China'S Clothing Agents After A Sweet International "Rights War"

Kang Jin Young China

For tens of thousands of domestic agents, who are flocking to the market in the "chaotic era", it is time to think about their future.

"No termination of the contract! SKN unilaterally declared the termination. So far, we insist that this contract is effective and has been continuing."

Zhao Yunhu, President of Shenzhen pable Industrial Co., Ltd. raised his voice on the phone.

A battle against South Korea's advanced women's clothing brand Kang Jin Young has begun.

Honeymoon

Shenzhen can send Industrial Co., Ltd. is one of the branches that can be sent to family businesses. It was founded in August 1983.

From 2003 onwards, senior executives can pay more and more attention to the operation and construction of brands, and begin to represent some international brands.

With the help of the successful experience of the family in other industries, Barbara Bui, Class Roberto Cavalli, Alessandro Dell acqua, Malloni, Tara Jarmon, and Chinese designer brand have been successfully operated.

In July 2007, he won the "excellent agent Award" at the first China excellent clothing agency conference.

Kang Jin Young brand is from Korea.

The initial contact with Kang Jin Young brand was due to another Korean brand that could be sent by the company at that time.

When inspecting the brand in South Korea, Zhao Yunhu noticed the Kang Jin Young.

"At that time, we represented another Korean brand, bestI belli, which saw OBZEE in Korea, that is, Kang Jin Young. The price is very high. It is very strange why the product of this brand is so expensive. Later, after knowing it, I think this brand is really good."

So Zhao Yunhu and Kang Jin Young owners OBZEE company discussed the matter of agency.

However, at that time, many people who made Korean brands in China did not dare to touch it, and felt that its price was too high for consumers to accept.

"Most people do not like us to make this brand, but we have confidence in the ability to operate the brand.

Our company is good at making high-end, expensive brands, and our services can be matched with them.

We are not relying on brand recognition institutions, on the contrary, through our operation can add value to the brand. "

Zhao Yunhu said, the company can be especially good at some niche high-end brand market development, especially the Chinese market.

After nearly a year of contact, in July 1, 2005, the company can officially become the general agent of Kang Jin Young brand in China.

Zhao Yunhu said, just like two people's love, they start to show their best side to each other.

When discussing the agency rights with OBZEE company, Zhao Yunhu felt that they were sincere. "At that time, OBZEE companies were not as strong as those of SKN companies. In Korea, they had great competition pressure and needed to find opportunities to break through in the Chinese market, so when they were very eager to cooperate with us, their initial two years' cooperation was relatively smooth."

As the top brand operator in China, the company can send the company through its original creative business mode to successfully make the Korean women's clothing brand Kang Jin Young become the international famous women's clothing of Pyramid's sophisticated crowd, such as Chinese fashion celebrities, top female stars and celebrities.

It can be considered that the Kang Jin Young is far superior to that of Korea in the operation of China, and has become the representative of the senior women's clothing in the East.

The market size, market performance and market competitiveness of KANG JIN YOUNG in China also overwhelmed TIME, which was strong in Korea.

On the other hand, at a relatively high price and in the same shopping malls, Kang Jin Young's single store sales performance has been on top of other brands in Korea SK.

Finally, for Kang Jin Young, the store space and store image also surpass South Korea's space and image.

In the first two years of cooperation, the Kang Jin Young brand can be sent to more than a dozen stores in Shanghai, such as Jiu Guang, Beijing Xinguang world, Beijing China World Trade Center mall, Hangzhou Tower, Hangzhou Lian Fu, and so on.

"In April 2006, when the first store opened in Shanghai, the Korean side did not have much to do with it. It only provided a little publicity material to us, and other jobs could be made.

Generally speaking, they are unwilling to pay too much, which was reflected at that time.

They think that since you are in charge of brand operation in China, you have to do more.

However, this process has indeed exercised our ability.

Zhao Yunhu said.

Five years ago, the South Korean side demanded that five stores must be opened in five years.

At that time, Zhao Yunhu did not think the number was harsh.

"We think we have the ability to achieve this quantity or even more. At that time, we thought the number of the 50 families was completely reasonable."

At the beginning of the negotiations, an agency contract that could be directly signed for 15 years could be sent to the Korea Companies, which was eventually compressed by the Korea Companies, and then reduced to 8 years (5 years' guarantee agreement plus 3 year extension agreement).

On the contract, the South Korean side did not make any restrictions on the location and area of the shops, but said that the brand owners should have the right to confirm the shop.

Change situation

Two years of "sweet period" in the past, the cooperation between the company and the Korean side has gradually become a problem.

"At the very beginning, OBZEE company was too slow to make decisions because of its unfamiliarity with the Chinese market. It virtually delayed many of our shop opening plans. The decision to open shop was basically delayed by two to three months."

Zhao Yunhu said.

Zhao Yunhu thought that if the initial decision was delayed due to ignorance of the Chinese market, there would be some deliberate signs of delay later.

"After less than two and a half years after the signing of the agency contract, OBZEE started selling the brand, and began talking about acquisitions with SKN.

At that time, we did not know.

The acquisition is not negotiated in one or two days. It must have been a long negotiation process. I guess they have planned the scale of the brand in the process of negotiation, and gradually evolved into a complete refusal.

In Shanghai Xintiandi, Zhao Yunhu talked about a more than 300 square meter pavement.

"Quite good location, we are ready to open flagship store, but they do not agree, has been delayed, but until finally our plan was wasted, they put another brand of their own into the shop, the shop is less than one hundred square meters."

Zhao Yunhu said, later, the original more than 300 square meters position was taken by Rolex.

"You say Rolex can go in. Why can't Kang Jin Young go in? They have no reason to delay."

In March 2008, SKN, a subsidiary of SK group of Korea, formally acquired OBZEE, and fully accepted the Kang Jin Young brand.

"When we heard about the takeover, we also thought that there would be some changes in our future cooperation. We also issued a statement to SKN, declaring our rights. They also sent people to make promises that they would continue to cooperate, but only verbal promises."

Zhao Yunhu said.

Shortly after the takeover, SKN made clear several times that Kang Jin Young was part of the SK global strategy, which required a renewed contract but was rejected by Zhao Yunhu.

Zhao Yunhu believes that the new contract will not be allowed to be partners, but the relationship between the upper and lower levels. "There are even similar clauses that can terminate the contract at any time.

We have no rights and interests to protect. "

Since then, the company's application for opening shop has been repeatedly rejected by the Korean SKN.

In 2008, a company can be applied to open a shop in Venice shopping mall in Macao. After being approved by OBZEE, the company can send a deposit of 280 thousand yuan to the mall, when SKN just acquired OBZEE.

"Then, under the guidance of SKN, the other party procrastinate for three months on the grounds that the audits can be sent to the decoration project, which has led the shopping mall to ask us to compensate for the three month delay in opening shop fees, which totals nearly RMB 800 thousand yuan.

The final store failed.

Our initial investment of 280 thousand yuan deposit and all related costs all losses, while facing the compensation lawsuit of Venice people in Macao.

Zhao Yunhu recalls.

Also in 2008, Zhao Yunhu got a store in Shanghai mealong town square.

"At that time, they said that the shop on your two floor was not good enough, and the shop was not very good.

So we negotiated with the mall.

After that, we set a bigger position. We could see this facade on the first floor of the shopping mall. It was a good location. We talked about it. After that, the Korean side also confirmed it, but only half a month later, they immediately denied it.

In second years, SKN drove another brand O '2nd to the third floor of the mall.

"This brand (O" 2nd) opens its shop according to our trajectory.

When we contacted the shopping malls, they contacted them. Sometimes they refused our applications and they drove in.

Zhao Yunhu said.

In fact, after the formal acquisition of OBZEE by South Korea's SKN in March 2008, the number of shops opened could be significantly reduced.

Because after the acquisition of the brand, the company can no longer be licensed by the brand, so that in the past five years, 50 stores have not been completed, but only 17 have been opened. Two of the 17 have been pulled down for other reasons, and the rest are 15 stores.

"Without brand authorization, how do you tell me how to open a shop? There is a very important prerequisite for opening a shop in any mall, that is, the authorization of the brand.

When SKN bought the brand, it should reauthorize me, but they did not.

Is it not a deliberate act? You ask me to open a shop, but do not give me authorization to let me have the right to open a shop.

Zhao Yunhu believes that in a total of 43 rejected shops, most of them were deliberately rejected by SKN.

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In addition to refusing to open a store, SKN took over the Kang Jin Young brand and refused to accept the return of the company, not providing any publicity materials.

Negotiation

In order to implement the global strategy of SK group and recover Kang Jin Young, South Korea's SKN unilaterally terminated the contract in July 1, 2010.

After that, the company can start sending painful negotiations with SKN.

"SKN has been changing all along, and will talk to us later, and then we will terminate the contract."

Zhao Yunhu said.

In May 20th, SKN sent a letter to the company to request the agency agreement to expires in July 1st this year.

In June 5th, Zhao Yunhu replied to the letter and strongly refused to accept it.

At the same time, the Korean side can be asked to continue the implementation of the contract after three years to achieve the "win-win" brand in the Chinese market, and to correct the malicious acts that hamper the execution of the contract since the cooperation, and correct the way of cooperation in the past and improve the quality of cooperation.

In June 20th, Zhao Yunhu sent a letter to Cui Taiyuan, President of SK group of Korea. He told him that SKN had broken the contract by hindering the execution of the contract. He hoped that the group could investigate and intervene in its cooperation with SKN, and reiterated the position that could be sent to the company.

However, Cui Taiyuan has not given any reply to Zhao Yunhu.

At the end of June, the company can be sent to Shenzhen intermediate people's court to sue SKN.

In June 30th, the company could send a press conference in Beijing to explain its experiences to more than 100 media reporters.

At the press conference, President Zhao Yunhu, who was sent to the president, was in a heavy mood. He was accusing the South Korean SKN of deliberately obstructing the implementation of the contract in order to achieve the purpose of breaking the contract.

However, at the time of the press release, neither the Korean SK group nor its subordinate SKN enterprises had direct dialogue with the companies that could be sent.

Reporters did not receive any reply to SKN's email.

"They did not reply, and even did not send us the statement, so they issued the statement directly online.

We do not understand this company, known as the world's top 500 enterprises, but do things in the wild road.

Before the press conference, we had informed them at least 10 times that we were unable to bear the burden of litigation and released them.

Zhao Yunhu's SKN statement is the one that appeared on a handful of websites in China in July 7th.

The initial announcement of the SK Networks (SKN) is TOM net, but the website editor is unable to contact.

The reporter contacted Li Hui, a financial website editor who issued the statement earlier. She said that the Chinese statement of SKN was forwarded to her by the company leader through QQ, and its leader came to the statement from a public relations company. However, because the computer disk was just formatted, it failed to provide the original statement.

In the statement of SKN company, SKN asked Shenzhen to send Industrial Co., Ltd. immediately to stop the unwarranted attack on SKN, and thought its irresponsible remarks constituted a reputation infringement. If necessary, SKN would use legal weapons to defend its legitimate rights and interests.

The statement points out that any commercial cooperation must be based on contracts.

The company can not be delivered first.

According to the statement, the number of shops can not be met, and the annual sales target is only about 1/5 to 1/3. Therefore, as an agent, the performance of the company can not reach the target, and has constituted a major breach of contract.

In this case, SKN has ceased the extension of the three years' contract after the five year contract has been executed.

Zhao Yunhu also saw the statement.

Zhao Yunhu denies the unprovoked attack by SKN on Party SKN.

"We are full of facts.

At the press conference, we did not have any subjective comments.

Every word, every data, every position and proposition we speak is corroborated by relevant written evidence and other facts.

As for the statement that SKN could not deliver the performance in the statement, Zhao Yunhu also thought SKN could not justify itself.

"It's normal to not reach the standard.

You asked me to open 50 stores, and I sent it to 60. You only allowed me to open 17.

However, the average sales performance of each single store is in line with the contract stipulations. The average performance of a single store exceeds 20% of the contract requirements, and the highest can reach more than 100%.

Our single store sales performance far exceeds the contract requirements, but it is impossible for us to complete the sales volume of 50 stores by 15 stores.

The problem is back to SKN's refusal to open shop.

"He said he had rejected 43 shops for good reasons, but the contract did not provide for these reasons.

The stores that LV and GUCCI are stationed in are not allowed to enter. Most of the shops we have refused are mostly owned by the international first-line brand stores, and Mei Long Town Plaza, Hang Lung, and other domestic shopping malls which are more valuable are rejected by him.

If his refusal is reasonable, why did he open another brand of his own? "

It is understood that at present, 15 Kang Jin Young shops in China are still operating normally.

Although the South Korean side said it wanted to terminate the contract, it did not take over the Kang Jin Young brand in China.

"He dare not take over. He has no right.

First, the team is in our management; second, he did not pay any price, what did he take over? Third, the whole decoration image of the shop was designed by us, not by him.

We have the ownership of the shop image. "

Zhao Yunhu said that SKN will continue to guarantee the supply of goods from these stores, and ask them to continue to perform contracts according to subsequent progress.