Benny Road
When it comes to the popular domestic brand, many people will think of Huang Bo's classic "brand, Benny Road" in "Crazy Stone". Guo Jingming's former novel also shows its status: "I am in the second year of junior high school. I had my first pair of LINING sneakers. I began to feel that Giordano and Benny Road were designer clothes. Today, it has returned to the public eye with a fine message. Let many post-80s issue a sigh: what happened to the original "brand" Benny Road?
Suspected of producing and selling children's clothing that does not meet national standards
On March 23, 2022, according to the clues of the "Inspection and Test report" provided by the Beijing Daxing District Market Supervision and Administration Bureau, the Guangzhou Tianhe District Market Supervision and Administration Bureau inspected Guangzhou Friendship Banni Road Garment Co., Ltd. in accordance with the law.
After investigation, it was found that the parties were suspected of producing and selling children's jeans that did not meet the national standards for protecting human health in the course of business, and were suspected of violating the relevant provisions of the Product Quality Law of the People's Republic of China, so on March 25, 2022, a case was filed for investigation.
It was found that on December 17, 2020, the parties purchased and OEM produced 7 pieces of children's clothing denim skirts in the market, with a cost of 62 yuan per piece, with a total cost amount of 434 yuan. Subsequently, the parties sold the above-mentioned children's jeans to the customer at a sales price of 149.5 yuan / piece, a total of 7 pieces were sold, and the total sales amount was 1046.5 yuan.
According to the inspection of Far East Chia Tai Inspection Group Co., Ltd., the above-mentioned children's clothing denim skirt moisture-resistant friction color fastness project does not meet the GB31701-2015 "Infant and Child Textile Product Safety Technical Specifications" Class B standard, according to the "2021 Beijing Daxing District Infant and Child Clothing Product Quality Supervision and Spot Check Implementation Rules", the inspection conclusion is unqualified.
The parties produced and sold the above-mentioned children's clothing denim skirts that did not meet the national standards for the protection of human health, with a value of 1046.5 yuan and illegal gains of 612.5 yuan.
The production and sale of the above-mentioned children's clothing denim skirt violates the provisions of Article 13 of the Product Quality Law of the People's Republic of China, constituting an illegal act of producing and selling products that do not meet the national standards for protecting human health and personal and property safety. In accordance with the provisions of Article 49 of the Product Quality Law of the People's Republic of China, the Guangzhou Tianhe District Market Supervision and Administration Bureau decided to order the parties to stop producing and selling products that did not meet the national standards for protecting human health, and imposed the following administrative penalties on the parties: first, a fine of 2,000 yuan; second, confiscation of illegal gains of 612.5 yuan.
The most popular "first generation" luxury brand
Benny Road was once a household name, founded in Italy. In the 1980s, Benny Road began operating in Hong Kong, when it was translated as "Binnu". In 1992, Deyongjia Group acquired the ownership of the BALENO trademark and founded "Guangzhou Friendship Benny Road Clothing Co., Ltd." In 1996, Deyongjia Group formally acquired the BALENO brand and established Benny Road Group Co., Ltd. as the holding company. Since then, Benny Road has pioneered domestic casual clothing.
Since its inception, Benny Road has been extremely popular, with Andy Lau, Faye Wong and Huang Xiaoming endorsing it. After entering the mainland market in 2003, Benny Road mainly focused on the young route, targeting the target group of people aged 18-40, mainly male, female and neutral casual clothing, plus a certain marketing route, and was in a leading position in the market.
At its peak, there were 4,044 stores in Chinese mainland. In addition to accurate positioning, The success of Benny Road also depends on the advantages of channels, one is to cooperate with local state-owned commercial enterprises to establish a joint venture, and the other is to develop franchise chain stores in the form of franchising.
However, with the entry of international fast fashion brands into the Chinese market, the emergence of a large number of fashion brands in the local market, and the rise of Internet e-commerce, the crisis of Benny Road has quietly come.
The common dilemma of domestic clothing brands
With the upgrading of consumption, the consumer group is also shifting from the post-80s generation to the post-90s and post-00s who pay more attention to fashion trends.
Regrettably, in the face of change, Banniro chose to be self-contained, inactive, and inactive. Over-believing in their original brand strategy, from the product to the store to the corporate culture have maintained the original state. It was clear that this was a failure of a strategic decision. When Li Ningdu began to go international and entered the fashion week, Benny Road's products were still those "classic" styles, lacking innovation and not keeping up with the trend. The display inside the shop is also lacking in novelty, giving people a crowded and depressed feeling.
With the development of the apparel industry, foreign fast fashion brands represented by Uniqlo, H&M, ZARA and GAP have accelerated their expansion in China since 2006. These fast fashion brands have rich styles, pay attention to the price ratio, and exert efforts online and offline at the same time, rapidly expanding to third-level cities in first- and second-tier cities, seizing a large number of consumers.
In the face of a large number of international fast fashion products and Internet environments that have entered the Chinese market, domestic leisure brands have seen a sharp decline in performance, and Benny Road has not been spared. From 2010 to 2015, Benny Road suffered a wave of store closures, closing about 3,000 stores in six years, and only more than 1,000 stores were left nationwide.
As the pressure on Benny Road inventory increased, in desperation, it was only possible to quickly return funds through discounting, but I did not think that this strategy put Banny Road into a more embarrassing situation. Because of the long-term low-price promotion nationwide, Benny Road has gradually formed a cheap and earthy image in the hearts of the Chinese people, and its brand value is getting lower and lower.
Reform and rebirth, expand the field
Faced with such an embarrassing situation, Banniro was painfully aware of it and began to carry out major reforms. First of all, in terms of design style, Benny Road subverted the previous product design and became more fashionable and young. In addition, more technology has been incorporated into the fabric, and strive to be comfortable to wear.
In order to reverse the brand image of local and low-end street shops, Benny Road began to attack first- and second-tier cities, enhancing the brand image by launching new image stores in mainstream business circles. Starting in May 2020, Benny Road will have 1 to 2 new stores open almost every month, sometimes as many as 4 to 5. Not only that, Benny Road has also made a big push into the children's clothing market. After hard work, finally in 2019, Benny Road revenue reached 3 billion for the first time.
Although Beniru has made many changes, the road to "rebirth" is also full of obstacles. The data shows that although the profits of the parent company of Benny Road have resumed to rise, life is still not good. Deyongjia Group, the parent company of Benelux, recently announced its latest financial report, and for the 2018/2019 financial year ended 31 March 2018, Deyongjia had revenue of HK$8.21 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 3.76%.
In the previous 2016/2017 and 2017/2018 financial quarters, the group's profit fell by 54.4% and 36.5% respectively. Although operating income is still declining, compared with the previous two fiscal quarters, Deyongjia Group's profit has achieved positive growth. In FY2022, Deyongjia Group's operating income was HK$4.172 billion, an increase of 22.45% year-on-year, and net profit attributable to the parent company was HK$138 million, down 1.14% year-on-year. Among them, the retail and distribution revenue of casual wear and accessories accounted for less than 10% of the company's total business. Obviously, Benny Road is no longer the main income of the group.
Under the impact of external fast fashion brands, the gradual reduction of the survival pressure of domestic product brands is an unavoidable industry status quo in China. How to re-locate itself in the market under the trend of fast fashion decline, and how to deal with consumers with increasingly diversified needs, is the problem that Benny Road should think about in the future.
Further reading ► Article 13 of the Product Quality Law of the People's Republic of China stipulates that industrial products that may endanger human health and personal and property safety must comply with national standards and industry standards to protect human health and personal and property safety; if national standards and industry standards are not formulated, they must meet the requirements for protecting human health and personal and property safety. It is forbidden to produce and sell industrial products that do not meet the standards and requirements for protecting human health and personal and property safety. Specific management measures shall be formulated by the State Council. ►Article 49 of the Product Quality Law of the People's Republic of China stipulates: If the production or sale of products that do not meet the national standards and industry standards for protecting human health and personal and property safety, it shall be ordered to stop production and sales, confiscate the illegally produced and sold products, and impose a fine of not less than three times the value of the illegally produced or sold products (including sold and unsold products, the same below); if there are illegal gains, confiscate the illegal gains; if the circumstances are serious, revoke the business license; and constitute a crime, Pursue criminal responsibility in accordance with law.