news

Interface News Reporter | Zhu Yongling

Interface News Editor | Lou Qiqin

Italian cashmere brand COLOMBO has been making continuous moves in the Chinese market since entering 2024.

Recently, COLOMBO moved its original store on the second floor of Shenzhen MixC Phase I to the same floor. The new store has been fenced off and plans to open the first COLOMBO men's clothing store in the country, as well as the only brand store with a VIC VIP lounge. Less than a month ago in mid-July,COLOMBO is still hereA new store opened on the first floor of Shenzhen MixC Phase 1. Including the men's clothing store,COLOMBO will soon have 3 stores in Shenzhen.

Outside Shenzhen,Since 2024, COLOMBO has successively opened new stores in Shanghai Grand Gateway 66, Beijing SKP, Xi'an SKP, and Wuhan SKP - the Shanghai and Beijing stores are upgraded and reopened, and the Xi'an store is a limited-time store; in addition, limited-time exhibitions were also held in Shenzhen and Shanghai.

The brand’s official mini program shows that as of now, COLOMBO has opened 11 stores across the country, with two each in Shenzhen, Shanghai, and Beijing, and one each in Wuhan, Chengdu, Chongqing, Jinan, and Xi’an, initially covering South China, Southwest China, Central China, East China, North China, and Northwest China.

Public reports show that COLOMBO entered China in 2016 and opened its first store in Beijing Shin Kong Place (later renamed "Beijing SKP"). Since 2020, COLOMBO has cooperated with Hongjue High Fashion Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Hongjue High Fashion"), headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong, and the latter is responsible for its operations in the Chinese market.

COLOMBO was founded by the Colombo family in 1967 and is now in its third generation.The world's largest manufacturer of cashmere and rare fabrics, its main business is to supply fabrics to major brands.According to the brand’s official WeChat account, many luxury brands such as Hermès, LOUIS VUITTON, CHANEL, etc. are COLOMBO’s partners.

Another relatively small business of COLOMBO is ready-to-wear clothing.It started in the late 1980s. According to a 2020 report by FashionNetwork,About 75% of COLOMBO's turnover comes from the textile sector and 25% from garments.

COLOMBO, which mainly manufactures high-end fabrics, does not have a large revenue scale and its growth rate is relatively slow. According to public reports, COLOMBO's revenue in fiscal year 2019 was 88 million euros (about 690 million yuan at the current exchange rate), while in 2011 and 2010, COLOMBO had achieved revenue of 70 million euros and 60 million euros respectively.

Roberto Colombo, current CEO of COLOMBOAccepted in 2020FashionNetwork quoted a data in an interview, saying40% of the world's luxury goods are purchased directly in China or by Chinese tourists. In addition, he believes that Asian consumers are more able to appreciate low-key and restrained luxury - COLOMBO is a brand of this style, so he plans to make the Asian market the focus of COLOMBO's future development. At that time, COLOMBO had only 12 brand stores in the world, including 7 in Italy and 5 in South Korea; in addition, there were 4 stores in the United States that cooperated with department stores.

COLOMBOHongjue High Fashion also reached cooperation in this year. According to the internal publication of Hongjue High Fashion, the two sides had discussedThere has been communication on the pattern and design of COLOMBO products. In addition, all the products listed in the official mini-program mall of COLOMBO are marked as "Made in Italy", but they are not exactly the same as the products on the brand's overseas sales official website. It can be inferred from this thatHongjue high fashion is notPure distributors also enjoy a certain degree of autonomy in product planning and design, but the production process is still mainly controlled by COLOMBO headquarters.

Zhao Yizheng, chairman of Hongjue Haute Couture, mentioned in the aforementioned publication that COLOMBO's performance in the Chinese market increased tenfold in 2023.The highest monthly sales of a single store reached 8.23 ​​million yuan.

Such a high growth rate is largely due to the fact that COLOMBO is still in its infancy in China. In terms of overall volume, COLOMBO is currently ranked first among the top brands in the world, with Loro Piana,Brunello CucinelliCompared with the luxury cashmere brands that have been operating in the Chinese market for many years, there is still a long way to go.

From this perspective, COLOMBO may not have caught up with its best time in China, and its brand awareness is not outstanding. In contrast, COLOMBO's most obvious advantage is actually its price. For example, a double-faced cashmere coat from COLOMBO costs no more than 50,000 yuan, while similar products from Loro Piana andBrunello CucinelliThe selling price is around 70,000 yuan.

In addition, COLOMBO has done a more meticulous job in customer operations, especially for core customers. In addition to setting up the first VIC VIP room in the new store, COLOMBO also attached the WeChat QR code of each store in the store information in the official account, so that consumers can directly contact the shopping guide without going to the store.

However, these operating methods have no barriers and can be easily adopted by peers, just as it has become a standard for many brands to have store guides open promotional accounts on Xiaohongshu. In addition, COLOMBO is not the only brand competing for high-net-worth individuals. Loro Piana also opened its first VIC in the world in Shanghai in March 2024.salon.

Another point worth noting is that the relative price advantage may help COLOMBO attract more middle-class customers, but it is not so clear whether the price can help attract and retain high-net-worth customers. After all, for the latter, theseThe most loyalThe range of choices available to guests covers a wider range of luxury brands, and brand value, product quality and even value-preserving properties may be more important than the price itself.