Despite the continuous emphasis on the added value of high-end and design, a series of "celebrity style" surging communication strategies are the core strategies of high-end down jacket brands in the past few years to break into the fashion and luxury world and capture more and more consumers. However, the objective existence of cold winter weather may be the precondition for the continuous growth of China's down jacket market that has formed a category of heat in the past two years.
According to the National Climate Center, since the beginning of winter last year (December 1, 2020 to January 5, 2021), the national average temperature is -4.4 °C, 0.6 °C lower than the same period of the year (-3.8 °C), the sixth coldest since 2000. Since the middle of this year, from the influence of La Niña, the forecast that cold air activity in the northern hemisphere is more frequent than in previous years, to several consecutive cities "overnight into winter", the relevant units of the National Climate Center recently organized the climate forecast for this year's winter also pointed out that the winter temperature in china's central and eastern regions is generally cold. At the same time, the major brands included in China's down jacket market have the opportunity to climb the highest point of the consumer stage.
According to public data, the sales volume of down jackets of key large retail enterprises in China in 2020 increased by 15.1% year-on-year. The "2020 China Down Jacket Market Analysis Report" also predicted that the market size of China's down jacket industry will reach 162.2 billion yuan in 2022. According to the data of Tianyancha, there are currently nearly 65,000 down jacket-related enterprises in China. Since the beginning of this year, the number of down jacket-related enterprises has registered more than 4100.
Among them, international brands such as Herno, Duvetica, and Bonger, which have successively entered the Chinese market in the past two years, have further promoted the continuous expansion of the high-end down jacket market.
Bonger opens China's first boutique in Beijing's Wangfu Central
On December 1, Bonger, a joint venture with Bosideng International Holdings Ltd., announced through a strategic partnership that they will jointly introduce the Munich-based German high-end sports brands Bonger and Fire + Ice brands in the high-end fashion and sportswear markets in Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. In November, Italian down jacket brand Herno announced that it was investing in the Chinese market, accelerating its retail and online business, and opening new stores in the core business districts of Beijing's China World Mall and Shanghai Plaza 66. And Duvetica, an Italian down jacket brand that officially entered the Chinese market and landed on Tmall last September.
This year, the enthusiasm for outdoor sports ignited by the Winter Olympics and ski season is undoubtedly the most exuberant fire on the consumer side. Between the new brands and the local brands that have already occupied a solid position in the stock market (such as Bosideng) and the international brands that have been deeply involved in the Chinese market for many years (such as Moncler and Canada Goose), a marketing campaign war has begun.
A month later, the Beijing Winter Olympics officially kicked off, and the recent release of the Chinese-style bilingual trailer for the Beijing Winter Olympics once again ignited people's eager expectations for this event. When the Winter Olympics become a hot spot for all Chinese, joint marketing activities with ski themes in urban public spaces are an efficient and flexible new idea for both brands and commercial complexes.
For example, Moncler's pupazzo creative installation in Taikoo Li, Sanlitun, Beijing, echoes the "Tide Luck" winter theme activity in Sanlitun Taikoo Li with the ice and snow sports of the Beijing Winter Olympics as the background, including a series of interactive installations and challenge mini programs.
Moncler was built in Taikoo Li, Sanlitun, Beijing
Pupazzo creative installation
As a new member of China's high-end down jacket market, Bonger also quickly completed the official announcement of the spokesperson and opened China's first boutique in Beijing's Wangfu Central. At the time of the opening of the new store, a limited-time experience space including brand history posters, antique clothes and indoor ski equipment was also held.
It is not difficult to see that with the momentum of "300 million people on the ice and snow" of the Winter Olympics, the brand is grasping the growing outdoor enthusiasm of the ski season by highlighting the advantages of fashionable ski wear.
Bonger limited-time experience space
It is worth mentioning that this is closely related to the "Enjoy Winter" theme activities being held in Beijing Wangfuzhong, including ice and snow town, snow town hut, and ice paradise. During the 5-month "Enjoy Winter" event in Wangfu Central, the mall's three-storey covered bridge was built into an "Ice and Snow Town", which brought together more than ten international winter sports brands such as Bonger, Burton, Rossignol, Ann Steeger, and an outdoor lifestyle brand pop-up shop, as well as regular fun interactive experiences; the "Snow Town Cottage" at the entrance to the east side of the ice and snow town is the Exhibition Area of Burton Winter Park and Rossignol's Historical Corridor, as well as Burton's first snowboarding culture-themed exhibition in China.
Burton's first snowboarding culture-themed exhibition in China
Increasing customer flow through an increasingly rich range of retail formats or product lines, as well as a series of themed activities such as exhibitions, Pop Up Stores, and community interactions, has long been the golden rule of the fashion retail industry. Further joint marketing between physical retail spaces and brands is an effective upgrade.
Different from outdoor brands with professional sports fashion as the core and high-end down jackets as the main product line, skiing, as one of the oldest sports in the history of the world's sports, is also deeply loved by the elite and maintains a long-standing cultural relationship with luxury goods.
French couture designer Elsa Schiaparelli is known as one of the first to make skiwear fashionable; Coco Chanel himself made ski clothes for local ladies in St. Moritz.
French couture designer Elsa Schiaparelli
Therefore, in the already crowded track of the high-end down jacket market, it is naturally indispensable to have a place for luxury brands. Louis Vuitton, who has just launched the first ski line LV Ski, includes the new LV Snowflake Flocon Logo, which features alpine views on fluffy down jackets, wool coats and large scarf, and launches a limited edition of 200 LV Skis.
Louis Vuitton has released the first ski series, lv ski
as well as a number of limited series and pop-up activities around skiing by brands such as Dior, Prada, Kenzo and Coach. It not only brings more dimensions from products to the art of living, but also gradually deepens to the cultural level that contains the collective memory of Chinese local consumers.
Relying on different ideas of product styles or unique content communication strategies, more and more "winter limited series", or taking the ski season as an opportunity, to carry out in-depth cooperation with Chinese skiers, representative ski resorts and other landmark scenes, the marketing war launched by the popular track of high-end down jackets is also facing the Chinese market in a more textured and sincere way.
The most typical of these, such as the winter sports capsule series pop-up space and time-limited café brought to Fendi in Changbaishan International Tourism Resort, through the immersive experience space, combined with the brand's iconic aesthetic system and futuristic sense of technology, presents a thematic product series for specific marketing nodes.
Fendi Winter Sports Capsule Series Pop-up Space and Fendi Caffe Limited Time Café landed in Changbaishan International Tourist Resort
In addition, to enhance interactivity and fun, a selfie interactive experience area inspired by ski lifts was created in the pop-up space and fendi Caffe limited-time café. Through this winter sports capsule series, the brand also said that it is also a warm-up for the upcoming 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing.
Burberry has also opened a limited-time boutique in Songhua Lake Resort and offers experiences such as Thomas Burberry-inspired La floral coffee. Since last year, Burberry's "Bojie" project, which focuses on the pioneering community in various fields, has collaborated with more than 30 young artists across borders. In its latest issue released on December 18, Burberry teamed up with Chinese snowboarder Zhang Yiwei to shoot a short video clip of about a minute in the brand's classic check down jacket at the Songhua Lake Ski Resort on the outskirts of Jilin City.
Burberry's "Bojie" project is partnered with Chinese snowboarder Zhang Yiwei
It not only acts as a marketing node for the Winter Olympic Games and the ski season, but also extends the connection between fashion, life and art, and the cultural inspiration inherited by the founders.
However, when the market size around a special category continues to grow, the brand marketing offensive becomes more and more intense, especially for the high-end down jacket market with limited market coverage, high unit price, strong seasonality, and objective low repurchase rate, it will never be an inexhaustible cake.
The cold winter weather and the Winter Olympics can achieve short-term growth of the brand and attract more and more competitors to participate. But who is the king? Who has the potential to become cannon fodder? For those high-end down jacket brands that have already launched an offensive in the Chinese market, they are bound to face multiple tests in the next 5 to 10 years.
How to continue the product technology advantages of professional outdoor sports brands, and further realize the upgrading of craftsmanship, style and technology according to the escalating consumer demand of China? In addition to the golden marketing nodes such as the Winter Olympics and the ski season, how to explore the richer sports culture advantages in the brand DNA, and seize the unknown market through accurate and sensitive content strategies? And when more and more brands focus on the specific category of high-end down jackets, how to develop the next potential "category big household"?
In addition to the marketing strategies mentioned above for the Winter Olympics and ski season, from product technology innovation to establishing a brand image through cultural projects, it is clear that more and more brands are also exploring the solutions to this big test.
Moncler Genius unveils its Spring/Summer 2022 collection in five major cities around the world
Just like in the Fall/Winter 2021 series, Mackage's decompression cloud series inspired by "home safety" has both functionality and comfort through fabric material to functional design; in addition to the continuous rejuvenation through a series of initiatives at the brand image level, the local brand Bosideng has been continuously rejuvenated through a series of initiatives in the "Dengfeng 2.0" series, and for the first time in the "Dengfeng 2.0" series, the aviation material technology (PCM intelligent temperature adjustment) has been applied to down jacket manufacturing, and the China Aviation Industry Culture Center has jointly developed a combination of windproof, waterproof, wear-resistant, tear-resistant, 3S fabrics with antibacterial and other functions. Or in the Moncler Genius project, through cooperation with different designers such as Matthew M. Williams, Hiroshi Fujiwara, Palm Angels, etc., from the product itself to the brand culture image, it can achieve multicultural links with skateboarding, street, "underground Harajuku" fashion and so on.
Such a different product development and upgrading and forge ahead brand strategy, not only set the strengths of hundreds of companies, continue the outdoor sports boom and market carnival of the long-term strategy, but also for the next high-end down jacket market, a popular track is about to face a big test, providing a reference to the solution of the problem. WWD
Written by yalta
Image source network and brand official