Louis Vuitton: 157 years, Chanel: 98 years, Giorgio Armani: 36 years… Many brand builders may have this feeling in their hearts. What Chinese brands lack is the accumulation of time.
When Yingzheng Women’s Clothing opened its store in Beijing Yansha Mall for the first time, Ma Ying silently made a wish that she would persist until Yingzheng became “China’s Armani” and “the top business women’s wear” ”, no matter how long it takes.
Already: legend and entanglement
As an authentic Beijing brand, the development of Yingzheng is somewhat legendary in the eyes of others: it was founded in 2000 and entered the Chinese market in 2001. Friends Department Store ranked among the top three sales stores that year. Ma Ying, the founder of Yingzheng and chairman of Beijing Ma’s Jilong Garment Co., Ltd., lamented that opportunity was indeed one of the reasons for the brand’s surprising success in its initial stage, but more importantly, its own strength.
Ma Ying has always had a special feeling about Zhongyou Department Store, the first department store that Yingzheng entered. “At that time, Zhongyou Department Store was undergoing large-scale adjustments, which was an opportunity for a new brand like ours. Perhaps he was moved by our enthusiasm and confidence in starting a business. Although he was suspicious, the manager of Zhongyou Department Store’s investment department still agreed. Give us a small position, this inconspicuous position, so that Ying Zhengji can withstand the test of the market.”
After three days of suspension of business, the sales results rushed into the top few, and the sales were completed in one week. Monthly tasks, this is the first result sheet handed over by Ying Zheng. Ma Ying is full of pride about this report card. Because she knows that regardless of the market situation of low consumer demand for business attire at that time, the high quality of Yingzheng clothing is the decisive factor for the brand to gain recognition from consumers. And this kind of high quality is exactly what Yingzheng always pursues.
Ma Ying’s determination was building up step by step, and making quality products was the focus of her mission in those years. The concept of business women’s clothing relying on quality makes Ma Ying reap the joy of success.
In 2006, Yingzheng entered a stage of transformation: from professional women’s clothing to junior business women’s clothing. This is a manifestation of the self-improvement of Yingzheng brand, and also the path to realize Ma Ying’s professional dream of creating “China’s Armani”. However, during the actual implementation stage, Ma Ying encountered a problem that troubled her.
Yingzheng is a reborn local brand. In negotiations with high-end shopping malls, this local label has become their biggest shackles. “Many people can’t imagine the difficulties involved. When entering the high-end market, in the competition with some foreign second-tier brands, the results of local brands are not optimistic.” Ma Ying felt the enthusiasm of the international market for the introduction of international brands. Pressure to maintain foreign brand identity.
Therefore, kind-hearted friends made a plan for Ma Ying to transform into an international brand: register abroad, open a store, and then switch to the international market… After the transformation, the brand will undoubtedly become more popular. Strengthen bargaining chips with international markets. For a period of time, this plan really attracted Ma Ying’s vision.
But more often, Ma Ying will ask herself in her heart: Is it meaningful? Is the brand after the transformation still the brand I want?
On the one hand, it is easy success, on the other hand, it is my own fantasy. For more than a year, Ma Ying hesitated from time to time.
Even looking back now, Ma Ying laments that at the time, taking a foreign name and turning into an international brand, or continuing to hold high the local flag, was just a choice made in an instant. But now she is very happy, because her persistence in local brands has not only reaped financial rewards, but also gained spiritual satisfaction, and the latter is what she really values.
Reality: Giving vs. Losing
From the time we started our business to the present, we have always used merit to speak in politics. No matter where the store opens, the excellent sales results make the shopping malls look at her with admiration.
Speaking of the success of the brand’s transformation, Ma Ying said that he wanted to thank one person in particular, who opened the door for Yingzheng to go high-end. This person is Manager Meng of the Sales Department of Beijing Yansha Friendship Mall. He saw the development potential of Yingzheng with the eyes of many years of experience in the outside industry.
“I told him that he is a very important figure in the history of the Yingzheng brand.” The reason why Ma Ying commented like this is because she knew that if she did not get the opportunity to enter Lufthansa Mall, she would not be able to enter the Lufthansa Mall now. Yingzheng may be far away from China’s excellent business brands. The opening of Lufthansa’s door and the success of sales in Lufthansa allowed Ma Ying to see the true direction and purpose of the Yingzheng brand.
“Although Yingzheng already had a certain amount of market experience before entering Lufthansa Mall, for Lufthansa, Yingzheng is still a brand that is too small and too weak. What we can do , that is, constantly asking people to pay attention to our products and showing them our ideas. In order to cooperate with the promotion of the brand, we launched new design ideas, stopped all old designs, and integrated sales channels, because our goal is to become China’s Business women’s wear.” Giving up on some shopping malls is a bold decision made by Ma Ying to promote the Yingzheng brand. Ma Ying, who is full of adventurous spirit, does not care about temporary changes.Loss of interests, she is more concerned about the brand positioning and development of the future.
The sacrifice of interests and the dedication of spirit finally brought about a qualitative leap in welcoming the government.
After entering Lufthansa Mall, Yingzheng quickly proved itself with its strength, and their identity as a national brand has also been greatly recognized by consumers. After the transformation, both product quality and marketing methods have been greatly improved. Many consumers who pass by Yingzheng’s store will say unconsciously that they can tell it is Yingzheng at first glance, and their business attire is very good.
“You can tell at a glance that you are welcoming the government.” This sentence is a great encouragement to Ma Yingsha. Since its establishment as a brand, Yingzheng has paid great attention to the consumption needs of its customer base. “Lawyers, teachers, business people, corporate executives, people in the financial sector… these people form the main consumer group for political meetings. Although they all wear business attire, their dress requirements are very different. For example, lawyers I like suits with calm and elegant colors that don’t require too much decoration, because they emphasize personal professionalism and authoritativeness; in order to increase the affinity, teachers often choose clothes with detailed embellishments, and the colors are more lively… …” When the customer base is studied in such a detailed and thorough manner, Yingzheng naturally has more market appeal than other brands.
After ten years of development, what is the harvest of Yingzheng University? In Ma Ying’s view, it means respect from the market and recognition from consumers.
The future: from young to immature
The development of Yingzheng brand shows people the strong vitality as a local brand. In the competition with foreign brands, Yingzheng’s performance was by no means outstanding, or even better. This virtually prompted the market to have more rational considerations and objective attitudes when treating foreign brands.
Don’t obey, don’t follow the trend, stick to your own style. This is the development strategy that Yingzheng Brand has always adhered to. In order to meet future challenges, Yingzheng has begun to make changes.
“If the past five years are the process of our concentration, then we will need to promote the strength of the brand in the future. In addition to insisting on making good products and ensuring product quality, we will also focus on marketing strategy and personnel training. Seek big breakthroughs in a series of specific links such as brand management and brand management.”
Ma Ying said that Yingzheng’s store opening speed will be appropriately accelerated, and they are willing to see more like-minded friends join this group, and The development strategy that has been grand in the past will also be appropriately changed. I hope that more friends inside and outside the industry will pay attention to Yingzheng and see the progress of Yingzheng.
Regarding personnel training, Ma Ying believes that Yingzheng’s service targets are a group of intellectual women with high quality and independent thinking, and Yingzheng’s service team should keep up with the pace of these people. Taking terminal shopping guides as an example, Ma Ying believes that instead of cultivating their sales skills, it is better to develop their knowledge level and be able to communicate well with the customer groups they serve. “Our service targets have gone beyond the stage of needing shopping guides to guide clothing. They are independent and thoughtful. Therefore, we emphasize professionalism and enthusiasm in our services to them.”
Having been in business for many years, I have studied design. Ma Ying, who was born in China, still retains her rational side. She has repeatedly emphasized that she has been running the Yingzheng brand for many years and that she is just doing a meaningful thing and cultivating a future brand for China. People may not even know the founder and designer of this brand, as long as they remember the brand and understand her products, it is enough.
Ma Ying has a Korean friend, an old man who is about to retire. He has achieved remarkable results in the market, and now he is explaining China’s “The Art of War” in Korean. Ma Ying said that she particularly admired this friend because of his dedication to work and his pure thoughts. In her view, only by possessing these two points can things be done long-term and smoothly.
Ma Ying still remembers that not long ago, she heard a Hong Kong customer try on a suit in the store and exclaimed: “There are such good suits in the world? They are more comfortable than the ones I bought abroad!” In her opinion, this is not surprising at all. “Chinese brands are gradually aligning with international brands in terms of quality, craftsmanship and development ideas. What we lack is mainly at the cultural level, and technology is a shortcoming that cannot be circumvented. Compared with foreign brands, it is often decades With a history of hundreds of years, Chinese brands are generally still very young. So we have to be patient and give international brands some time so that they can calmly change from young to immature.” Ma Ying said sincerely.
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