2016-03-15 14:26
What is the hundred years unable to get up after a fall down with the AVON brand?
[news] direct reporting network Beijing on March 14th ("business school" Rui Yifang) a beauty in her old age old AVON.
For today's young consumer groups, AVON in their vague impression, may also be heard at the end.
And in the fifties and sixties of the last century, Avon is one of the representatives of American popular culture, "Ding Dong, Avon" at that time, people familiar with the advertisement of lines, all kinds of "Miss Avon" knocking the friends, neighbors and strangers door, selling Avon cosmetics, making it one of the one of the world's largest cosmetics company.
After the great success, is a long decline. After to $1.7 billion sale of a major stake in North American business, the camp has already no longer, the business in China as its biggest market, performance a piece of dark, about "Avon is about to withdraw from the Chinese market" argument.
Avon group November 2015 released annual report, the third quarter losses reached $697 billion, about $44 billion yuan, China is become Avon in the Asia Pacific region led the declines in the market. Between 2011 and 2014, AVON China's annual total sales were 1 billion yuan, 700 million yuan, 600 million yuan and yuan, showing a downward trend.
In order to arm to survive, AVON not only to sell the stake, still shrinking market and the abolition of employees. Data show that in December 2012, Avon layoffs 1500 people, to withdraw from the market in Korea and Vietnam; April 2013 and 12 months, Avon has laid off 400 and 650 people, the withdrawal of the Irish market, closed at the same time in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, part of the business. "Miss AVON" the number has been reduced.
Although AVON's China region relevant responsible person said, at present, the progress of the work of AVON is good, the Chinese team is committed to consolidating the local business and to report the company to obtain sustained growth. But year after year loss of earnings data set off AVON China team confidence pale.
Some people believe that AVON's biggest failure is the success of the former, the way is the way of success in the future.
Behind the brand aging
As the first in China to get direct selling license of foreign direct selling companies, Avon in China daily chemical market a sales myth, but after a short time of 8 years, devastated, see toward the decline.
AVON's sales in China rose, Amway and MaryKay have not yet entered China, the local brand is still unable to compete with AVON. In the collective in other enterprise sales of spring, AVON has encountered the cold. Data show that as of the end of 71, the national direct selling enterprises have 2015, increased by 23 compared to the end of 2014. Amway, unlimited, perfect, Tiens direct selling industry leading enterprise performance is basically stable.
But think Rui high brand consulting company (China) strategy group director Li Gangjian think, Avon brand aging is not a independent and accidental event, not only the degradation of a company, this is just brand continuously alternating update process, a normal evolution path.
In the cosmetics industry, encounter cold aging brand enterprise is not a AVON. Born in 1837 by Procter & Gamble, also through the "downsizing" to save the tide.
Procter & Gamble 2016 fiscal first quarter earnings report shows that P & G's all business units of sales declined, the five category sales appear double-digit declines. Company revenue fell 12% to $12%, a decline of 7 over the past quarters, the maximum value. Among them, China is one of the regions to drag down the decline in sales of P & G.
Avon and Procter & gamble all have deep cultural heritage of the brand company, in the Chinese market from downwind downstream to struggling, nature is caused by the interaction of multiple causes.
Li Gangjian believes that the speed of China's consumer update iteration fast, and China's economic growth is closely related to the overall growth rate. When the Internet and the mobile Internet on people's way of life with a rapid and powerful potential to have a huge impact, the original elephant class companies want to turn around, it is slow and difficult.
First, the aging of the target customer group.
AVON has just entered the Chinese market, it is also occupied the most fashionable of the group of young users of the market. To import pose in front of the group of consumption at the time of Avon, also had a "tall" brand image, but today, Avon then seize the customer already old.
Second, consumer loyalty is even lower.
Mobile Internet era, the consumer's preference for the product refresh rate is very fast, the brand itself is increasingly short cycle. The rise of cross-border electricity supplier, will be more and more overseas goods at your fingertips. Consumption concept and consumption patterns change, making businesses and businesses want to win the loyalty of consumers become increasingly difficult. Some people even said that the mobile Internet era is not a "loyalty" of the times.
In addition, technology aging and consumption upgrade is also an incentive.
To shampoo, for example, head & shoulders dandruff as a selling point, through years of TV advertising communication, this function is rooted in the hundreds of millions of Chinese consumers in the heart. But today, people's requirements on the shampoo is no longer a dandruff so simple, for example, now by young users Repeng no silicon shampoo, to meet the national consumption upgrade, people to pay more and more attention to health needs.
In addition, with the increasing fragmentation of information, brand communication strategies are faced with many challenges. For example, 90 after the choice of daily necessities and their way of life is closely related. Large scale marketing communication is out of date
Aging can delay?
In addition to foreign brands, the wave of mobile Internet has accelerated the aging of China local brands, Li Ning, Wahaha is once made the Chinese people feel proud of the national brand, but today is the impact of the era, beset with difficulties both at home and abroad in embarrassing situation. Brand aging has become a problem facing the industry at home and abroad.
If AVON in the minds of today's young generation also retained a mark, it is nothing more than a "mother's generation" cosmetics, a class of labels, outdated means very strong. In fact, AVON is not only in the low-end products, as well as high-end products. Before the rise of the Internet economy, the traditional brand is almost a single brand. Under the name of the same brand, people's impression of AVON's product classification and crowd positioning is very vague.
In the brand segmentation and pricing strategy to develop today, AVON in the low-end and high-end market space is squeezed. Occupy the low-end market by all kinds of native and exotic beauty makeup brand, the high-end market has been monopolized by Europe and the United States, Japan, Korea and other mainstream brand, the former with tidal fresh to cater to the taste of young users, the latter to advertising put defend brand image and maintain the popularity of a brand, thereby draw to the user.
The brand itself is just a noun, but a short term may be the intangible assets of hundreds of years. Coca-Cola, Oreo, Marlboro, benz...... These are more than a hundred years of history of the brand, long years of age, but also to build a part of the brand equity. In other words, today we feel that the aging of the brand, in the past there is also a great time to successfully complete the success of Jinhui.
Is it possible to make a brand new? Li Gangjian believes that brand aging is inevitable road, but for the management of brand equity, so that it can achieve a natural transition from function to emotion, or will delay the speed of this aging. IBM, for example, was well known for its early performance on the switch, but it has now turned into a business solution provider and cloud service platform. In addition to the high performance of the equipment is still to sell, IBM to provide customers with solutions. Li Gangjian believes that this is a way to make the brand from the invisible path. Relatively tangible products of the brand, the invisible service brand more resistant to aging.
Some people say that the mobile Internet has been a traditional industry. This contrasts with a few years ago, the transformation of the temporary clamor scene. Thus rapidly derive the social effects such "Luhan economics": a young male stars, in Baidu in the year 2014 "actor brand digital assets of a large data calculation, beyond all the famous predecessors won the first. Behind Luhan, countless young fans.
Users as the center of the brand strategy is already a big trend. Li Gangjian believes that in the context of this era, the brand concept is very important, most of the enterprises in the change, often in the Why rather than in the What to do the change. If there is no fundamental change in the concept, but the diversification of the expansion or simply through the aesthetic and visual aspects of the LOGO changes and other strategies, the enterprise is still very difficult to achieve rapid development.
Starbucks in the 40 year old removed "Starbucks coffee" text, keep and enlarge the image of Starbucks "green siren" and not want to simply change the pattern, based on strategic considerations, the move is more far-reaching significance lies in the fact that, Starbucks to tell the customer: "we are not only selling coffee."
In addition, the inertia of thinking and the mode of thinking is also very important, this is also very difficult for the old companies like AVON to turn around. Very difficult to have a serving leader, dare to his own force to overthrow the patterns of the past, and in the past, enterprises increasingly mentality urges it to rest on its laurels for services can bring profit for a fixed group, resulting in the curing of the cost structure.
In "the innovator's dilemma", Professor Clayton Christensen has raised the question: why does a good business encounter failure? His conclusion is that these well managed enterprises often encounter failure is as to promote their development as the industry leading enterprises of management but also a serious impediment to their development, and these disruptive technologies eventually swallowed up the market.
X Google as a former Google's secret research department, is committed to long-term research work in the future. Since the establishment of the parent company of Alphabet and the company's business to adjust, X Google's new name only one letter X".
Li Gangjian believes that this is not only from the identity level to Google, but also hope to be independent at the operational level. X will be a new experimental field, to open up new roads and complete new tasks.
"There is no courage to change their own life," Li Gangjian said, not just AVON, for today's businesses, all need to torture yourself this question. 3
(original title: what is the hundred years unable to get up after a fall down with the AVON brand?)
Editor: Xiao Shen
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