"Return to the nature of business, the user is the eternal power." This is the tone set by Qiao Qiao, general manager of Alibaba's Taobao Tmall clothing division, for the next development of Taobao Tmall clothing.

In the past 10 years, with the changes in social consumption, the clothing industry and Taobao Tmall have gone through four stages, and they have accurately stepped on the rhythm in each dividend period:

In the barbaric growth period of the start-up, Taobao was born a large number of Taobao brands, clothing consumption from offline to online;

In the process of the release of the Internet demographic dividend, Taobao Tmall established a unique fast fashion ecology, and together with Taobao merchants, accelerated the transformation of China's clothing industry iteration.

In the period of rapid development of wireless Internet, in 2016, Taobao completed the wireless and entered the third stage of red man, new product and content operation, and the purchasing power of fans was greatly released. Consumers are beginning to explore their own style.

Today, Taobao Tmall has nearly 1 billion users, users are showing a younger trend, the development of the industry has entered a stable period, and Taobao Tmall clothing has entered the fourth stage of "style rule" driven by users.

The clothing industry is moving towards the mid-market, the industry is becoming more mature, and the gameplay is changing with each passing day. What is a sustainable strategy?

Qiao Qiao said in an interview with 36 Krypton that the long tail demand is behind the rich commodity in the clothing industry, and the user is always the core.

Relying solely on the destocking logic of low-price sales is no longer the best choice. Supporting more styles of merchants and products to meet consumer demand is the long-term solution.

01. Clothing, Young People's Self-expression
If you want to know what a generation of young people are thinking, just pay close attention to what they are wearing. Clothing is a mirror of social consumption changes, reflecting the style and character of different times.

In the early 1980 s, bell-bottom pants and frog glasses became popular on the streets. They changed from "wool blue" and "polyester" black, gray and blue into fashionable and colorful clothes. In the 1990 s, street clothing stores and commodity markets became popular. Straight pants, beef tendon pants, and A- line skirts became the trend of Generation A, highlighting the unique fashion personality of that era.

Clothing is not only a practical item to keep warm and cold, but also a way for people to express themselves. This trend is particularly evident with the rise of Gen Z with independent economic capabilities and a circle atmosphere.

According to a report on "lifestyle insight after 00" by the people's Daily Research Institute, clothing accounts for the highest proportion of all expenditure after 00, and clothing is endowed with spiritual and cultural significance beyond daily wear. This generation of young people prefer products with unique personalities rather than widely used standards.

In 2021, the scale of young users on the Tmall platform will increase by more than 30% year-on-year on the basis of a high base. Platform data shows that due to the continuous development of content media, brand concentration continues to increase, and new brands continue to emerge. This seems to be a contradictory trend, which actually reflects the intergenerational change of the population and the migration of consumption concepts.