From "price" to "value", Chinese clothing embraces branding
In 1978, a French fashion designer named Pierre Cardin came to China for the first time. At that time, the streets of Beijing, pedestrians were still wearing cotton or "Dacron" (dacron English Cantonese homonym) clothes, mostly black, blue, gray or army green, a little plain and monotonous. With a keen business sense, Pierre Cardin realized that the changes that were about to take place here would create an unparalleled blue ocean.China formal suit factory
A year later, Pierre Cardin held his first fashion show at the Cultural Palace of Nationalities in Beijing, bringing overseas fashion ideas to China. Since then, many international brands have gradually brought mature management experience, manufacturing technology and brand system, which has promoted the Chinese people's dressing concept.
And China's local garment industry is also developing and growing through openness and exchanges. With very advantageous labor costs, by the mid-1990s, China formal suit factoryChina's clothing manufacturing capacity has greatly improved, and its output and export volume have jumped to the first place in the world. With the continuous evolution of the supply chain advantages of the garment industry, Chinese clothing has achieved from "introduction" to "going out", and the "brand awareness" of local clothing brands is also increasing, and a number of global well-known national brands such as Li Ning and Bosideng have emerged. In recent years, with the vigorous development of emerging models such as cross-border e-commerce, many emerging brands have also been able to use the advantages of the combination of China's supply chain and digital trade to complete the global layout overseas, and continue to improve their capabilities in design, product innovation, brand and other aspects, gradually growing from "made in China" to "global brands".
Continuous innovation, Chinese clothing shows growth resilience
By 2024, the global apparel industry is expected to reach $1.79 trillion, with continued growth over the next five years. After more than 40 years of accumulation, China has the world's largest and most complete clothing industry system, the annual output of more than 70 billion pieces of clothing in 2023, accounting for more than half of the world, and the share of global clothing exports is also in the forefront. With the acceleration of Chinese apparel overseas expansion, Chinese apparel enterprises are no longer satisfied with relying on supply chain and price advantages to develop business, but by constantly increasing brand construction, creating higher premiums and achieving sustainable growth. Among them, Amazon, as one of the preferred destinations for consumers in many countries and regions to buy clothing and discover brands, has become one of the important channels for Chinese clothing companies to go to sea. In recent years, a large number of national brand clothing has emerged on Amazon. With the help of material innovation, quality upgrading, brand building and other means, they face hundreds of millions of consumers around the world and create a good reputation and image.
Some Chinese clothing brands rely on the continuous innovation and upgrade of the "flexible supply chain", build a new "small single fast reverse" model from trend insight, design proof, production and manufacturing to the speed of the new "small single fast reverse" model, quickly capture the changes of overseas popular elements, shorten the new cycle of clothing to the extreme. According to the data analysis of more than 10,000 textile enterprises in the country by the China Textile Industry Federation, as of June 2023, 56.8% of enterprises in the whole industry have fully digitized key business links such as research and development, design, production and manufacturing, and operation management. Based on a strong digital supply chain, Chinese clothing companies can complete the whole process from design to delivery within a week, and can launch tens of thousands of new products every year, providing global consumers with richer and more cutting-edge fashion choices.
Some Chinese clothing brands choose to invest in materials, technology, process and other aspects of innovation, with technological and functional breakthroughs through the industry cycle, seeking greater increments. For example, in the recent hot outdoor sports track, some Chinese clothing brands through continuous optimization of fabric selection, improve the waterproof performance at the same time, bring more comfortable daily wearing experience, in the strong gathering of outdoor sports track "a new path", with unique positioning, outstanding quality and unique wearing experience in overseas foothold.China formal suit factory
At the same time, many Chinese clothing brands began to pay attention to the role of marketing, by seeking emotional resonance with consumers, to more in line with the local culture of the brand concept to attract more overseas consumers. For example, baleaf, founded in 2014, is a sportswear brand that started from Amazon, and its first product, "027" cycling shorts, has created monthly sales of more than 10,000 pieces on Amazon. On the road, baleaf insists on brand building as a priority, with a particular focus on issues of concern to overseas consumers such as sustainability. In 2022, baleaf launched a sustainable range of products using recyclable materials such as plastic bottles and fishing nets, converted into high-quality recycled nylon and recycled polyester fibers.
To meet the changes, Chinese clothing needs a new way to go to sea
Although Chinese clothing brands have shown strong growth resilience on the international stage, they are also constantly facing new changes in overseas markets. With Gen-Z and millennials becoming the "main force" of consumption, the importance of brands is further reinforced. According to a survey, 84% of Gen-Z adults choose products and brands based on their values.
Focusing on the clothing category, consumers' purchases have also shown a high frequency and personalized characteristics. According to the survey, 69% of clothing customers will start to research a new purchase within one day of purchase. At the same time, not only do Gen Z adult fashion customers rarely buy the same brand from head to toe, but they also don't obsess over big-name brands. Young consumers often use dress style as a way to express themselves, and their choices are more diversified, personalized, minimalist, retro, street... Each style of clothing can find its own niche audience, which also gives small and medium-sized brands more opportunities to stand out.
At the same time, the media channels through which consumers know and understand brands are also changing. Especially with the rise of mobile Internet, from streaming media to live broadcasting, from music to podcasts, people's attention has become more fragmented, consumers will constantly switch between browsing, watching, searching and buying products, and will also get information from different channels such as "planting grass", customer reviews or video advertisements. This drives Chinese clothing brands to the sea must learn to obtain consumers' attention with excellent creativity in diversified channels to promote brand building and sales.
One important trend that cannot be ignored is the rise of video media. China formal suit factoryIn 2023, Americans will watch a cumulative 21 million hours of streaming content, up 21% from the previous year. For example, one of Amazon's most influential streaming services, Prime Video, has supported more than 30 languages, covering more than 240 countries and regions, providing more than 200 million Prime members around the world with a huge amount of quality content, including the Lord of the Rings: Hit movies like The Ring of Power and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, great series and award-winning Amazon original programming, as well as live streaming of Thursday Night Football, the Champions League, the French Open and more. Overseas consumers can also watch movies and TV series on Amazon's Freevee, watch live webcasts on Twitch, which has more than 35 million daily visitors worldwide, or watch current affairs, lifestyle and other interesting content on Fire TV Channels.
In addition, Gen Z, who grew up in the digital age, are more accustomed to sharing opinions and enjoying life online, and 71% of Gen Z consumers were inspired to buy a product or service for the first time by social media. To attract the attention of consumers on social media, the creative expression of visual content is also indispensable.
Multiple solutions to help Chinese clothing brands tell a good global story
Amazon's extensive media layout covering shopping malls, streaming media services and hardware equipment in many countries and regions around the world, continuous innovative advertising products and technology, user insights based on shopping, entertainment, life and other scenarios, as well as the continuous strengthening of local support in China, help Chinese clothing brands tell good brand stories around the world to provide support. Not only clothing brands on Amazon, but also clothing brands that take a multi-channel global layout can also build a global brand with Amazon's global diversified marketing touch points and advertising solutions.
First of all, in the face of a more decentralized and fragmented media environment and the strong rise of video media, Amazon provides the world's leading media matrix, especially rich video resources. This year, Amazon Prime Video ads have been launched in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, France, Italy, Spain and Mexico, helping advertisers reach an average of 200 million consumers worldwide each month, including 115 million in the United States, with more countries and regions to follow. Brands can also leverage Amazon streaming TV ads to reach an average of more than 175 million consumers per month in the U.S. across channels as diverse as Freevee, Fire TV channels, Thursday Night Football, Twitch, and more. In addition, brands can use Amazon DSP and Amazon publisher direct to advertise on thousands of premium media channels around the world, driving brand awareness and purchase intentions on a wider scale. These include Harper's Bazaar, GQ, ELLE, as well as NBC, CBS Sports and other globally influential fashion and sports platforms.
Sponsored TV, launched by Amazon Ads, helps brands of all sizes reach their target consumers in a flexible and easy way through streaming content on Freevee, Twitch, and Amazon devices, with no minimum campaign spend, minimum daily spend, or pre-committed spend. This gives more small and medium-sized brands the opportunity to reach the audience in front of the big screen and conquer more consumers with unique brand stories.
Secondly, Amazon Advertising constantly innovates and launches diversified advertising products and tools to help brands achieve better marketing results through multi-channel delivery strategies. For example, brands can enhance brand exposure through Prime Video, Twitch, etc., attract traffic through search ads such as product promotion and brand promotion, or accumulate loyal brand fans with tools such as brand flagship stores and posts to enhance re-purchase and conversion. With the multi-channel reach of Amazon ads, advertisers can effectively drive the conversion from traffic to business. The research shows that advertisers who choose four advertising strategies have a sales growth rate of more than 40%, a new customer growth rate of more than 28%, and a repeat purchase growth rate of more than 52%.
Third, Amazon Advertising also uses the continuous innovation of advertising technology to help brands plan and optimize marketing campaigns based on data insights. For example, based on Amazon's unique first-party insights and third-party data on billions of shopping, browsing, and streaming signals, the Amazon DSP allows brands to tailor campaigns based on demographics, lifestyles, interests, and more to precisely reach niche audiences at the right time. In addition, Amazon Marketing Cloud helps advertisers analyze and build customized audiences based on Amazon's and brands' own anonymized signals in a secure, privacy-protected environment, and provides in-depth analysis of consumer journeys and AD campaigns across channels. In this way, the purchasing decision of consumers is improved and the advertising effect is optimized.
Finally, Amazon Advertising also has a number of innovative programs that provide opportunities for brands to create more impactful creative marketing campaigns. For example, brands can collaborate with online creators or influencers to create content and reach their massive social media following through The Amazon Influencer Program, or partner with Amazon's fashion program The Drop to showcase limited collections, must-have items, or exclusive brand collaborations. To inspire more overseas fashion people to wear inspiration, leading the trend.