Once, Swarovski was rated as "straight male gift-giving must-choose" on the knowledge, "there is no aesthetic, the choice of swan pendant is not wrong", but now it has been reduced to "about 1,000 yuan, it is better to buy Chow Tai Fook, good is real money and silver, why do you have to buy Swarovski artificial crystals?" ”
| Author: Ershui
| Editor: Su Su
Following the announcement of bankruptcy by the british headquarters of underwear tycoon Victoria's Secret, "Swarovski will close 3,000 stores" has also recently been on the Internet hot search.
On the morning of September 8, bloomberg reported that due to the impact of the epidemic and restructuring plans, the 125-year-old Austrian crystal brand Swarovski has dropped sales by about one-third this year, planning to close 3,000 stores and lay off 6,000 employees.
For a time, the news that Swarovski was going to close the store stirred up thousands of waves, not only hanging hot searches for several hours, but also reading hundreds of millions.
In the evening, Swarovski issued an urgent clarification: in an interview with Bloomberg, the CEO only mentioned that Swarovski will reduce the global network of 3,000 stores, that is, close a small number of physical stores that do not match the new strategy, and upgrade some existing stores into new retail concept stores.
Although the plot of "closing 3,000 stores" has been reversed, it is an indisputable fact that the epidemic that has lasted for many months has seriously hurt Swarovski.
Since June this year, Swarovski has laid off employees and restructured the top management twice, but has not been able to find a turnaround path. At present, this century-old store is suffering from the pain of the epidemic...
Layoffs also cannot solve the status quo
Previously, Swarovski expected the group's core business crystal products to increase sales by 4% to 5% in 2020. In 2019, sales from this business accounted for approximately 80% of group-wide sales.
Unexpectedly, the sudden arrival of the epidemic and the sudden "zero" passenger flow caught Swarovski, who likes to open boutiques in prime locations in popular business districts, by surprise. According to the China Fund News, the sales of its crystal business, which was originally optimistic, will plummet by 33% in 2020, about 2 billion euros (1 euro is about 8 yuan).
In response to the crisis brought about by the epidemic, Swarovski brand founder Genson, CEO and Chairman Robert Buchbauer advocated many important "changes".
Buchbauer
The first step of "change" is to lay off employees.
In June, Swarovski announced that the brand's sales in the first quarter had "taken a heavy hit" and slipped sharply due to a sharp drop in demand in Asia and the United States due to the pandemic. Buchbauer said that in order to keep the company alive and allow it to continue to operate, it had to decide to lay off 600 employees in its branches in various regions around the world.
Taking advantage of the layoffs, Swarovski will also make adjustments within the group to change the original organizational structure and business model. Buchbauer particularly stressed that this restructuring change is crucial to ensuring the long-term development of the group.
But Swarovski employs 34,000 people worldwide, and layoffs of 600 people will not solve the underlying problem. So Swarovski announced a second wave of layoffs a month later. They will cut 1,000 people at their Austrian headquarters this fall and continue to lay off 600 people until 2022. This also means that the number of employees at the Group headquarters will be reduced by 1/3.
In addition, the crisis caused by the epidemic has also exposed the rift within the Swarovski family.
Under the restructuring plan, the Group will merge its jewellery, home accessories and Swarovski Crystal World Museum at its headquarters in Austria.
But some members of the Swarovski family have strongly objected to Buchbauer, arguing that the current move is too extreme, the cuts are too large, or the damage to the brand's business is irreversible. The company's immediate priority is to find a way to "wake up" consumers, not to close doors and lay off employees.
Everything in the world can be "Swarovski"
More than 100 years ago, an artisan of artificial crystal cutting named Daniel Swarovski founded a company of the same name in the Czech Republic, specializing in the margarine business. Later, to avoid peer competition and imitators, the Swarovski family moved the company to Austria.
Daniel has always stressed that the products he produces are affordable, the cutting process is high, and he does not want to engage in any luxury empire. But Swarovski's successors don't think so, and they want to give up their products to take the high route and be in line with international standards.
As a result, the later Swarovski began to actively cooperate with film companies, so that its own products frequently "appeared" in many movies such as "Phantom of the Opera", "Breakfast at Tiffany's", "Dragon and Phoenix" and so on.
Not only that, but finding female stars to bring goods is also A tried-and-true method for Swarovski.
In 1953, in the movie "Gentleman Loves Beauty", Monroe sang an ode to diamonds by a gold worshipper, "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend", but she wore a diamond necklace prop made of Swarovski crystals.
Nine years later, Monroe wore a dress studded with 2,500 Swarovski crystals at Madison Garden in New York, singing a birthday song for then-U.S. President John F. Kennedy.
Marilyn Monroe sings for Kennedy.
The song has become the last of the times, and the crystal dress has become a latecomer.
In addition, Swarovski also likes to brush up on the sense of presence everywhere. From the Victoria's Secret show to the Met Gala, the red carpet and the catwalk are the battlefield, and female stars and models have put on the battle clothes of the competition, and if they do not hang dozens of Swarovski crystals, they are not worthy of being the most fashionable female stars on this gai.
Later, Swarovski advanced to "luxury decoration necessities":
For example, on the stage of the 2018 Oscars, Swarovski claimed to have used 45 million crystals to build an unprecedented stage set;
There's also the famous Christmas tree that appears at the end of each year at Rockefeller Center in New York, with 25,000 huge stars made of Swarovski crystals hanging from the top.
In this way, Swarovski has become a special product in the eyes of most consumers, it turns out that everything in the world can be attached to Swarovski crystals, but also derived bags, shoes, mobile phone cases, nails, teeth, sports cars, only consumers can not think, there is no Swarovski crystal can not be pasted products...
As a result, Swarovski has become the largest wholesaler of raw materials. Those products that have been "blessed" by Swarovski crystals will also have prices soaring in an instant.
Take Jimmy Choo as an example, the same style of high heels, the basic price of 595 US dollars (1 US dollar is about 7 yuan), after the crystal is inlaid with seconds become 2850 US dollars, if you add the words "Swarovski crystal" in the product introduction, the list price is 4594 US dollars.
In addition to marketing publicity, Swarovski is also a good hand at opening stores everywhere.
When China's light luxury jewelry market was still blank, Swarovski had already crossed the ocean, opening small windows for HuaLoszc in friendship stores in some big cities in China. By the mid-1990s, Swarovski had opened up separate counters in malls in big cities.
From opening its first flagship store at the Bund and Heili Hotel in Shanghai in 2010 to the launch of the Tmall flagship store in 2015, China has long since replaced the United States as Swarovski's largest market in the world. Almost every central city has a luxury boutique that keeps consumers scratching their feet.
In 2010, Swarovski, then Vice President of Operations for Greater China at Crystal Boutique, told the media: "What we needed most at that time (when we entered China) was not a channel, but a brand image. ”
If one store isn't enough, open a few more.
With its quick hands, personalized design and looking tall enough, Swarovski has climbed to a unique position in China.
Spending a lot of money on artificial crystals?
Although consumers buy Swarovski products, they are most concerned about the product itself and after-sales issues.
Swarovski has always used crystal as a gimmick to promote, but in fact, Swarovski's material is not real crystal, but a cut imitation crystal, that is, lead glass, and the technology used is not inlay process, but through adhesive bonding.
In addition, the necklace chains sold by Swarovski are almost all alloy materials, and then a layer of material is plated on the alloy material to imitate the color of gold and silver. That is to say, those necklaces that shone with golden and silver light had nothing to do with real gold jewelry.
What annoys consumers even more is that the jewelry with a price tag of hundreds or even thousands of pieces will change color, fade and rust soon after wearing. In the after-sales evaluation of the Swarovski Tmall flagship store, messages such as "fading", "falling diamond", "not wanting to buy a second time", "cheap materials, don't buy" abound.
Some netizens also posted photos of the chain fading and rubbing a neck.
The previous Douban Swarovski group was a small world where the beauty sisters exchanged shopping experience, but now it has become a special group for low-price resale and rights protection; once in the knowledge, Swarovski was rated as "straight male gift-giving must-choose" "there is no aesthetic, choose the swan pendant will not be wrong", and now it has fallen to "about 1,000 yuan, it is better to buy Chow Tai Fook, good is real money and silver, why do you have to buy Swarovski artificial crystals? ”
There are many product problems, and consumers naturally do not buy it.
10 years ago, in the "2010 China Luxury Report" launched by Ruder Finn and Albatross Consulting, Swarovski ranked 14th among the luxury brands that consumers most want to buy, behind Cartier, Omega, Longines and Rolex in the field of jewelry and watches; 10 years later, in the "2020 China Luxury Report", there is no Swarovski figure, replaced by Chanel and Tiffany.
It can be seen that no matter how good the marketing publicity is, it cannot save the wounded little heart of the consumer.
Swarovski, who has eaten up its early dividends, has not been able to meet its public performance in recent years.
Among them, in 2014-2016, Swarovski's sales were 3.05 billion euros, 3.37 billion euros and 3.36 billion euros, respectively, with a slow growth trend, while the sales of the crystal business were 2.33 billion euros, 2.6 billion euros and 2.6 billion euros respectively, with a total growth rate of too low in 3 years.
Rather than saying that Swarovski played a good hand of cards, it was better to say that they should not have put themselves too high in the first place.
Swarovski's current situation is not entirely caused by the epidemic, and rushing to lay off employees may alleviate temporary difficulties, but it will not solve the long-term difficulties. After all, the epidemic will one day dissipate, how to cope with the changes in the consumer market in the post-epidemic era and recapture the hearts of consumers is what the century-old Swarovski should really think about.