Pathfinder main business stagnated

Pathfinder released a list of the latest board members, Wang Jing became the new chairman and president, Qiang Wei no longer served as president of the company and any other positions. It is worth mentioning that, Qiang Wei took office in June, less than six months from now. In addition, there are many executives leaving at the same time.

In the past few years, Pathfinder has conducted a series of mergers and acquisitions, the establishment of outdoor supplies, travel services, sports three major business groups. Strong Wei in this year as president, announced the group will strengthen the brand diversification layout. However, these actions did not contribute too much to the Pathfinder, the development of the main business of outdoor products is still not clear. Whether coaching can bring new improvements to Pathfinder may not be verified yet.

Multiple paving transformation

On November 29, Pathfinder released an announcement that Wang Jing was elected chairman and president of the new board of directors. In an interview with the correspondent of China Business, in his reply, Pathfinder mentioned that Wang Jing was one of the founders and key investors of Pathfinder Company. She and Shengfa Jiang co-founded and operated the Pathfinder in 1999 By. This reporter learned that Wang Jing Sheng Shengqiang wife, in promoting the Pathfinder listed in 2009, they left the company day-to-day management, and then repeatedly tried outdoor adventure activities and the introduction of books on the subject.

In the meantime, Pathfinder also mentioned that after Wang Jing took office, Wang Jing will continue to focus on outdoor product main business, continue to consolidate and enhance the company's operation and management capabilities, tap the development space for the outdoor segment sports market, and promote the development of outdoor travel and other related businesses.

For the new coach will affect the implementation of the strategy, Shanghai Liang Qi, general manager of brand management Cheng Weixiong told reporters that in recent years Wang Jing did not participate in the actual business, she took office for the company will bring what kind of The effect remains to be seen.

Beijing, a Pathfinder dealer told reporters that Pathfinder coaching change, they have not yet received policy or strategic changes and adjustments, the current performance of all normal. However, he declined to disclose more information. The reporter then called the relevant issue of Pathfinder Merchants joined the Department, the staff said that the current investment in accordance with all the normal, has not changed.

This reporter learned that Pathfinder from the tents started, and later gradually expanded to outdoor clothing and shoes. However, Pathfinder does not want to do only a "rely on outdoor products to make money," the company. In 2013, it invested in Asiatravel, Singapore's online travel platform offering air tickets, hotel and attraction booking services for Asia Pacific and the Middle East countries, and the "beauty of the extreme" of the outdoor activity site Greens and the polar travel agency. Then, in March 2014, Pathfinder acquired a 74.56% stake in Easy Travel to engage in the channel operation and distribution business of travel agencies. In July 2015, it formally established three major business groups of outdoor products, travel services and sports industry, and started the transformation. The company name is also changed from "Beijing Pathfinder Outdoor Products Co., Ltd." to "Pathfinder Holdings Group Co., Ltd."

Moreover, since we took the position of President of the Group in June, we have been making progress in diversification and put forward the business strategy of "new positioning," "new mechanism," and "new operation."

Reporters noted that another outdoor listed San Fu outdoor company has a similar layout. Its semi-annual report for the first half of 2017 shows that the business includes multi-brand retail chains, organizing outdoor and outdoor events, designing, building and operating integrated outdoor camps and carrying out youth outdoor experience education. However, sales revenue from outdoor products still occupies a large part of its revenue.

However, the diversification of Pathfinder has brought a decline in net profit. The first three quarters of this year, Pathfinder revenue 1.955 billion yuan, up 15% over the same period the previous year, net profit of 81.2268 million yuan, down 19.06% over the same period the previous year. Semi-annual report this year also shows that during the period of rising revenue, Pathfinder's net profit fell 16.30% to 79,012,600 yuan.

Cheng Weixiong said that in the travel and sports business sector, Pathfinder's performance improvement will take some time. Take the travel business as an example. Its revenue in the first half of the year was 723 million yuan, an increase of 81.31% over the same period of the previous year but its gross profit margin was low at 2.99%, even a year-on-year decrease. 2015 earnings report also shows that including the United States and the world of travel, including travel to the world business revenue of 2.004 billion yuan, but the loss reached 22.8557 million yuan, earnings report also showed that the new business is still in a period of rapid growth in sales , Operating and overhead costs and other costs increased by more than 20%, resulting in serious losses. Investment in sports business is also controversial, Pathfinder's snow skiing project responsible for the snow holding Development Co., Ltd. in the first half revenue 1.37 million yuan, a loss of 9.82 million yuan.

Maogang, an independent commentator in the apparel industry, said that major sports and travel businesses are not good at Pathfinder. Travel service segment only contributes revenue while net profit keeps losing money. Sports sector is still in its infancy, and future Pathfinder wants to transition Success, high profit growth, there is a certain risk.

The main industry stagnated

Pathfinder a series of transformation measures did not make a greater contribution, but its main business has plunged into the state.

Pathfinder 2017 semi-annual report shows that outdoor business segment plate sales slump, the main business income of 543 million yuan, down 19.83% over the same period last year. For profit declines, Pathfinder said that the outdoor products segment was mainly affected by the continuous market competition and the sluggish retail sales, which caused the decrease of operating income, which led to the decrease of net profit over the same period of last year. The semi-annual report also showed that at the end of the reporting period, the number of offline stores operated by Pathfinder was 1,353, slightly down from the 1,370 stores at the end of 2016.

In this regard, the Pathfinder revealed to reporters, the positioning of the travel sector is still as the group's user traffic entrance, focusing on the main outdoor products, while promoting the coordinated development of outdoor travel business is the company's long-term development strategy has not changed.

In fact, from 2012 to 2015, the increase in net profit of Pathfinder's main business has slowed down and inventories are also under great pressure. As of the end of 2015, the stock quantity was about 1.18 million and the inventory of season-ending products was also increasing. The Pathfinder third quarter earnings report also mentioned that "inventory increased 75.35% over the beginning of the year, mainly due to the company's seasonal business operations and the impact of warehousing delivery cycle."

At the same time, the pattern of outdoor products industry is changing. The Research Report on the Development Prospects and Investment Opportunities of Outdoor Products Industry from 2017 to 2022 in the Research Institute of Industry and Commerce shows that the market scale of outdoor products in China will reach 28.34 billion yuan in 2017. Due to the low entry barriers in the initial stage of the industry and the homogeneous competition phenomenon obvious. However, a research report by the China Textile Commercial Association Outdoor Products Branch also showed that in 2016, the total retail sales and the total number of brands in the domestic outdoor market increased by 4.91% and 2.09% respectively over the previous year, but the growth rate slowed down.

On the one hand, outdoor brand market competition intensified, especially the main brands represented by Columbia, The Northface and Jack Wolfskin, so that Pathfinder in this outdoor change pay more cost. Magang pointed out that despite the Pathfinder occupy a certain market share and status, but want to get more rapid development difficult, means to grab market in other competitors cake, and since 2015, Li Ning, Anta and other large Well-known sports brands have set foot in the field of outdoor supplies, the increasingly fierce market competition. Brand precipitation is the pathfinder is relatively weak place, in the fierce competition, it can only run and management competition, and these can not be effective in the short term, but also one of the more awkward performance of its performance.

On the other hand, Pathfinder appears to be sluggish in the excavation of its own products. "To a certain extent, consumers rely more on foreign outdoor sports brands, both in terms of product functionality, design, quality, etc., which directly lead to performance differences." For example, The Northface, which introduced a model last year The "Moon Parka" coat, which claims to be made of artificial spider silk, has a strong and soft feel and is also the first man-made spider silk material to be put into commercialized garment production. Cheng Weixiong told reporters that "starting from the tent and the assault clothing, Pathfinder if you can really concentrate on functional development and maintenance of existing customers, it will not lead to today's point a little 'high no nonsense'."

As people are on the health of the ascension, the outdoor sports market is also deepening, showing a more subtle, personalized and stylish features, which includes the Pathfinder brand, including outdoor opportunities . Reporters noted that some foreign outdoor brands have begun to cooperate with Supreme such tide brand launched a joint series to attract young consumers. In addition, they are also happy to improve their business performance through online business expansion. For example, The North Face launched the APP go wild bar, in addition to shopping, users can also launch outdoor activities on the platform with partners; Colombia is the introduction of outdoor GPS software, and targeted recommended products.

In the Pathfinder's planning, its TOREAD will assume the role of public professional outdoor products, while the Discovery Expedition emphasis on light outdoor, take the brand of casual fashion line. Cheng Weixiong told reporters that all along, Pathfinder has focused on the production of professional high-end products, the future can be extended product line to broaden the brand development.