ZAFUL is a self-operated clothing brand under Shenzhen Globalegrow E-Commence. It was launched in 2014, focusing on the European and American markets. It ranked 23rd in the “Top 50 Chinese Brands Overseas” released by BrandZ in 2019 and is among the Chinese e-commerce overseas brands. Ranked third, second only to SHEIN.
ZAFUL started from swimwear and is currently the number one export category of Chinese swimwear. And it has occupied the mind of the category among foreign consumers. In Google Trends, the company has become one of the most concerned keywords in the swimwear category.
ZAFUL’s marketing started by relying on Internet celebrities to bring goods into traffic. At present, ZAFUL cooperates with nearly 100,000 Internet celebrities, and the top Internet celebrities account for 20%. The Internet celebrity resources are concentrated in the United States, Spain, Italy, and other countries. The majority of Internet celebrities are 18-24 years old. This is what the platform is targeting.
1
Cut in with swimwear, with a 90-day repurchase rate of 42%
ZAFUL’s parent company, Globalegrow E-Commence, was acquired by Kua Jing Tong (002640.SZ) in 2014 and became its subsidiary. In terms of supply chain and logistics, ZAFUL mainly relies on its parent company. The number of registered users of the Globalegrow E-Commence platform has exceeded 100 million. Its sales channels cover more than 100 countries and regions, and it has maintained 100% rapid growth for many years.
By connecting domestic suppliers, Kua Jing Tong has a stable supply in the supply chain and sells products to overseas consumers through its own platforms, such as ZAFUL.
According to the data in the 2019 annual report of Kua Jing Tong, ZAFUL has 39.86 million registered users, 23 million monthly users, 165 million monthly visits, 42% of 90-day repurchase rates, and an average monthly traffic conversion rate. It is 1.5%, the number of online SKUs is 5.6, and the average customer unit price is US$45.5.
In terms of logistics, in addition to overseas logistics distribution, ZAFUL also built its own logistics dedicated line service system with its backing Kua Jing Tong. According to the annual report data, as of the end of 2019, the cross-border storage area is about 410,000 square meters, 14 domestic warehouses, 290,000 square meters storage area, and 63 overseas warehouses. Among them, Globalegrow E-Commence has set up 37 overseas warehouses in 20 countries. warehouse.
Stock up according to historical sales data and product life cycle. At the end of 2019, Global Esco’s inventory balance was 1.47 billion, compared with 3.94 billion in 2018.
As an emerging global online fast-fashion clothing brand, ZAFUL will add sportswear, menswear, and other categories in 2019, greatly broaden its product line, focus on localized operations in 19 countries, and launch a series of offline experiences for different market regions. Brand activities.
In cutting into the overseas market, ZAFUL chose to detonate with a single product category. There are four major advantages from swimwear products: rapid growth, the development of leisure tourism in Europe and the United States, the demand for swimwear is big and the replacement cycle is short; high profits, swimwear shipping, and production costs are very low; single products are strong, easy to expose and promote on Instagram; Like to try on swimsuits at home, suitable for online shopping.
Also because of starting from swimwear, ZAFUL’s early single products have a very strong Instagram style, focusing on young women aged 18-24. Using marketing and sales data, they continue to introduce new products with high value and cost-effectiveness to stimulate consumers to buy.
ZAFUL is also positioned in fast fashion. The platform is composed of designers and buyers and is good at trending references. According to the official website, ZAFUL’s independent design accounts for more than 80%. The average time from design to launch of new products is 1-2 weeks, with daily updates of 50-100 models. In the supply chain, 70% of the world’s swimwear is mostly produced in Huludao, Liaoning, China, which has a supply chain and price advantage. In terms of logistics and distribution, ZAFUL has in-depth cooperation with local logistics companies. For example, the Philippines station has built a logistics distribution system of Manila warehouse + domestic warehouse. The average sign-off time for orders sent from the Manila warehouse to the entire Philippines is controlled within 3 days. about.
2
Social media attracts traffic and offline launches as a brand
Like all cross-border e-commerce, the early traffic of ZAFUL was to get initial traffic from social media. ZAFUL puts advertisements on social media Facebook and Instagram, website preferential promotion, etc., through advertising diversion, combined with a variety of ways of promotion, to drive users’ first consumption.
In the early stage, ZAFUL’s operation focus was on customer experience, allowing users to form word-of-mouth communication.
ZAFUL’s Facebook homepage currently has more than 8 million fans. In 2019, it has basically maintained positive growth. ZAFUL’s Facebook homepage basically posts more than 5 posts per day, of which picture posts account for the largest proportion, and there are a lot of post interactions every day. In 1000 pieces.
ZAFUL has more than 5 million followers on Instagram. What can be compared is that luxury brand YSL has 6 million fans. Its interaction on Instagram is one order of magnitude higher than that on Facebook. The average daily interaction is more than 10,000, the highest single day. The amount of interaction reached 320,000.
In addition to online traffic, ZAFUL also uses various channels such as events or shows to obtain offline exposure. ZAFUL cuts in from offline student groups. For example, in November 2018, ZAFUL brought its most popular ActiveWar series to three famous universities in Los Angeles, cooperated with local college student organizations and communities, and became the first among local students. In an offline event, ZAFUL guides students to register, follow, and post photos on Instagram by giving away coupons, stockings, guessing the price, and free travel to Hong Kong.
The fashion show is also a good offline scene for brand exposure. In September 2018, ZAFUL cooperated with Eyewear brand Victor Wong to showcase its swimwear collection at London Fashion Week for the first time. The main purpose of entering the fashion week was to strengthen the brand’s tonality and premium capabilities and to eliminate cognitive barriers to impact high-end products in the future.
Of course, the most sensational thing about ZAFUL is the advertisement placed in New York Times Square. At the fourth anniversary of ZAFUL, I found Shay Mitchell, a famous Canadian actor, model, and writer, and then posted a video on her YouTube channel about her traveling and tasting food in China wearing ZAFUL clothes. During the event, a fan lottery and a special item were launched, and they received 100,000 participants and sold out within 3 days respectively.
Throughout 2018, ZAFUL completed the brand upgrade through various offline activities.
3 Both live broadcast and private domain traffic are on the rise, making them the most complete marketing player
But ZAFUL’s most distinctive feature is not regular marketing. What’s more noteworthy is that the company is able to implement all the latest marketing techniques in China abroad and is doing well.
ZAFUL cooperated with LiveMe, a live streaming platform of Cheetah Mobile, to immerse overseas users in the interaction with the anchor through live streaming. The live streaming can also jump to the purchase page of ZAFUL products and convert it through content e-commerce.
ZAFUL is also very in-depth in the operation of Internet celebrities. Compared with 2015, ZAFUL’s current KOL scale has increased by 6 times. ZAFUL has 37,000 KOL resources in the global KOL pool and is currently the brand with the most KOL resources.
ZAFUL’s online celebrity cooperation on Youtube generally involves the celebrities opening the box, trying on and publishing Vlogs, paying a part of the fee for the video production of the celebrities in the early stage, and then paying a certain commission based on the online traffic brought. In the first quarter of 2017, ZAFUL’s direct revenue generated by Internet celebrities accounted for 10%.
For Chinese brands, the supply chain is leading in the world. For the current overseas companies, how to do a good job in marketing abroad is a more important proposition.
