C&A, a Dutch fast-fashion brand with a history of 100 years, has been tepid in business in China. After the sale of its China business, it also failed to usher in a turnaround.
Recently, C&A's affiliated company Seahouse Yijia Trading Group Co., Ltd. has added a new bankruptcy review information, the applicant is Shanghai Jinheng Legal Consulting Co., Ltd., and the economic court is Shanghai No. 3 Intermediate People's Court.
Xiya Yijia Trading Group Co., Ltd. was established in June 2005, the legal representative is Lu Ruilong, with a registered capital of about 2.413 billion yuan, and is 99.9% owned by Zhongke Tongrong Investment Fund Management (Beijing) Co., Ltd. According to the company's investigation information, the company has a number of information on judgment debtors, consumption restriction orders and judgment defaulters. Lu Ruilong has also been repeatedly restricted from high consumption.
It is important to point out that being filed for bankruptcy review does not necessarily mean that the company will go bankrupt. Bankruptcy review cases refer to applications for review of relevant enterprises to determine whether they are eligible for bankruptcy. Bankruptcy review is the court's review and judgment of whether the debtor meets the bankruptcy conditions to decide whether to initiate bankruptcy proceedings. Bankruptcy review cases are not uncommon, and many enterprises have had new bankruptcy review cases, but they may not necessarily end up in bankruptcy proceedings.
There are only 2 stores in Shanghai and 1 store in Beijing
According to the C&A China official account, in 1841, brothers Clemens and August opened a cloth shop in Snick, a small town in the north of the Netherlands, and officially established the C&A brand. In 1911, C&A expanded from the Netherlands to Germany, opening the first C&A large bag store in Berlin. Since 1972, C&A has opened in France, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Spain, Austria and other countries.
In April 2007, C&A officially entered the Chinese market and opened stores.
Cheap prices and many styles are the impression that many consumers have of C&A. However, similar to the development process of many fast fashion brands, the brand audience has also decreased due to various factors.
In 2020, C&A decided to sell its China business to Zhongke Tongrong Investment Fund Management (Beijing) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Zhongke Tongrong"). After the acquisition, C&A China changed its company name from Seawood (China) Commercial Co., Ltd. to Seahouse Trading Group Co., Ltd.
Prior to the sale, C&A had fewer than 70 stores in 22 cities in China. Today, there are even fewer offline stores left. In Shanghai, for example, Dianping showed that the brand was only able to find two stores in Qingpu. Some consumers reported on the Internet that there are few styles in Qingpu stores, but the price can be as low as three folds.
In Beijing, there is currently only one physical store left, located on the first floor of Huiduogang Shopping Center in Chaoyang District, Beijing. According to China Business Daily, on April 18, only one or two staff members were patrolling the store, and there were very few consumers who shopped. A staff member said that the store will see an increase in traffic on weekends.
According to a comment posted by a netizen on Dianping on April 22, the above-mentioned Beijing store products are being discounted, "8.8% off for one piece, 7% off for two", "6% off for one broken code product, 5% off for two".
According to incomplete statistics, from the acquisition of the domestic business to the end of 2023, the C&A brand's physical stores in Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, Shenyang and other cities have been closed, according to China Business Daily. In February this year, the C&A Qingdao Leke City store, which is the main store of the city, was closed. According to people familiar with the matter, the store has been open for 11 years, initially as a two-storey storey and later reduced to one floor. On March 31, due to the expiration of the lease contract of the shopping mall, C&A's last store in Jinan City, Lingxiu City Guihe Shopping Center store, was also officially closed.
Online, C&A officials seem to have stopped the promotion. At present, the last push update of the brand's official WeChat public account "CA China" is still stuck on August 2, 2023, and the last update is in 2022. The official Weibo stopped updating as early as June 30, 2021.
Netizen: The price is affordable
But it has become the tears of the times
Some netizens expressed regret over C&A's recent situation. Many consumers cite affordability and a variety of styles as significant advantages of the brand.
According to Jimu News, Mr. Chen, a post-85 Wuhan citizen, said that when he was in college, he often went to C&A in Optics Valley, and later worked, he would also go to C&A in Han Street to shop. Especially when the season changes, there are several pieces or even a dozen pieces to buy, which is very cost-effective and the quality is not bad. "But since then, both stores have closed.
A consumer in Chengdu commented, "The tears of the times are still a drop left." I went to see 3 pieces of 3 discounts, and I saw that it was the previous discount, and I asked, but the clerk said don't care, it seems to be really Buddhist. I bought several pieces of dolls, all of which were of good quality and at a good price. ”
It is worth noting that in 2021, the acquirer of C&A's domestic business, Zhongke Tongrong, also acquired the Chinese business of French fast fashion brand CACHE CACHE. BUT SIMILAR TO THE FATE OF C&A, CACHE CACHE WAS ALSO REVEALED TO BE EXPERIENCING "ONLINE STAGNATION AND LARGE-SCALE OFFLINE STORE CLOSURES" IN 2022.
In contrast, brands such as Uniqlo, ZARA, and H&M, which have survived the fast fashion competition, have all adopted similar strategies without exception: frequent co-branding with well-known IPs and brands, strengthening the layout of e-commerce, and developing mid-to-high-end brands. C&A, which did not seize these opportunities, could only be reduced to "tears of the times".
Source: Daily Economic News is synthesized from China Business News, China Business Daily, Jiemian News, and Jimu News