国内外品牌竞逐，中国高端内衣市场迎来大混战

美国内衣品牌维多利亚的秘密将在华开设首家门店，意大利顶级奢侈品牌La Perla和德国著名内衣品牌黛安芬等也要增开门店，而且要从大城市下沉至二三线城市，从潜力巨大的市场中分一杯羹。全球市场研究咨询公司英敏特估算，中国女性内衣市场规模五年内增长了一倍多，增至180亿美元。

中国消费者的品味正趋成熟，女性在选购用品时更加自信，加之国家主席习近平提倡减少炫富式消费，消费热点可能将从品牌标志显眼的包袋与配饰转向运动休闲服装，以及更私密的内衣。

“奢侈品……不应该用来炫耀，应该让自己感觉舒适才对。” La Perla的亚太区董事总经理琪亚拉·斯卡利亚如是说。

伦敦市场研究机构Euromonitor预计，明年中国的女性内衣市场零售总额将达到250亿美元，是美国市场的两倍，到2020年将增至330亿美元。

北京爱慕、曼妮芬和欧迪芬等中国企业同样野心勃勃，一方面瞄准高端消费者，另一方面加紧提高产品质量。

英敏特亚太区研究主管马修·克雷布称：“这意味着，国外品牌不仅要强调质量，还得不断推陈出新。”

目前中国女性内衣市场群雄割据，没有一家品牌的市场份额超过3%。由于全球市场前景黯淡，国际品牌纷纷将中国视为拉动业绩的主战场。

La Perla文胸零售价约为2000元人民币（折合300美元），在中国已有八家门店。La Perla计划今年成都和重庆开设专卖店，还打算在北京新开店面销售男性内衣。

“人们对内衣行业已经改变，”琪亚拉向路透社表示，“以前很多人都搞不懂，为什么会有人在别人看不到的内裤上花上千美元。”

维多利亚的秘密今年将在上海开设一家占地2万平方英尺（1860平米）的旗舰店。店址位于市中心，原本是路易威登的店面。维多利亚的秘密母公司L Brands负责国际业务的总裁马丁·沃特斯表示：“我认为新店开张将以非常盛大的方式宣告维多利亚的秘密登陆中国，也标志着潜力巨大的业务正式起步。”

黛安芬在中国已拥有1000家门店，今年计划进驻五个新城市，明年将覆盖11个城市。

去年中国内衣企业都市丽人收购了欧迪芬，打算开拓奢侈内衣市场。都市丽人此前主打大众品牌，文胸产品最低50元人民币（折合7.5美元）。

“我们希望逐步转向高端市场。”都市丽人的财务总监助理彼得·梁（音译）表示。

22岁的山东女生高倩南（音译）说，她一年买内衣要花1500元，没觉得国内品牌和国外品牌有多大区别。

她说：“一般只要能买国产品牌就尽量买。但如果某个国外品牌的样式我特别喜欢，也会买国外牌子。”

国际品牌都表示并未专为中国市场推出产品。不过意大利品牌La Perla指出，某些颜色的内衣在亚洲卖得比欧洲和美国好得多，例如红色和浅粉色。La Perla还力邀中国超模刘雯参与品牌推广。

日本和韩国内衣品牌在中国也越来越有人气。

23岁的林惠娟（音译）每三个月为购置内衣花费800元人民币（折合120美元）。她更喜欢日本内衣品牌华歌尔和Narue。“我感觉国外品牌的风格更细腻，选择也更多。这些方面国内品牌还是比不上。”她表示。

然而，征战女性内衣市场并非坦途。

包括欧迪芬的550家门店在内，都市丽人在中国开有8600家门店。去年该公司大众市场的销售增长强劲，但对今年上半年的盈利已经发出预警，原因包括中国经济增长放缓、消费者谨慎、电商竞争激烈等因素。

香港上市公司安莉芳控股，即内衣品牌安莉芳母公司表示，因竞争更加惨烈，国内经济环境也更严峻，今年二季度集团整体零售额下滑将近20%。

招商证券驻香港分析师尤金·麦（音译）认为，尽管业绩有起伏，女性内衣行业吸引力仍然强大，都市丽人等公司还是比其他服装零售商表现出色。

麦预计，总有一天女性内衣市场会进入整合期。他说：“这个市场刚刚起步，但近期会陷入混战。” （财富中文网）

译者：Pessy

审校：夏林

U.S. brand Victoria’s Secret will open its first store, and companies including Italy’s ultra-luxury La Perla and Germany’s Triumph are adding stores and moving beyond China’s mega-cities to tap a lingerie market that has more than doubled in five years to $18 billion, according to Mintel Group.

Chinese consumer tastes are maturing, women are more confident about buying for themselves and President Xi Jinping’s drive against conspicuous consumption is likely diverting spending from flashy branded bags and accessories to sports and ath-leisure wear and the more discreet lingerie.

“Luxury is … not about buying to show off, it’s about buying items that make you feel good,” says Chiara Scaglia, La Perla’s Asia chief.

China’s women’s underwear market is expected to have a retail value of $25 billion by next year—double that of the United States—and will grow to $33 billion by 2020, according to Euromonitor.

Chinese firms such as Beijing Aimer, Maniform and Ordifen are also chasing that money, targeting higher-end customers and raising their quality.

“That means foreign brands will have to out-compete local brands not just on quality, but also innovation,” said Matthew Crabbe, director at Mintel.

For now, the market is highly fragmented, with none of the leading firms having more than around a 3% share. International brands see China as a priority to help bolster overall sales given a fairly bleak global outlook.

La Perla, which sells bras priced around 2,000 yuan ($300), has eight stores in China and plans additional outlets in Chengdu and Chongqing within the year. It also aims to open a men’s store in Beijing.

“The perception of the lingerie sector has changed,” Scaglia told Reuters. “At the beginning many people we spoke to were confused as to why anybody should spend over $1,000 on panties for something nobody sees.”

Victoria’s Secret will open a 20,000 square foot (1,860 square meter) flagship store in Shanghai this year, taking over a prime downtown location that used to house a Louis Vuitton store. “I think it will announce our arrival in China in a very significant way, and should be the beginning of an enormous business for us,” said Martin Waters, L Brands International President.

Triumph, which already has 1,000 China stores, plans to open in five new cities this year and up to 11 cities next year.

Cosmo Lady, a Chinese firm that has focused on the mass market, selling bras from 50 yuan ($7.50), last year bought Ordifen to increase its presence in the luxury market.

“We would like to gradually step into the high-end market,” said Peter Lam, Cosmo Lady’s assistant chief financial officer.

Gao Qiannan, a 22-year-old Shandong student who says she spends upwards of 1,500 yuan a year on lingerie, doesn’t think there’s a big difference between Chinese and foreign brands.

“If I can buy a domestic brand, I will, but if I particularly like the international brand’s style, I’ll get that,” she said.

The international brands say they don’t offer products specifically for the Chinese market, though La Perla notes that some colours—red and baby pink—sell far better in Asia than in Europe or the United States. The Italian brand has also used Chinese supermodel Liu Wen in its campaigns.

Japanese and South Korean brands are also growing in popularity in China.

Yin Huijuan, 23, who spends 800 yuan ($120) on lingerie every three months, said she prefers Japanese brands such as Wacoal and Narue. “I feel foreign brands’ style is more detailed and diversified, these are areas where domestic brands fall short,” she said.

Even in the lingerie market, though, there are bumps.

Cosmo Lady, which has 8,600 outlets including Ordifen’s 550 China stores, saw robust growth in its mass market sales last year, but has warned about its profits for the first half of this year, citing China’s slowing economic growth, consumer caution and competing online sales.

Hong Kong-listed Embry Holdings, which owns the Embry Form lingerie brand, said its group retail sales slipped by nearly a fifth in April-June on tougher competition and the economy.

Despite those bumps, the lingerie sector retains a strong appeal, said Eugene Mak, an analyst at China Merchant Securities in Hong Kong, and firms like Cosmo Lady are still outperforming other apparel retailers.

He predicts the market will hit a consolidation phase at some time. “It’s a very young market, but in the near-term it’s going to be messy,” he said.