Singles’ Day (also termed 11.11 Global Shopping Festival by Alibaba) is held annually on November 11 and is the largest global online shopping festival. In the lead-up to this year’s event, our Brand Journeys to Singles’ Day 2020 series profiles 11 brands that are participating in Singles’ Day, and we explore each brand’s journey on Alibaba’s cross-border e-commerce platform, Tmall Global. In this report, we spotlight Guess? Inc., a US apparel brand.

Guess? Inc.: Brand Background

Having started out with designer jeans, Guess? Inc. now produces modern apparel and accessories for men, women and children. As of May 2, 2020, the company operates 1,084 retail stores across the US, Europe and Asia. The company’s partners and distributors manage 540 additional stores worldwide. The brand’s growth is largely driven by new store openings, e-commerce sales and an increasing customer base in China, according to Forbes. Based on company reports, over half of the brand's annual sales revenue is typically generated outside of the US. Headquarters Los Angeles, California, US Management Team

• Carlos Alberni, CEO
• Paul Marciano, Chief Creative Officer and Director
• Katie Anderson, Chief Financial Officer
• Jose Blanco, Chief Commercial Officer: Asia Markets

Brand Spotlight

Guess? Inc. has seen remarkably positive growth through its partnership with Tmall Global since it launched its store in 2013: For example, from 2015 to 2018, the brand achieved more than 100% sales growth on the platform. CEO Carlos Alberni told Coresight Research that digitalization has been a key element of the brand’s business model in the China market over the past five years, including digital innovations such as cashless payments in stores, developing livestreaming sales and creating engaging campaigns via social channels. The Covid-19 pandemic significantly impacted Guess? Inc. this year, causing an overall revenue decline of 41.7% in the company’s second quarter of 2020 amid extensive temporary store closures. However, Guess? Inc. is adapting with “a simpler, more efficient, capital-light and flexible model,” Alberni concluded in the brand’s second-quarter 2020 financial report. As part of these adaptations, the brand is looking to engage more directly with its customers: Ahead of the upcoming Singles’ Day in China, the brand has invited local key opinion leaders (KOLs), such as such as Austin Li (Li Jiaqi), Cheri and Fu Jing to showcase its new collection and share fashion tips with fans. China’s Luxury Market Chinese consumers accounted for 35% of total worldwide sales of personal luxury goods in 2019, up from 33% in 2018. With coronavirus-related restrictions on travel having significantly impacted overseas luxury spending by Chinese tourists (which Coresight Research estimates to have totaled $75 billion in 2019), Singles' Day presents an opportunity for brands to tap into potential pent-up demand of China's luxury shoppers via the online channel. Within luxury shopping experiences, Chinese consumers are seeking out exclusive and unique purchases. In 2019, Guess? Inc partnered with contemporary streetwear brand Advisory Board Crystals on a limited-edition collection of sweaters, T-shirts and accessories with colorful tie-dye patterns. As well as promoting the new range in stores in China, the brand leveraged this unique offering to raise its social media profile in China, gaining significant exposure on channels such as social commerce platform Little Red Book. This partnership was based on Guess? Inc.’s recognition of the popularity of streetwear among Chinese consumers, which reflects the finding in fashion trend forecasting firm Heuritech’s recent report that Chinese consumers are willing to spend four times as much on streetwear apparel than non-streetwear clothes, based on data from 2015 to 2020. Guess? Inc. cites this collaboration as an example of how it adapts its offerings to cater for consumer needs in China. The unique collection featured as a key part of the brand’s pre-Singles’ Day preparations, including its campaign on Weibo. The brand expects the creative designs of the collaborative collection combined with its social media campaign strategy to gain maximum consumer attention. Consumer Engagement Consumer-centric initiatives have proven to be an effective way of engaging consumers, particularly within luxury retail where a high level of customer care is expected. Guess? Inc. has ramped up its customer engagement initiatives ahead of the upcoming Singles’ Day, focusing on social media channels and livestreaming options such as Weibo and Taobao Live. The brand no doubt aims to replicate the success of last year’s Singles’ Day, when it ranked among the top 100 international brands on Tmall Global, based on sales and user traffic. To prepare for Singles’ Day this year, Guess? Inc. has taken advantage of resources provided by Tmall, such as its interactive gaming center and recommended channels (which are assigned based on Tmall data) to engage with consumers. The brand cites one of the benefits of these resources as “offering increased visibility and exposure fashion shoppers.” As part of its social media strategy to drive traffic to its Tmall Global store, the brand has featured key hashtags, including “#GUESSSTAR” and “#Singles Day coming.” The GUESSSTAR hashtag was used to invite local KOLs to share “must-have” items from their wardrobes, attracting around 8.36 million views as of November 4, 2020 on Guess China’s official Weibo account. Moreover, the brand has signed with local fashion KOL FuQian to host livestreaming events on Tmall to present the brand’s newly launched colorful denim line. Guess? Inc. has also looked to offline customer engagement strategies to diversify its Singles’ Day campaign. On October 26, Guess China organized a “GUESS VIP” experience event in its Shanghai store. The brand invited local fashion KOLs to discuss style tips and autumn and winter trends. [caption id="attachment_118904" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Guess? China hosts a VIP event in Shanghai ahead of Singles’ Day 2020
Source: Guess? China’s Weibo account[/caption]