 8 billion yuan last year, and the goal this year is to reach 10 billion yuan." Duck brand director Suki told all-weather technology that the 2 billion increase in the middle, in addition to continuing to improve on the basis of the original market, requires enterprises to make some new attempts. And high-end testing has become a new choice for ducks.

It is reported that Duck launched a GOOSE series 95 velvet jacket this year, with a price tag of 2599 yuan at Tmall's flagship store and 1999 yuan for the event. As of November 16, the sales volume of the whole network has exceeded 20,000 pieces, received a high degree of satisfaction in the talent studio, and met the brand sales expectations as a whole.

In addition, the price of Sky Man SKYPEOPLE invested by Li Yong, founder of Yuanfudao, is also as high as 3000-7000 yuan; sportswear brands such as Li Ning Co. Ltd. and Anta are also in the "cross-border" down jacket market, with products priced above 2000 yuan.

Temptation and way out

The direct performance of the high-end transformation and upgrading of domestic down jacket brands is undoubtedly the rising price of down jackets.

From 2014 to 2020, the average unit price of down jackets in China has risen from 452 yuan to 656 yuan, and the transaction price of large-scale cold-proof clothing has exceeded 1000 yuan, of which more than 2000 yuan has accounted for nearly 70 percent, according to the all-China Business Information Center.

On the one hand, under the influence of luxury brands such as Moncler and Canadian goose, consumers have a new understanding of the quality and price of down jackets, and the price acceptance increases; on the other hand, the improvement of per capita income also provides an economic basis for the consumption of middle and high-end down jackets.

As far as enterprises are concerned, the impact of high-end brand on performance profits also plays a positive role.

According to the financial report released by Bosideng International Group, in the fiscal year 2021-2022, the group's gross profit increased to 9.737 billion yuan from about 7.924 billion yuan in the same period last year, an increase of 22.9% over the same period last year, and the gross profit margin also increased by 1.5 percentage points to 60.1% from 58.6% in the same period last year. Looking at the down jacket business alone, Bosideng International brand gross profit margin also increased by 3.2 percentage points year-on-year to 69.4%. The gross profit level of the group continues to improve steadily year by year, surpassing the highest level in history.

According to Zhiyan, the gross profit margin of China's clothing industry in 2022 is only 14.36%, less than 1/4 of that of the Bosideng International brand, and that of Canada Goose in fiscal year 2021 is only 66.8%, which is lower than that of the Bosideng International brand.

In front of the seductive gross profit margin, it is not difficult to understand why domestic down jacket brands have coincidentally developed to the high end.

Cheng Weixiong, an independent analyst in the footwear industry, told all-weather technology that domestic down jacket brands are moving towards high-end at this time, one of the main reasons is that factories, raw materials, manpower and other costs are rising, "the gross profit margin of the low-end route is too low. It's hard to find a way out. The price of many brands is only 1.5-3 times the cost price, so the unit price must be raised. "

In his view, "at present, the quality of high-end down jackets of domestic brands is as good as that of international brands, but international brands have good trademarks and can tell brand stories, otherwise there would not be so many quality problems."

In 2021, Canadian goose related company Xiji (Shanghai) Trading Co., Ltd. was fined 450000 yuan for using advertising to make false publicity on goods or services, deceiving and misleading consumers; in the same year, the brand was also exposed to sell product trademarks embroidered wrong, refused to return, arrogant posture and differential terms caused hot discussion. Such incidents are not uncommon in recent years.

Domestic down jacket not only needs to achieve the high-end of the full link from the use of raw materials to after-sales service, but also to make it clear that the high-end strategy is not once and for all.

Some enterprises are often easy to fall into the misunderstanding of "high price is high end". Cheng Weixiong stressed that the high end should not be announced by the brand, but by the consumer group. The so-called high-end, should be in product design, the use of raw materials, brand building, after-sales service and other aspects of the "high-end".

According to the first Securities, compared with 30% of the down jacket penetration rate of 30% of developed countries such as Japan, Europe and the United States, China, as a country with a large population base and wide distribution of cold areas in winter, the down jacket penetration rate is less than 10%, which means that with the increase in per capita income and consumer acceptance of high-priced down jackets, there is still much room for market penetration.

However, brands still need to be clear in the transformation and upgrading, although the high-end market has potential, the mass market is always the rigid demand, brands need to consider the development path according to their own situation, do not blindly follow the trend.