Old Luxury Goods Transformation Coach Acquisition Shoe Brand

         The acquisition of footwear brand wants to create another "Kai Yun group"?

　　 Coach The news of the acquisition of Stuart Weitzman came as a result. Various discussions in the industry have made Coach a focus again, because this is one of the brand transformation plans that Coach has built up in a big way. In November 24th, it started its new generation concept store upgrading plan in New York in less than half a month.

In Beijing SKP Xinguang Tiandi shopping center, the latest concept store of Stuart Weitzman has just opened. This is the third store opened in Beijing by the luxury shoe brand in less than two years, following the Yintai Center shopping mall and the Oriental New World flagship store. The speed of expansion and the scope of distribution channels can be seen. As a well-known high-end shoe brand in the US, Stuart Weitzman is currently sold in more than 70 countries around the world. It is understood that the brand has about 45 stores in the US market, with 61 stores in the international market, plus e-commerce and wholesale business, with an annual sales of about 300 million dollars.

Stuart Weiztman, which is well received and sold by Reuters for nearly $1 billion, is not only the first lady of the United States and the shoe brand of Hollywood stars, but also attracts the Coach that is eager to transform.

"We are transforming from an international accessory brand to a global lifestyle brand based on accessories. There are many aspects that need to be changed, including product category, store environment and brand image." Yang Baoyan, President of Coach China, said.

Coach also said that the 2014 and 2015 fiscal year will cost 250 million -3 billion for restructuring and transformation. It seems that the acquisition of Stuart Weiztman and Coach is a must.

"We do not rule out that Coach is planning to build a" Open Cloud group "from the United States. After acquiring Gucci brand, Kai Yun group gradually acquired YSL, shoe brand Sergio Rossi, jewelry brand Boucheron (Boucheron) and watch brand Bedat&Cie (Bedat&Cie). Large groups expand their product lines in such a way that acquisitions can make up for their lack of a certain field to stabilize their own luxury group status. Zhou Ting, President of the Institute of wealth quality, said.

　　 layout High end full product line Transformation has become a group strategy

Coach's ambition for shoe brands has long been a clue. Since Coach changed the new design director Stuart Vevers in 2013, the trend of high-end and full product line is obvious to all. In addition, a complete series of men's shoes has been added to the autumn and winter series just released. Beijing Business Daily reporter noted that only in Beijing Xintiandi Coach new shop, but also different from the past to join the brand new concept of shoe products.

Reporters learned that not long ago, Coach officially announced its four step development strategy. First, we will transform the brand positioning to achieve the growth of the North American and global markets; second, grasp the global opportunities to achieve the growth of international business; three, we should develop men's accessories and other lifestyle products; finally, we also need to pay close attention to the growing business development potential in the digital field. The industry regards "transformation" as the key word for Coach's next strategic deployment.

Coach is seeking to transform itself into lifestyle brands because of its persistent weakness in performance. Data show that in the 2014 fiscal year, Coach revenue fell 5.3%, from 5 billion 75 million 400 thousand US dollars in the same period last year to 4 billion 806 million 200 thousand US dollars; excluding restructuring and other expenses net profit recorded 869 million 600 thousand US dollars, down 18.7% from the same period last year 1 billion 67 million US dollars. At the end of October, Coach announced the first quarter of fiscal year 2015, and the continued weakness in the US led to a 19% year-on-year decline in overall sales and a 4% rise in global sales. Since the beginning of the year, Coach's share price has fallen by nearly 40%.

In 2011, Coach was the highest brand in the US market with 32% market share. However, in the past three years, the rapid development of Michael Kors and Kate Spade has led to the decline of Coach's market share.

　　 The road of transformation is not easy.

Coach is making changes in products, shops and marketing. For example, close down factory shops that may dilute brand value, increase the supply of new products with high priced fashion, update the concept of stores, and so on, so as to show off the old-fashioned and dull brand style, optimize sales channels, and become a more modern lifestyle brand.

The Beijing Commercial Daily reporter registered on the Coach factory store website which had previously registered itself and mainly targeted at Native American customers. At present, the Coach factory store has hidden the link between the registrant's self registration and invitation registration, and the registration link is no longer displayed on the website. This means that Coach has given up a large number of orders when the factory store website opened once a few days ago, as it is well known that factory stores mean a lower positioning brand image with discount and low quality.

The bigger move is to shock the industry. In the first half of this year, Coach closed more than 70 stores in North America to optimize the integration of global sales outlets. But the direct impact of the move is a sharp drop in sales in the same store. Previously released third quarter data as of March 29th showed that its sales in North America fell 18% to $648 million over the same period. Coach also reported in the earnings report that sales in the same year in the 2015 fiscal year will be 14%-19% in North America, and the comparable sales decline will be 24%. In addition, Coach announced on shareholder day that total revenue in fiscal year 2015 will shrink by 11%-13%.

At the same time, in Beijing East Xintiandi shopping center, Beijing Business Daily reporter saw the new Coach store image that just appeared in December 15th and upgraded completely. The upgraded Coach shops are more luxurious in decoration, more sense of space, and more sophisticated and ingenious designs.

Such a big investment is just to create a new high-end positioning Coach image. Takeover Stuart Weitzman Coach, which can be "positive", is facing strong competitors. Brown Shoe, the famous American Footwear Company and the famous private equity fund Advent International Corp., have joined the battle of Stuart Weitzman recently. The former is truly a shoe tycoon. The latter is a capital investor who has invested heavily in fashion consumption recently. Coach wants to win Stuart Weitzman.

Coach, who is facing double challenges both inside and outside, looks aloof and aloof. I hope that Coach and Stuart Weiztman, which are far away from the UG level, can become "self family".