Tan Yifan

    cicitan2011@gmail.com

    ABOUT four years ago, when Alibaba announced that sales on Tmall.com on Singles Day (Nov. 11) reached 3.36 billion yuan (US$541 million), news pieces on declining sales, especially sales of clothes and other fashion products, in malls began to appear from time to time.

    It is indisputable that the cost of maintaining a physical store is much higher than that of an online shop, which has led many brands, designers, producers and sales people to spurn opening new chains at various malls in favor of decorating online shops and learning to adapt to Internet promotions.

    “The changes have made many fashion brands and factories go bankrupt, and some tailors in Guangdong have diverted to other businesses,” said William Tang, a famed Hong Kong fashion designer. “But for newly graduated fashion designers and independent professionals, it has become easier to establish a brand and to become known within a short time.”

    Fashion has been one of the most affected industries of the Internet revolution.

    Many designers are declining jobs offered by international brands to follow the trend and become online shop owners, contributing to the growth of womenomics.

    Liu Lei and Lu Ziyu are among the transitional fashion workers who are striving for fame and profit in the competitive online market.

    Liu, 37, who lived in Britain for 10 years and once worked for famed brands such as McQueen, said e-commerce has lowered the threshold for young entrepreneurs and brought her team more opportunities.

    She founded her brand Jueshi in a small workshop in Beijing with her husband. They formed a team of 12 people and opened a store on Taobao.

    With rich experience in the fashion industry and the help of other professional fashionistas, Liu soon formulated a productive procedure and learned to promote her fashion items online.

    “Unlike some designers who spend time on fashion shows or social activities, I earn my customers just by maintaining the quality of my clothes,” she said.

    The online store has connected Liu to buyers across China, many of whom are repeat customers.

    “I was surprised to find buyers from distant places and people who share my tastes. Some of my customers have even visited my workshop and try out the new pieces. Many first bought my clothes because of word of mouth,” she said.

    Liu sometimes reports the development of her products on her WeChat moments and shares her inspirations and daily life with her friends and customers.

    The e-commerce mode allows Liu to effectively connect with customers and factories.

    “I can respond to customers immediately and inform the factories of changes or make a new order. We have cooperated with three or four factories and have staff monitoring the whole process,” she explained.

    But Liu said she also faces many challenges and frustrations.

    The lower threshold has provided easier opportunities to steal other people’s designs and make faster knockoffs.

    Liu said this has happened to her.

    “You can’t stop the imitators and only hope the customers can spot the details and distinguish between the fake ones and the originals,” she said.

    She also mentioned that shop owners have to struggle to decide whether to join sales promotions.

    “There are several sales promotions on Taobao and I always have to choose between sales and quality — you can’t always balance them, especially when you are developing new products,” she said.

    But Liu is lucky. Even though she hasn’t realized her goal of opening a physical store for customers, she is turning a comfortable profit.

    Lu, who has a registered brand called Sugarpop and has opened several stores on various e-commerce platforms, said it takes much work to run an online store.

    “I have to learn to adapt to the promotion rules on various platforms and deal with capital flow,” she said. “The whole process of taking photos and decorating a new platform can cost a lot of time and delay the development of my products.” Her clothes target those who start their first jobs after graduation.

    “The profit isn’t high and if a customer from a distant place such as Gansu [in Northwest China] returns clothes, I may have to pay those return shipping fees,” she said.

    In addition, many Taobao shop owners have to bid for hit searches or ranks, which cost more time and money.

    Despite the costs, Lu said she plans to join a new Shenzhen-based platform called Whoolala besides of platforms such as Taobao and Mogujie.

    Designers and shop owners are not the only ones who have joined this tricky game. Lin Danqi, a local online fashion buyer, said buying clothes online should be a more careful process than buying clothes at a mall.

    “There are some knockoffs and fake products on Taobao, and if you make a hasty decision, you may be fleeced,” she said.

    “Many of my friends choose to try a brand’s clothes at a physical store and then search for the clothes online to find cheaper ones. The owners usually tell the customers that the clothes they provide are purchased illegally and do not have trademarks, but actually many of the clothes are knockoffs and are made after the customer makes the purchase,” she continued.

    “Usually, if you have to wait for the owner to deliver the clothes more than a day or if the price of the clothes is 50 percent less than the original price stated on the sticker, you are working with a counterfeiter,” she said.

    Lin has abandoned buying famed brand clothes online but turned to searching for clothes that are made by independent designers.

    “You can enter key words like ‘original design’ or ‘independent design’ on those platforms and once you have found a designer who meets your needs, you can enjoy a cheaper but better quality item,” she said.

    Lu also added that despite the flaws in shopping online, customers can still make some good finds.

    “Most salespersons offer free seven-day refunds and accept returns of the products. Even if you have to pay for the shipping, it can be worthwhile to try new designs,” Lu said.