Entered the Chinese market for the third time, how Forever 21 regain the hearts of consumers?

By Zhong Mengxia

A few days ago, Forever 21 posted a big promo—tion for “618”, a Chinese online shopping festival. It tweet on its official WeChat account, announcing that it would be a mid—year promotion in its official flag—ship store of WeChat applet from June 8th to June 18th. In addition, it also said that Forever 21' s first of—fline store will open in Jingjiang InCity in June, and the opening plans of stores in other cities are under the concideration. It is reported that this is the third time the brand has entered the Chinese market.

This online purchase channel mainly includes Vipshop, Tmall and WeChat applet. According to For—ever 21, a person in charge, Forever 21 will upgrade its brand image and product positioning in an all—round way. It will also reach strategic cooperation with well—known brands such as Paramount Pictures, Rights&Brands Asia and YYC Limited, and launch a number of co—branded collections.

Founded in 1984, Forever 21 quickly became popular in the United States with its sweet style and low price, and then it had to go into the fierce compe—tition with fast fashion brands such as Zara and H&M. In 2008, Forever 21 entered the Chinese market for the first time, but only one year later, it was closed due to the wrong shop site selection. In 2011, Forever 21 returned in the form of Tmall online store, and also opened its first offline store in Wangfujing, Beijing, however, 8 years later, the brand withdrew from the Chinese market again in 2019.

In “618” shopping festival this year, Forever 21 started the first step to return to the Chinese market with shopping festival. According to Forbes China, in Vipshop's "618" shopping festival, a Forever 21 coat with the original price of 499 yuan is expected to get by only 75.6 yuan after various discounts, and the price of men's and women's shirt is about 50 yuan.

Compared with 2019, Forever 21 now faces a completely different market. In recent years, overseas fast fashion brands have invested their other high—end brands, attracting new consumers with fresh advertising methods and unique brand images; Do—mestic independent designer brands and small vari—ous Taobao stores keep up with the market trend, and their clothing is closer to the fashion taste and wear—ing needs of Chinese people. However, at present, Forever 21 still adheres to the sweet route of the past, at the same time, there are widespread complaints about its quality at home and abroad.

Wang Peng, an associate professor at Hillhouse Academy of Renmin University of China, said in an interview with press that the return of Forever 21 has chosen a more price—friendly strategy. Under the circumstances that clothing, quality and market—ing reputation are not outstanding, low price may be the biggest advantage for Forever 21. On this basis, combined with diversified media methods, it is pos—sible to accumulate a number of new fans for its new brand image.