China Business Daily (Reporter Jia Xinran)With the advent of winter, consumers' demand for warmth and protection against the cold has entered an explosive period, and snow boots have started a hot sale mode. A few days ago, UGG's parent company, American outdoor apparel group Deckers Brands (hereinafter referred to as Deckers) announced key financial data for the third quarter of the 2022 fiscal year, showing that UGG's net sales increased by 6.3% year-on-year to US$476.5 million. However, despite the enthusiasm on the consumer side and the company's performance, UGG still has many problems to be solved.
Peak season performance soared
The weather is getting colder and colder, and all kinds of snow boots have come into people's sight, and are favored by many consumers for their fashion and warmth. According to Jingdong data, since November 22, cold-proof clothing such as down jackets, woolen sweaters, and thermal underwear have ushered in hot sales. Among them, the turnover of the snow boots category represented by UGG increased by more than three times from the previous month. In the "Double 11" women's shoe brand sales TOP 10 list released by Tmall , UGG ranked second. Many consumers took advantage of the "Double 11" to purchase products, driving the sales of snow boots to continue to rise. A reporter from China Business Daily searched the UGG Tmall official flagship store and found that the monthly sales volume of various products in the store has exceeded 1,000, and the monthly sales volume of the autumn and winter loafers with the highest sales volume has reached more than 6,000 pairs.
Stimulated by the cold weather, UGG sales soared, driving the company's operating performance to continue to rise. A few days ago, Deckers released its financial report for the third quarter of the 2022 fiscal year, showing that the group's sales rose 21.3% year-on-year to $875 million. Among them, UGG's net sales increased by 6.3% year-on-year to $476.5 million.
UGG can achieve such brilliant results, it is inseparable from the great investment of the brand. In recent years, Deckers has launched various rejuvenation strategies in an attempt to change the inherent impression of UGG's aging image and strengthen the brand's fashion genes. In the Chinese market, UGG has not only made great efforts in the aspect of brand spokespersons, but also held hands with many well-known artists such as Yang Mi , Zhou Dongyu , Wang Yibo , etc. Cooperate with designer brands to continuously strengthen their own fashion attributes. In terms of promoting product diversification, UGG has expanded the product types from snow boots to various categories of products, such as sports shoes, sandals, slippers, clothing, etc.; the user group is no longer limited to women, but expanded to men and children etc.
In terms of broadening the development of all channels, UGG is also constantly exploring new models. In July, Deckers announced the appointment of Anne Spangenberg as president of fashion and lifestyle. It is reported that Anne Spangenberg was previously the chief commercial officer of Nike, responsible for the formulation and implementation of the brand's global strategy, and has rich relevant experience. After she joined, she led UGG and other brands to focus on product diversification and franchise evolution in the omni-channel market. Dave Powers, President and CEO of Deckers, said: "Despite the tough macroeconomic conditions, Deckers' strong performance in the first half of fiscal 2023 is a testament to the team's ability to execute. As the UGG brand enters the peak sales season, we are confident that the Group will achieve The annual growth target.”
still faces a lot of pressure
It is worth noting that despite the sharp rise in performance, UGG is facing a lot of pressure. The annual peak sales season for snow boots is from October of the current year to February of the next year, which means that UGG can become "just needed" only after the temperature cools down. Zhang Jiajia, who lives in the north, told China Business Daily that she only wears UGG snow boots during the coldest time of the year, and has no chance to wear them when the weather is warm. UGG had launched plush slippers before, and she followed suit to buy them as a fashion lover, but after wearing them for a while, she found them to be very impractical. "Wool slippers look cute, but if you wear them on cold feet in winter and sweat in summer, they will not follow your feet and shed hair when you walk."
In addition to the short life cycle of the popular , UGG quality problems are not uncommon. On the black cat complaint on the platform, some consumers said that the men’s shoes they bought at the UGG official store had worn out a hole in the toe after wearing them for only a month. After reading the product reviews, they found that they were not alone. This has happened to many people. After reporting the problem to the customer service, the customer service refused to compensate and said that this kind of shoes can only be worn when driving, not walking. In contrast, domestic snow boot brands are more cost-effective. Whether it is Saturday, red dragonfly, and other fashion brands, or lifestyle brands such as Jiaoxia, or Zulijian elderly shoe brand, they have launched related snow boots. Boots products are not only cheap, but also have good warmth retention properties, and some products also have the function of water-repellent uppers.
The picture is a screenshot of the complaint platform
Since the design of snow boots is similar, the homogeneity problem is serious, so the imitation of UGG is also very prominent. Some netizens reported on social platforms that the delivery address of the UGG snow boots she bought for 800 yuan on the Dewu App was Sangpo, Henan, which made her feel very angry. "I bought it online to save money, but I saw that the place of delivery was Sangpo, which made me doubt the authenticity of the product." The origin of ground boots, here is the world's largest UGG OEM factory Longfeng fur , 80% of UGG products are produced here. In recent years, Sangpo village has become the first choice for countless e-commerce, shopping agents and vendors from all over the world, because Sangpo snow boots are very close to UGG authentic products in terms of raw materials and craftsmanship, and the price is also low. However, in the view of netizens, the quality of Sangpo snow boots is not the key point. "I don't care whether the quality of Sangpo snow boots is good or not. I just want to ensure that what I bought is genuine." In the struggle, the above-mentioned netizen finally chose to return the product.
Whether it is high imitation or low imitation, in the eyes of industry insiders, as long as the production of counterfeit brands is an infringement, it will damage the brand value of the enterprise, squeeze the market space of honest enterprises, and let its development be harmful to the entire industry. Words are bad. In response to counterfeit products, Olivier Lorans, vice president and general manager of Deckers Group China, once said that in addition to taking legal measures, UGG can only continuously accelerate the research and development of new products, so that competitors cannot keep up with their development speed. But it is also a challenge for the brand itself.
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