Winter Has Arrived, And Snowshoe Brand'S Own Winter Is Continuing.

In China, there are many ways to adjust and sell China's limited product, lifestyle pformation brand and profit decline. UGG? We have interviewed Michael D.Wellman, President of UGG China.

Winter has arrived.

Brand UGG is still in its own winter.

As one of the most well-known snowshoe brands, Deckers Outdoor, the parent company of UGG Australia, announced its second quarter earnings in 2015 in October 20th.

According to the financial report, the net income of UGG increased by 0.9% to $421 million 100 thousand in the three months ended September 30th, and the growth rate was 5.3% without considering the exchange rate effect.

Although the performance of UGG and its parent companies is higher than analysts' expectations, the fact that group profits fell by 3% is still in sight.

For it, the bottleneck period of development is not so easy to ride through.

The once popular snow boots seem to be slowly coming out of the trend. The growth is too small. The advantage lies in the fact that the domestic wholesale channels are better, which makes the negative effects of the decrease in the dollar stronger, rather than relying on the strength of the brand itself.

Its accurate red story is a mystery, but anyway, you know that it was once very red.

There are many versions of the popularity of UGG, but it is certain that it must not be the popularity of UGG Australia brand, but the popularity of a whole snowshoe category.

UGG, which is actually originated in Australia.

The general term, meaning "Ugly Boots" (ugly boots), looks clumsy but warm and cute. The most important thing is that jeans can always be easily pushed into, very convenient.

Snow boots were popular in Australia until the American Blaine created the UGG Australia brand in California, and sold it to the Dreckers outdoor company for $1 billion 460 million in 1995. UGG began to become popular among outdoor athletes in the form of brand.

After receiving UGG, Deckers will "comfort" as a selling point and push it into the market by packaging the brand into fashion products.

From then on, UGG began to appear frequently.

Magazines and show grounds.

In order to persuade consumers to accept such ugly boots, it is also fashionable. It mainly relies on celebrities and other opinion leaders in the early promotion. Among them, the American talk show queen Oprah, Leonardo, Cameron and so on are their "buyers".

And in Asia, if the Korean drama "sorry, I love you" in the classic UGG wearing a stills is a start, snowshoe boots since 2004 has entered the horizon of Asian consumers.

But the popularity in China really broke out in 2007. At one time, whether it was Taobao, such as the electronic business platform, network Street photos or all kinds of retail stores under the line, snow boots began to appear in a wide range.

After its Paris fashion Monday, its imitations quickly appeared in stores like cheap water retailers such as Xiushui and Beijing zoo wholesale markets.

Jeong Lim's red boots in "I'm sorry I love you"

But tide products have a life cycle, and UGG is not free from vulgarity.

It is important to note that the above is snow boots, not UGG.

UGG's rush into the Chinese market at the end of 2008 is not too good timing.

The brand names of other snow boots, such as Internet communication, imitation and design, are all shortening the life cycle of UGG.

In 2012, the turnover of Deckers Outdoor, the parent company of UGG, began to shrink, and sales dropped by 30%. People began to say that the company was on the verge of collapse. The British Guardian even published "UGG is going to collapse, and fashion circles will be reveling in it."

Speech.

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But the positioning of functional high-end fashion brands has saved UGG? Meghan Cleary, author of shoe are You, once said: "UGG is a brand that will never die."

In 2013, its sales have miraculously regained growth.

Even if the tide is out of date, it becomes more like a need for existence. It is a necessity for winter to bring warmth.

It is hard to imagine that if UGG was not placed next to luxury items such as Prada and LV from the beginning, what would it be now? It is easy to fall from the high end to the brand image, but it is too difficult to go from low to high.

When Deckers cooled down in the heat of UGG, it remained undaunted to maintain the high exposure of UGG's luxury image, which enabled the brand to continue to expand its brand around the center of light luxury.

"When women go to work, they do not wear snow boots, but we need to expand their shoes on formal occasions."

UGG Michael D.Wellman, China's president, said in an interview.

UGG does not want to be recognized as a snow boots brand, so it has actively developed other products.

In recent years, UGG has made innovations in the design of upper height, materials or decorations, and has also added clothing, ear muffle, handbags and other categories. For example, the colorful snow boots with bow ties and fluffy ear muffin are still very pleasing to girls.

One of the reasons for expanding the category is that the classic snow boots occupy an excessive proportion in their sales.

According to Racked website, fashion consultant Lockie Andrew has published data that "25% of women's wardrobe will have a pair of UGG snow boots", but most of these consumers will not buy second pairs.

This has forced the company to find new ways to open up new markets, such as the hot men's market in recent years.

This move is also considered by the investment bank Jefferies Group to be the key to "doubling the sales of men's clothing".

"This is what we are doing recently. Our men's shoes sell very well in spring, and the growth rate is very high. We have started deploying the products in the next season."

D.Wellman said.

According to official data of UGG, the sales of men's shoes in spring and summer in UGG2015 accounted for 27%, which increased by more than 50% in 2014.

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And playing Limited sales.

In addition, it is also important to restore the confidence of the market, which requires retailers to cooperate to a certain extent.

From the current situation, the deployment of UGG in Europe and America is still effective. For example, Nordstrom, a high-end chain corporation in the United States, has launched a "restricted purchase" gimmick, claiming that every American family can only buy four pairs of UGG at Nordstrom, resulting in the front end market of UGG coming from customers with long queues.

Generally speaking, the development of UGG is still under a lot of pressure. In addition to continuing efforts on the road of self-help, as a pillar of Deckers, it is also responsible for the overall performance of the group.

According to the latest financial reports, Deckers's other brands, such as Teva, Sanuk, and Sanuk, are all suffering from sales in Waterloo.

In this story of "one person supports a home", China, as the most important producer of UGG, is also the top priority of its layout.

In order to curry favor with consumers, UGG has started producing specific products for the Chinese market since 2013.

Among them, increasing the number of stores is one of China's strategies. Just in September 2014, 6 entities opened in China, and last year, more than 30 stores opened.

Positioning the luxury brand UGG can be seen from advertisements.

Next, what UGG will do in China, Michael D.Wellman, President of UGG China, has talked more about interface news.

Interface: a theme repeatedly emphasized in this activity is the new #UGG classic. Can you explain to us the meaning behind it?

Wellman: This is the only way to cooperate with another brand. There is a very similar place between us. They are also inspired by nature.

Cooperation is a good opportunity for the two of us. We will also find similar ways of cooperation and innovation in the future.

Interface: snow boots are the most popular brands in recent years. They are also considered by customers to be the representatives of UGG shoes. Are you worried that snow boots become the stereotype of UGG in the minds of customers, thus affecting the sale of other shoes?

Wellman: I am not worried about the stereotype of UGG, because it is a big business for us. (laughs), we are very willing to insist on this impression, let the Chinese market continue to regard us as the best choice for winter shoes; but if we keep making shoes, it is really boring. We need to do more shoes for fun.

Interface: is UGG likely to be pformed into lifestyle brand, selling more household products? And the recently listed luxury classic series will make you think UGG also wants to be a luxury brand. Would you like to ask what the real plan of UGG is for these statements?

Wellman: "comfort" is our first requirement for all products, providing consumers with a comfortable experience, such as our boots, which is very warm and comfortable. But at the same time, we want to expand the market of our products, no matter in fashion or lifestyle, in fashion, women wear fashion because of appearance, but some fashionable objects are not necessarily comfortable, but we want to create products that are comfortable and fashionable.

We want to diversify and develop different categories and things. For example, we not only sell one kind of boots, but also have high-class, entry-level different price boots and so on.

Interface: at present, the price adjustment of UGG in the Chinese market is increasing. Apart from increasing the choice of customers, are there any other reasons?

Wellman: we find that UGG sells well in China's classic shoes, but there are many Chinese consumers who buy counterfeit or unknown sources. When they buy bad quality shoes, they call our after-sales service and ask for replacement. This makes us feel difficult. At the same time, some changes in tariffs and currencies in China also give us more confidence to reduce the price of classic shoes. But at the same time, in order to ensure customers' needs of brands at some consumption levels, we will also use relatively superior materials to provide them with a relatively classic and luxurious version.

In short, we need to diversify our products and diversify our prices. We want to have more repeat customers, so that every time they come to UGG shops, we can find something new, see some changes and buy new things.

We will also work with Disney and Star Wars to design the products of the Star Wars theme, as well as work with the secret agents team, and work out boots for cooperation.

Interface: what are China's expansion plans for the next 3 years? What are the new plans for distribution in retail outlets, marketing strategies, e-commerce sales and price ranges?

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Wellman: we are expanding our retail stores and online shopping centers and trying to improve the services of different channels.

We have four dealer partners in China. They are good friends for UGG. They have done a good job in UGG's business in different provinces (including Jiangsu, Sichuan, Xi'an and Shenyang).

Online, we have co operated with Tmall and Jingdong to open flagship stores. Of course, we also have our own official website, ugg.cn, which has exclusive products on the official website, such as home series only in official website.

Interface: UGG slippers have been sold for the same reason in the hit Korean drama "you from the stars". Do you think UGG has tried new designs and marketing strategies on shoes such as casual shoes and sandals besides snow boots?

Wellman: interaction with celebrities is one of our core strategies. For example, we invited Xinyi Zhang and Li Chen. Xinyi Zhang said that everyone has a pair of UGG in the film crew, so what we need to do now is to make each star have another pair of UGG.