"Fast fashion" lead chain management model new thinking: the manager is comparable to the CEO

“In China, 40% of Uniqlo's store managers have been promoted from their employees. Their income is 10 times or more than that of their clerk.” Yang Dazhao, China's first apparel industry strategy expert, said in a microblog recently that he was stricken in performance in Japan. In the dilemma of falling, Yanai, the head of the well-known Japanese casual brand Uniqlo, took advantage of the above methods, thereby “changing risks,” and immediately led to the “quick fashion” management** of the apparel industry.

Specifically, the main idea of ​​the above management philosophy is that, in the fast fashion industry or in the operation of most large-scale chain enterprises, “the company headquarters should not be the mainstay, but the stores should be the center” and “the manager is the main player of the company”. .

Now, with the rapid and more successful expansion of fast fashion brands in China and even in the world, these concepts are constantly being confirmed.

In an interview with the reporter of “Daily Economic News”, European fast-fashion brand WE Greater China President Jin Xianzhong expressed his affirmation: “From the terminal (chain stores first line) exercise, and then promoted to management, this is the future of the chain model of personnel training the trend of."

After an interview with the fast-fashion industry, the reporter found that although the establishment of “corporate business schools” aimed at training and training employees has become a common practice in many industries. However, the biggest difference from other industries is that grassroots employees in the fast fashion industry will have greater probability and may be promoted to management. The reason for this is not unrelated to the current good development momentum of the industry.

The importance of the manager is comparable to the CEO

The modern chain retail industry has undergone earth-shaking changes. The day-to-day work of store employees is no longer a simple "service" that people imagine.

“In general, I think that the manager's work is divided into routine and information management.” Liu Kaijie, a manager of a well-known fast fashion brand at the time, said that the manager must handle a lot of things every day, starting from the door, on the tour, Arranging work, accepting directives from the headquarters, and sometimes facing some hard-to-finish guests.

WE Xianzhong, president of WE Greater China, stated: “The importance of a good manager is sometimes equivalent to a CEO for a company.”

Jin Xianzhong believes that talents who have been trained at the chain store terminals and become part of the company’s management team are often better than some “airborne” general managers because the former’s business proficiency is high and they can better discover, understand, and Handle company issues or potential issues at all stages.

Gu Dejun, a senior industry operator of a well-known domestic brand, also told reporters that “from the clerk to the manager and then promoted to the company’s management team, the loyalty of the employees cultivated by this model is unmatched.”

The high cost of training mechanism Since the management mode of “store manager is the highest operator of the company” brings many benefits to the company, why are the companies that really commit themselves to this business just a few overseas “fast fashion” companies?

“The large amount of personnel training and high costs are related to the vision and value concept of each company’s talent strategy,” said Jin Xianzhong.

Established in 1999 in the Netherlands, Jin Xianzhong's WE is well known in Europe as ZARA, H&M, and other fast fashion brands, and already has more than 200 stores, but it was not until mid-January that the brand began to enter the Chinese market. However, there is no lag behind the talent training mechanism introduced by the European advanced management model.

According to Jin Xianzhong, the company now recruits a total of six "Business School" students among national and graduate students each year. According to the scale of 30 to 80 people per period, the company can train 180 to 480 related talents for the fast fashion industry in a year. “The most basic learning content is sales and store management skills, and they will go through shopping guides and cash registers. , store manager and other rotation training."

Jin Xianzhong expressed confidentiality to the company’s specific training mechanism, but he disclosed: “This should be no small cost for any company.”

For the cost of training for professional managers, Wei Huayu, general manager of Shanghai Garment Show Co., Ltd., said that the era of low entry thresholds for small retail stores or store managers years ago has passed, and today's large-scale retail enterprises, especially the rapid development of " "Fast fashion" brand companies have generally increased their demands on the manager.

“From a clerk to a mature store manager, it takes at least two years. During this period, they not only have to practice the practice of rotation, but also have to master the skills of retail company store management knowledge, are familiar with relevant legal knowledge, and can independently be responsible for the individual retail enterprise. Stores, to carry out business management work. At present, to obtain professional qualifications certified by the technical assessment committee is not easy. "Wei Hua Wei said.

Sai Yung is still thirsty The development of “fast fashion” brands represented by ZARA, H&M, Uniqlo, etc. in recent years is enough to describe them with slogans.

Obviously, as the industry's momentum soars together, it is the strong employment demand behind this, which also makes the retail industry in China short of talent to a stretch.

According to surveys, currently there are between 80 million and 130 million Chinese business employees. However, there are serious shortages of high-level and complex talents, and only 3% of talents with a college education or above are in the retail industry.

“There are still a few companies that are really developing manager-type compound talents.” According to an interview with a reporter from the relevant person in charge of the China Business Confederation, the current talent shortage in the retail industry is mainly concentrated on middle-level and senior-level talents. “This is not a lack of personnel training. However, there is no standard for training nor complete and systematic teaching materials and curriculum settings.

Regarding the above-mentioned lack of high-end talent, Jin Xianzhong expressed his approval. “This is exactly why companies are willing to be the pioneers of this path, and one of the main reasons for cultivating talents practically.”

"Not only is the 'fast fashion' industry, but the mechanism for cultivating talents is the inevitable path for long-term development of mature companies in the future," said Jin Xianzhong.