Anchor Simba is once again involved in the "fake goods" controversy, and Simba and the brands involved have different opinions. On the evening of April 23, regarding the issue of "YPL pants promoted by Xinxuan in the live broadcast room without official authorization", YPL Sports Fashion Products admitted the trademark licensing dispute and apologized to Simba. The war of words between Simba's team and the brand caused by a pair of YPL pants continues to dominate the search screen. However, in the controversy, Simba's company and the "brand" have insisted on their own opinions and published materials for several rounds, making the truth of the matter clearer. I am confused and trapped in Rashomon. Who is the "genuine"? Are they all "genuine"?
From questioning to apology
Who is YPL?
YPL official website shows that YPL is a functional sports brand from Australia. Its main products include slimming pants, Breast-enhancing vests, sun protection jackets, sports bag hats, etc. Among them, trousers such as "puppy yoga pants", "peach hip pants" and "AI pants" are the best-selling items.
In fact, the YPL brand has cooperated with many leading anchors and celebrities. The investment promotion page of YPL’s official website shows that top anchors Wei Ya and Li Jiaqi have put YPL products on the live broadcast room, and have also collaborated with Hu Ge, Zhu Yilong, Wang Jiaer, Mao Xiaotong, Zhao Lusi, Twins, Zhang Junning, Fan Weiqi, Liu Tao, Jing Tian, Luo Yonghao and other stars have cooperated.
It is understood that what triggered the "war of words" between Simba and YPL this time was a "YPL sun protection cooling pants" from the live broadcast room of "Dandan" (the anchor of the Simba team). Relevant data It shows that the product is priced at 63 yuan in the live broadcast room, with more than 100,000 pieces sold and a sales amount of more than 6 million yuan.
It is worth mentioning that although the brand YPL changed its words and apologized on the grounds of trademark dispute, it did not explain the specific content of the trademark licensing dispute. Consumers are concerned about the products sold by the Simba team. How to define it? "So are consumers buying genuine products or OEM products?" Some netizens questioned.
Brand authorized pot?
Judging from the latest responses from both parties, the Simba "counterfeit sales" crisis may be caused by brand licensing. "OEM" is nothing new nowadays, and there are many brands that rely on "trademark licensing" to do business with almost "no capital and huge profit". Some merchants said that they only need to pay a few tens of thousands of yuan in brand usage fees every year, and then pay to use the tags according to the sales volume, and the other licensors basically don't care. In some industry segments, brand usage fees can even be as low as less than 10,000 yuan.
Nanji people have taken this "trademark licensing" business with a gross profit of more than 90% to the extreme. In 2020 alone, the total revenue of Nanji e-commerce's main brand licensing and comprehensive service business was 1.327 billion yuan. Accounted for about 1/3 of the company's total revenue that year.
YPL, which is involved in brand controversy, is also facing a lot of pressure. At present, many consumers have begun to question the product quality of the YPL brand. On the social platform, some netizens complained, "I followed the trend and bought one from overseas. When I was doing squats, a big hole broke in my crotch. I don't know if it can burn fat, but I died on the spot." Similar comments are not uncommon on social platforms, and some consumers said that the products purchased in the Viya live broadcast room had holes after wearing them once.
In the view of Shen Meng, director of Chanson Capital, the fact that YPL questioned the Simba team for selling fake goods and ultimately apologized does not rule out the possibility of topical marketing. For YPL, which has no brand appeal and influence, topic marketing through alternative means can improve its sales performance and consumer awareness.
At present, online live streaming has become one of the important channels for yoga wear brands to open up the market and increase sales. Take lululemon, a leading yoga clothing brand, as an example. The brand has also been conducting regular store live broadcasts on Taobao Live since April 2020. The frequency is about once per week, and the cumulative views of a single live broadcast are 40,000-50,000. Recently, lululemon also announced that it will launch live broadcasts with celebrities such as Olympic champion He Zi and brand ambassador Lu Jingshan.
In addition, China's new consumer brands MOLYVIVI and MAIA ACTIVE have cooperated with leading anchors such as Wei Ya and Li Jiaqi.
Relevant data shows that China’s yoga fitness apparel market grew from 2.6 billion yuan to 14.1 billion yuan from 2013 to 2021, with a compound annual growth rate of 16.38. It is expected that the market size of the yoga apparel industry will reach 156 in 2022 billion.
Judging from the YPL overseas flagship store, the price range of YPL products in the store is 79-379 yuan. Compared with the price of a pair of yoga pants in the market, which can easily cost thousands of yuan, YPL sells them for tens to hundreds of yuan. The priced products are positioned towards the mid-to-low-end consumer market; in terms of sales, the product with the highest monthly sales in the store is "puppy yoga pants", with a sales volume of 300, and the sales of other products are mostly single digits, which is different from lululemon's monthly sales of hundreds Compared with thousands, it is much inferior.