Europe And America Share Rent Clothing Mode To Test Water Market In China

Just imagine, if you were to wear a dress that you wore on a stranger not long ago, would you feel very uncomfortable?

There are quite a few people who share the same idea with you.

But on the other hand, there are quite a few people who have opposite ideas with you. In these people's eyes, it is necessary to spend a small amount of money on new clothes.

Like most shared projects, Sharing rents It is a new thing in China, but it has only been two or three years since its appearance. After experiencing the predicament of "capital cold winter" in 2017, many shared renting platforms fell down. However, this does not mean that the outlook for the industry is gloomy, because investors are constantly entering, and new investors are constantly emerging.

In March of this year, Alibaba group Ma Yun and Cai Chongxin, chairman of the board of directors, have invested $20 million in blue chip capital on Rent the Runway (RTR), the largest women's rental platform in the United States. Jennifer Hyman, chief executive of RTR (Jennifer Hyman), is ambitious to claim that it will be fast. fashion Giant Zara and H&M.

　 The business model is complex but bright.

The business mode of sharing rents mainly comes from the sharing rents in Europe and America around 2009, including Rent the Runway, LeTote and Myonbelle in Germany.

These shared rental platform models are basically the same - monthly rental. Users rent the clothes through the mobile terminal, and then take the logistics by the express company.

Of course, there is also the most important and indispensable part of cleaning and maintenance. In the consumer side, most users have "cross clothing whether there are health and safety risks". "Platform promised careful cleaning and disinfection, but clothes or stains or odor," "cleanliness is in place" and other concerns.

An article published by the economist on sharing rents, calling it a complex business, has a bright future. It is precisely because of its complexity that it perfectly interprets the truth of "the details of the devil's existence".

At 4:30 in the morning, the first batch of thousands of black clothing bags were transported by truck to a large warehouse outside Manhattan less than 10 miles (16 kilometers). These bags contain designer brand clothes and some tide cards and other popular. Clothing and accessories 。

The workers began to inspect these clothes: a printed sweater smelled a little, and a red one. Dress skirt A hole was broken, and a silk silk sleeveless vest had a stain on the flower pattern.

However, these problems were quickly handled by workers. The printed shirts were sent to the washing machine. The red dress was handed to one of the 75 seamstresses. They lined up with a single line of silk, zippers, buttons and other accessories. The silk back dress was delivered to a professional expert who knew how to remove stubborn stains on fine fabrics.

These "problems" will not take a day from clothing to storage.

The economist's article points out that for a Private Companies Rent the Runway (RTR) with a value of nearly 800 million dollars, a super turnover speed of a garment from warehousing to less than 24 hours in warehouses is crucial.

The RTR, a New York based enterprise that relies on items such as clothes, handbags and jewellery, has the world's largest dry cleaning warehouse and can dry clean 2000 clothes per hour. RTR started with rents for women to attend wedding ceremonies and other formal occasions. The company has 9 million customers in the United States, of whom nearly 3/4 have begun renting daily clothes for work.

At present, RTR's business has been extended from single rental dress to accessories such as jewellery and bags. The price of an evening dress is about 1/6 of its selling price.

In its most expensive "unlimited" package, the user pays $159 a month to rent four clothes at any time. About 2/5 of American women who have heard of RTR have expressed their willingness to accept and use such a shared wardrobe. Because when attending certain occasions, it costs only 1/6 of the cost to buy a tuxedo, which includes the cost of cleaning and minor wear and tear.

In order to attract more customers, RTR has opened a physical store in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Losangeles and Washington, D.C. The sales manager said that after the opening of the store, the volume of passenger traffic increased by 80% over the same period last year. According to the relevant data of RTR, the company earned more than 100 million dollars in 2016, and it was profitable based on operating profit.

The model still needs time verification.

Most of the other shared rents are developed on the basis of RTR mode.

RTR's rival, Gwynnie Bee co-founder Kristin Henschhke (Christine Hunsicker), who specializes in large size clothing leasing, will launch a service to traditional retailers to provide them with digital technology, cleaning and warehousing services for the operation of clothing rental business.

Some American clothing brands, such as Ann Taylor and NY&Co., are also trying this service. Rakesh Tanton, President of Le Tote, another clothing rental and start-up enterprise, predicts that over the next five years, more and more retailers will see potential business opportunities and launch the clothing leasing business in the next five years.

It is worth mentioning that Le Tote is now stationed in China, becoming the first us to enter the Chinese market to order monthly rental sharing platform.

Members join the Le Tote, each month to pay $59 to $79 membership fee, you can enjoy from smart to clean care and other services. Members need to fill out a detailed file about personal size and fashion preferences. Then you can choose independently or choose 3 clothes and 2 accessories according to the recommendation of Le Tote. These clothes accessories are not limited by time. Of course, if you want to change your clothes, you can only rechoose your existing clothes. In addition to renting clothes, clothes on the Le Tote platform can also be sold, and members can purchase at least half off of the price through websites or APP.

Le Tote hired Deng Jinglai, who has extensive experience in the retail industry as chief executive officer of Le Tote China. Deng Congye served as executive director and President of Belle International Holdings Ltd, China's largest footwear retailer in 18 years. In April of last year, when BELLE was bought by Hillhouse Capital Group and CDH Investment, a consortium led by CDH Investment, he chose to join Le Tote China.

Deng Jinglai is very confident in the mode of Le Tote. He thinks the Chinese market has great potential: "China's per capita income grows by 10% annually, and 60% of disposable income is used to buy fashionable goods. Finally, Le Tote China will be able to cover 400 million of Chinese female consumers.

Deng Jinglai also said: "China is a niche market with its own cultural norms, standards and expectations. We can not simply copy the experience of Le Tote in the United States. "

At present, there are 47 brands on the Le Tote WeChat mall.

But this sharing mode is not without problems.

The economist points out that consumers do have some complaints. Sometimes, members will receive some clothes that have not been smoothed or cleaned up. Washington Regan Sims said she had a good bridesmaid dress one or two years ago. But recently, the skirt she rented for her annual dance was not very good, it was too small, and it took a lot of effort to wear it (but RTR gave her a full refund).

Another small problem is transportation. RTR has drawn up a strict policy for not returning in time. Consumers who still do not return after 24 hours grace period will receive a $50 overdue fee per day. The cost will increase and eventually increase to the retail price of the clothing itself.

For consumers, the shortage of clothing and the failure to deliver on time are another headaches. Salinas also admitted that there was not enough inventory to meet the needs at the beginning of the RTR payment package service. Since then, RTR has been expanding its supply. Now there are hundreds of items in every style and size.

RTR's flagship store is like a huge dream wardrobe, which can allocate 100 thousand stocks for customers to try on.

RTR chief executive Jennifer Hyman (Jennifer Hyman) has said she hopes to pull down the two fast fashion giants of Zara and H&M. Although she is far from this goal, her rental mode does not look like a flash in the pan.

RTR changed the traditional clothing and sales mode, and this change coincided with the new trend of intelligent business. The success of RTR in the United States is due to its cultural support behind the United States. The consumption culture of the second-hand market in the United States is mature, and borrowing clothes and renting clothes is a common thing.

But the development of this model in China may be subject to some limitations. In China, there is still a lack of such a consumption soil. To some extent, Chinese consumers are still in the incubation period for sharing rents. The reason why consumers choose to use this mode of sharing renting platform for consumption is mainly because of "convenience and money saving".

Renting clothes and wearing them is absurd or sharing the future trend of the economy.