After the epidemic, clothing store owners must pay attention to several decis...

If you don’t have it, it doesn’t matter. Today, the editor is here to talk about several decisive points that clothing store owners must pay attention to after the epidemic.

1. In the future, cash flow is king

At the end of 2019, many brands’ spring and summer products were ready, waiting to be put on the shelves and sold well. However, the epidemic caused all actual sales to fall far below expectations. Therefore, many brands turned to online sales to convert into cash flow as quickly as possible. It's clear that everyone has realized that whoever can sustain six months of cash flow will be able to weather this natural disaster. This is what's known as a company's risk resilience. In reality, every business has its own cash flow cycle to meet monthly expenses. However, the president has noticed that many people, seeking quick profits, quickly reinvest their profits in branches. Therefore, if an unexpected crisis occurs and offline retail experiences a significant decline, these companies face the risk of a broken capital chain. First, after the epidemic is over, everyone hopes to have a plan for a rainy day. This will help them recover from this severe loss while increasing their readily available cash flow.

2. The merger of online and offline must be accelerated

If we don’t open offline, selling goods online will be our only way out. Once the profit mannequin is single, it will be even more difficult for us to support cash flow. Therefore, no matter how big your brand is, the merger of online and offline must be accelerated!

And since three years ago, the merger of online and offline has been one of the major trends that the president has repeatedly emphasized. This pandemic has made us realize the advantages of brands prioritizing online presence. For example, Peacebird began its online presence three years ago, which is why the past two months have been nothing but good news: daily sales exceeding 8 million yuan are no problem! Another example is the cosmetics brand Lin Qingxuan. Even though the epidemic forced the closure of over 30 stores in Wuhan, the hardest-hit area, Lin Qingxuan began deploying sales assistants online on February 1st, using mini-programs and DingTalk to connect with Taobao. As a result, when nationwide store performance was tallied in February, the Wuhan store still ranked second. You must also see clearly that various online platforms will become more and more open in the future, with live streaming, micro shopping malls, and community operations. If you don’t catch up with the online express train, you will never catch up with others.

3. Offline experience economy is still important

Since we are talking about the merger of online and offline, the offline "experience economy" still cannot be put aside. For clothing stores, the future will no longer be centered around "selling clothes," but rather on "providing experiences." People go to clothing stores not just to buy clothes, but to see mannequins styling a variety of styles and then purchase these "experiences" to satisfy their needs. Many brands plan to continuously open stores to increase their influence. However, a more prudent approach is to increase the profitability of each existing store and foster the "experience economy." This can be achieved through a steady, single-store offensive, followed by a multi-store expansion strategy.

After this epidemic, you'll find that when every store operates relatively stably, online operations are more confident. This is because there are still many loyal old customers who guarantee sales.

Therefore, after the epidemic, we must first improve the appearance of our stores to attract customers; second, upgrade our sales methods to retain customers; and third, iterate on high-quality after-sales service to ensure repeat purchases.

Improving the quality and experience of our stores will make it easier to "do things" in the future. 4. Timely shaping of brand value

4. Timely shaping of brand value

Looking back at those mature first- and second-tier clothing brands, the experience they give to consumers must be comprehensive. It’s not just the products, but also the stories of many brands that consumers can talk about with relish.

The globally popular Victoria's Secret was founded because its founder, after receiving disdainful looks when buying lingerie for his wife, created a lingerie store open to men.

The Oreo sandwich cookie is black, white, and black because it symbolizes black people and calls on everyone to reject racial discrimination and recognize that even black people are pure at heart.

The reason why physical clothing stores need to pay attention to this is that over the next 10 years, the main consumer force will be those born in the 1990s and 2000s. These people value individuality and will not pay solely for the product; they are more likely to be attracted by the brand's story and value.

To put it bluntly, customers' impression of a brand will begin with the product, be passionate about cognition, and be loyal to the experience.

So for us, we need to have a good brand story, enhance our overall strength, and make customers more trustworthy and interested.