CBO reporter Zhou Yao Li Jianzi
Whether to perform or to influence is a question.
In October 2019, the colorist of the new makeup collection platform, which focuses on affordability + light luxury, has appeared in guangzhou and Shenzhen. The store space is bright with visual impact, and the beauty egg rainbow wall and lipstick wall cater to the aesthetic preferences of young women at that time. A week before the opening, on the Little Red Book, the relevant notes of the colorist reached more than 30,000, which seemed to have become a punch card destination for many young female consumers. While the iron is hot, with the help of the power of capital, the colorists continue to enter the commercial projects of various cities. Taking the Wuhan market as an example, in October 2020, as the first colorist in Wuhan, he entered Wushang Square.
△ The hot scene of the colorist in early 2020
Recently, the "Cosmetics Finance Online" reporter visited this store. In the prime time of Sunday afternoon, under the normal traffic inside the mall, the number of consumers in the first store of Wuhan Colorist was only single digits, and even the explosive red wall in the early days of opening did not have any consumers punching in to take pictures.
△ Colorist Wuhan first store Wushang Square store
Obviously, in the Wuhan market, colorists are no longer as popular as when they first opened. Terminal retail is nothing more than people, goods, fields and site selection, so which link of the colorist is the problem?
01
The supply chain advantage is obvious, but it is dragged down by "site selection"?
Let's start with "goods".
The brand and product furnishings in the store of Colorist Wushang Plaza can be divided into three parts, namely the makeup area, the functional area and the seasonal product area.
△Colorist makeup area (swipe left and right to see more)
In the make-up area, the colorists display the eye makeup and eyeshadow of some local niche or OEM beauty brands separately. Some well-known foreign niche brands and local domestic brands are displayed in a unified display, such as KIKO, MISTINE, Red Earth, Kating and Kolaqi. In the functional area, the mask is displayed in the middle of the store as a drainage product, taking up 2 entire groups of display positions. Water, milk, cleansing and other products are also basically displayed according to their functions and product positioning, brands include: Gu Yu, Morita, Dr. Ayer, Boleda, Shirjia and Han Shu and other affordable domestic products. In terms of seasonal products, colorists mainly sell sunscreen products, including Gaozi, ALLIE, Ludeqing and so on.
△ Colorist functional area open shelf (swipe left and right to see more)
It is worth mentioning that the colorist has also opened a special living area, including: disposable underwear, travel suits, health products (foot bath bags), toiletries and fragrance products. On the opening shelf, the colorist focused on some of the current Internet celebrity items and cutting-edge explosives, including brands such as 943 and Ti Jiating.
In addition, the colorists have even cooperated with many brands to create special items, which are quite interesting.
△ A joint set of boxes between the colorist and the brand
In terms of price, according to the observation of the "Cosmetics Finance Online" reporter, because the colorist has always emphasized that the online makeup brand will land offline, most of the products are about 10% cheaper than the price of the counter and the flagship store of the brand's official website. According to the reporter's on-site statistics, the number of colorist brands is about 70+, and the total number of SKUs exceeds 6000+. Obviously, endorsing KK Group, the colorist has had a lot of advantages in the supply chain of brands and commodities in two years.
△ Wuhan store style continues other stores
Let's look at "people" and "fields". From the visual design of the store, the colorist still follows its girlish, color decoration style, and the rainbow wall of the beauty egg as a continuation also completely shows the basic visual equipment of an internet celebrity store. The colorist clerk is not much different from the traditional cosmetics store in appearance, professionalism, and speech, which can be described as decent.
It is worth mentioning that since April 10, Wuhan has stipulated that the admission of supermarkets in Wuhan city requires a 48-hour negative nucleic acid certificate, but the reporter and his party were not required to show this certificate when entering the colorist (the reporter was asked to show the nucleic acid certificate at the AIR JORDAN store next door). Obviously, in terms of standardized management, there are still hidden dangers for colorists.
On the surface, there is no problem with people, goods and fields, and in the case that the internal passenger flow of the mall is not affected, why does the first store in Wuhan of the colorist appear to be "unclosed"?
Perhaps the impact of the epidemic is also one aspect, but a TOP3 beauty agent in Wuhan answered this question to reporters from another angle, she said, "In terms of colorist positioning and model, the conversion rate of passenger flow can be described as the key to performance." The reason why the colorist Wushang Plaza store is still deserted after more than a year of operation has a lot to do with the location. ”
In the Wuhan market, what exactly went wrong with the location of the colorist?
02
Neighbors with Hermès, who was "pitted" by whom?
Before 2021, the most high-end commercial project in Wuhan is Wushang Plaza.
△ Aerial view of The Liberation Avenue of Wushang Square
It is reported that as a veteran luxury commercial project in Wuhan, Wushang Plaza brings together luxury brands such as LV, GUCCI, and Hermès. In terms of cosmetics, Wushang Plaza ranks in the top 5 of national department stores all year round, with annual sales of more than 1 billion yuan, of which more than 95% of the increment comes from high-end cosmetics. From the perspective of positioning, Wushang Square has almost become a destination for high-end consumption in Hubei Province.
△ After the epidemic, Wushang Square LV often queued
The colorist's first store in Wuhan is opened here, and even the straight-line distance from the first Hermès in Wuhan is not more than 200 meters. The colorist has announced that its main customer group is a young group of 14-35 years old, and the unit price is between 100-200 yuan. On the one hand, the customer list exceeds 10,000 yuan, and on the other hand, the customer list is nearly 100 yuan, and the difference in positioning the customer group is self-evident.
The inconsistency in positioning customer base is only one aspect, and more serious is the problem of the location of the specific store of the colorist.
△ Location map of The Colorist Wushang Square
On the surface, the colorist is in a good position in a martial arts square, but in fact, the area is not a whole with the martial arts square, and is located in a deformed area in the southwest corner of the entire commercial project. Compared with the brand stores inside the mall, the colorist is more like a street store, and does not enjoy the passenger flow inside the Wushang Plaza at all. Not only that, the second and third floors of the area are mostly small restaurants and gyms, all of which are categories with strong consumption purposes, and the colorist, as the only beauty shop on the first floor, has not tasted any of the sweetness of sharing customers in the area.
Judging from the results of the visit, the low-level single consumption of Wushang Plaza is mainly concentrated in the negative floor and the cinema, but most of these consumers arrive directly through the subway and the straight ladder, and there is almost no overlap with the colorist store. Once the weather conditions are worse, the colorist traffic situation is even worse. In such a situation, it is difficult to maintain relatively high rents in the area. It is understood that the location of the colorist Wushang Plaza store was formerly the first three-squirrel physical store in central China, and it was eventually closed due to rent problems.
"After the colorists became popular on social platforms, they opened a large number of stores with the power of capital. In the initial stage, many shopping malls also have a large deviation from the positioning of colorists. Thinking that colorists can drive traffic ignores the basic problems of retail that match positioning. The above agent analyzed to the "Cosmetics Finance Online" reporter, "In the Wuhan market, the colorist should open the store in Chuhe Han Street or Jianghan Road Pedestrian Street. Open in a heavy luxury field, the surface looks beautiful, but it is actually a 'pit'. ”
In recent years, young people have become the main force in today's consumer market, and from the perspective of commercial real estate, it is necessary to choose brands that can drain the flow of shopping malls, so as to attract young consumers. But shopping malls also need these brands to have a stable and sustained ability to attract customers.
03
Do you want performance, or do you want brand influence?
Not only is it the first store in Wuhan located in Wushang Square, but the improper location of colorists in the Wuhan market seems to be a common problem.
In March 2021, the Colorist Wuhan Second Store entered the second floor of the South Hall of Wuhan Tiandi Yifang Shopping Center (the mall opened in 2016). Also on the weekend, the colorist Wuhan Second Store and the First Store also encountered the same problem. The traffic in the mall is hot, but the colorist's store is deserted.
Wuhan Tiandi, as a national open block model created by Shui On Group, has a lot of popularity in the industry, the project positioning light luxury trend, is the national net red shop, buyer shop in the first location of the location of the object, the brand includes: Wuhan's first tea color, the first MANNER, the first Holley Lai, the first MAIA ACTIVE, the first buyer store LOOK NOW, etc.
△ Wuhan Tiandi Yifang Shopping Center
The South Pavilion of One Square Shopping Center is located directly opposite Wuhan Tiandi. Although it is only one street away, the positioning of Wuhan Tiandi Yifang South Pavilion is completely different from that of Wuhan Tiandi. An executive of Wuhan Business Consulting Company analyzed to reporters, "One-party positioning high-end community business, consumer groups are mostly high-end community families within the radiation range of Wuhan Tiandi, and the main consumer groups are mostly over 30 years old." In addition to catering, parent-child stores in shopping malls are more popular, such as meland, zoolung animal theme park and so on. Retail brands, especially beauty brands, are performing weakly in the mall. ”
When the colorist opened, the entire South Pavilion of One Square Shopping Center was only this one beauty brand, not only did it have no beauty atmosphere, but also the positioning customer group rarely had the habit of consuming beauty here.
△ Colorist Wuhan Yifang Shopping Center store
For site selection considerations, the colorist told the "Cosmetics Finance Online" reporter, "Opening a store in the core area of a city is the biggest recognition of the brand." We follow a rigorous approach when selecting cities for store network expansion. When selecting a new store, we consider a variety of factors, including the flow of people in the shopping mall, the purchasing power of nearby residents and the consumption pattern. Generation Z's demand for makeup products is never differentiated by price, but divided by interest, and the young group who can afford luxury goods and like explosive and cutting-edge makeup is not a conflict. ”
In this way, in the Wuhan market, there seems to be a contradiction between the location of the colorist and the positioning of the store and the overall strategy of the brand, and it is necessary to have the performance of a single store or the endorsement of brand influence, which is what the colorist needs to think further.
04
Optimize efficiency, 24 stores closed in half a year
Also on the weekend, the KKV, which endorses the same company and has a similar positioning, is significantly more popular than the colorist in Chuhe Han Street.
Why do brands belonging to the same parent company have such a big difference in location? "The site selection problem exposes the drawbacks of colorists rejoining in the early stages of development." The agent said bluntly, "The franchise model considers more brand influence, while direct operation considers more store profits." The rental cost of the core lot is higher, which is a test of the store's ability to rent. ”
According to the prospectus data released by KK Group, the number of colorist franchise stores at the end of 2020 was 170, while the number of directly operated stores was only 59.
△ Screenshot of KK Group's prospectus
As the agent said, after a large number of store openings in 2020, colorists have been optimizing stores for nearly half a year. According to the financial network, in January this year, the colorist closed the double-storey store in the Chaoyang U-Tang Shopping Center, which has been open in Beijing for only one year, and the Chaoyang R&F Plaza store was also suspended. Both shopping malls are located in the relatively central commercial areas of Beijing.
The reporter calculated through the prospectus data that the average single store sales of colorists in 2020 was 1.92 million yuan. Compared with the Watsons single store with similar positioning and customer list, the output of Watsons is nearly 4 million yuan (2020), which is obviously not a small gap. The leasing ability of colorists in the core areas of the core business district also needs to be further tested.
△ Beijing Chaoyang Youtang Shopping Center colorist closed the store
The prospectus also shows that as of June 31, 2019, 2020 and 2021, the number of colorist stores was 7, 229 and 240 respectively, during which 0, 1 and 24 stores were closed.
That is to say, in just half a year in 2021, colorists will close 10% of their stores.
As for the reason for adjusting the store, the colorist told the "Cosmetics Finance Online" reporter, "Mainly because the company actively adjusted the stores that did not meet the performance target for the sake of store optimization efficiency considerations." ”
The reporter judged from the prospectus that most of the stores whose colorist performance did not meet the standards may come from franchised stores. The prospectus shows that in the type of newly opened stores, colorists pay more attention to the expansion of their own stores. As of the first half of 2021, the number of its own stores expanded from 59 at the end of last year to 129, while the number of franchised stores shrank from 170 at the end of last year to 111.
Whether the performance of colorist stores nationwide is not up to standard is due to the location of the franchise policy, we cannot make the final judgment. But at least in the Wuhan market, site selection is indeed a problem that colorists have to pay attention to.
In the past year, KK Group's retail brands such as KKV, Colorist, X11 and other retail brands will open a total of 270 new stores. Next, how the colorist will optimize the store in order to further develop will be the focus of "Cosmetics Finance Online".