Audrey Hepburn's endorsement brand applies for bankruptcy!24.8 billion debts, once known as "the light of affordable"

Wang Zhuolin, the world's Internet merchant

Edit Li Danchao

On June 16th, the beauty brand Louvlon appeared on Weibo hot search because of "bankruptcy".

According to Bloomberg, on Wednesday, June 15th, Eastern time, Louvon officially applied for bankruptcy protection. According to the documents submitted to the Bankruptcy Court of the Southern District of New York, as of the end of April, the total assets announced by Louvono were US $ 2.3 billion, but the total debt was as high as US $ 3.7 billion (about RMB 24.8 billion).

The outside world is not surprised.

A few days ago, some media reported the news that "Louvon will apply for bankruptcy protection", but many people look at it with a ridicule. Because in 2020, Louvon had rumored to prepare for bankruptcy. At that time, the news passed to Chinese consumers' ears, coinciding with Double 11 Carnival, which triggered a "wild consumption" fever of Louvon. Three years of "bankruptcy", and at the 618th promotion, Louvon's "intention" could not help but cause consumers to suspine it.

Until the "bankruptcy application" news was settled, netizens were uproar. Many people said that the lipsticks bought in the last time "bankruptcy" are useless; some netizens are emotional that Lu Huonong's affordable use is easy to use. "Everyone who sells 10 yuan will not be so poor."

"World Online Merchants" found that although Luhua Nong Tmall's flagship store and overseas flagship stores are marked with the words "Special Sale", they are still participating in the 618th promotion normally. Among them Selling a thousand pieces.

According to local laws, Louvon can avoid bankruptcy if you can obtain financing or restructuring plans within 120 days after applying for bankruptcy protection. Debla Perelman, President and CEO of Lukounon, also said on the 16th that once the court approves the company to quote the application for bankruptcy protection in Chapter 11 of the United States, it is expected that it can receive $ 575 million from the existing lender. Financing to maintain daily operations.

The 90 -year -old Louvon has successfully created a number of popular beauty brands that have high popularity in the United States and the international market, and gradually lost their advantages in the competition of market trends.

From the current point of view, it is unknown whether Louvon will end with bankruptcy, but if you want to turn over in the Chinese market, there will be international big -name leds in the past.

Many years have been trapped in debt quagmires

On the day of the news of bankruptcy (June 10), Louvon's stock price fell 53%to 2.05 US dollars/share, and directly cut off. By June 16, the US stock closed, Louvon's stock price was $ 1.95/share, with a market value of only 106 million US dollars.

Louvon's crisis has long been able to follow.

What reminds everyone is that on November 11, 2020, Louvon passed the news of the first to prepare for bankruptcy. Several foreign media said, "Louvon has collaborated with Alvarez & Marsal to prepare for bankruptcy for creditors without accepting a restructuring proposal."

On the day of the news, the topic of Weibo#消 消 消 消 消 消 消 消 消 消 消 消 消 消 消 消 消 消 消 消 消 消 消 消 消 消, "I only need to be asleep in my hand." With the enthusiasm of consumers "buying and buying", the popular color lipstick was bought out of stock.

Later, Lumano relied on persuading debtor's consent to extend the debt to be exempted from one difficulty. When he issued a statement, he said that it had completed the debt exchange of creditors, including the billionaire Carl Icahn, For bankruptcy.

In 2016, Louvon acquired Elizabeth Arden for three consecutive years at a price of $ 870 million in debt, and conducted asset reorganization and other actions. Although in the next few years, Elizabeth Arden became Louvon's rare profit sector, but it was difficult to change the state of losing losses for years. The merger of this business also brings additional cost and operating pressure to the brand. Coupled with the performance of losses in the year, and the chain reaction caused by the epidemic, Louvon's debt situation has intensified.

According to the financial report data, from 2017 to 2021, Louvon's net profit loss was US $ 183 million, US $ 294 million, $ 158 million, US $ 619 million, and $ 207 million, respectively. In addition, Louvon lost more than 9 billion yuan in nearly 5 years.

Louvon has been seeking ways to reduce debt burden. According to media reports, Louvon had intended to sell brands including American crew and Mitham to repay a high -end loan; by granting the 100 -year -old trademark global license use rights by Hayerroe, it obtained 470 million yuan Cash income; 350 people have been layoffs worldwide to compress costs.

Data show that as consumers' shopping has returned to the level near the epidemic, Louvon's recent sales of sales have risen by 8%in the last quarter. Debra Perelman, President and CEO of Lukounon, calls it "the best performance in the first quarter of the first six years". However, from the perspective of public information, debt has increased, the competition in the superimposed makeup market, the decline in lipstick sales of leading products under the new crown epidemic, and the blocking supply chain are blocked. This performance can only be said to be a cup of water. It is difficult to make Lumano reverse the decline.

Can't go high and go to the opponent

The 90 -year -old Louvon has a high time.

In 1932, Charles Revson and chemist Charles Lachman created a new technology to replace the dye with pigments to make the world's first opaque nail polish with pigments. For a while. Subsequently, Charles's brother Joseph Revson joined, and the three officially founded Revlon. The brand name was the surname of the three. At that time, REVLON launched more than 20 different colors of nail polish, selling from beauty salons to department stores, becoming a star explosion. The concept of "matching nail polish and lipstick color" was also passed to the outside world, and two seasons of lipstick nail polish series were launched a year. The move made the company's reputation and successfully listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1955.

With the support of capital, REVLON has advanced in the following years. Open the acquisition plan on the left hand to income the shoe oil brand Knomark, clean product TY-D-BOL and other companies; develop new products such as new perfumes, lipsticks and color foundation for the right hand. The products are well -received, and the influence of Revlon has been at its peak.

Public information shows that in 1985, REVLON was acquired by Macandrews & Forbes, a company under Ronald Perelman, billionaire Ronald Perelman.

In 1996, REVLON entered the Chinese market with a high profile. With the Chinese name "Luhuonon", it focused on the department stores in first -tier cities across the country and spent heavy money to create a brand image. According to media reports, Louvon opened the first image cabinet on Shanghai Huaihai Road Parkson at that time. The 18 -meter -long lipstick wall and 60 lipsticks were lined up.

As of 1998, Louvioon had more than 600 outlets across the country, with sales of nearly 200 million yuan. Laoua was once ranked among the top three global beauty. He invited Audrey Hepburn to endorses it. Louvon's small black tube lipstick and foundation such as lipstick and foundation were called "big -name replacement" by Chinese consumers. The "youth time" of the post -70s and post -80s girls.

However, Louvon's highlights in China also stopped here, and the performance has not increased significantly after that.

In 2012, Louvon's sales in the Chinese market accounted for only 2%of the company's overall revenue, and less than $ 30 million after conversion. On the last day of 2013, Louvon left a meaningful Weibo, "Apply a beloved lipstick Kiss Goodbye!". After that, it cut off 1,100 employees and withdrew from the Chinese market. The headquarters said that the move "can save the company a cost of $ 11 million per year."

But the development trend of Louvon not only appeared in China. In 2013, its markets in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and Canada were all growing negatively.

Back to China again was 2016. Lukounon opened overseas flagship stores and brand official flagship stores in Tmall. At present, there are 1.3 million fans in Luhuo Nong Guanqi Store. Essence

In contrast, more than 20 years ago, more than 20 years ago, who entered the Chinese market at the same time, the official flag store fans were 11.81 million, and the sales crown was a makeup remover price of 177 yuan, selling more than 100,000 pieces a month.

The gap has been opened.

Withdraw the market and air outlet in China

Behind the back, you have to find the cause more. It is not difficult to find that the performance of Louvison in the Chinese market, from market positioning to marketing play, has a lot of relief.

The first is the unclear positioning. Lukounon's products focus on makeup, nails and hairdressing. They are positioned as mass consumer goods in the United States. They often appear on supermarket shelves and are mainly cost -effective. However, when you come to China, the price set is low in the mall. The location of the counter is biased towards the edge, and the price is too high in the supermarket, which is prohibitive.

Secondly, Louvon completely copied the European and American practices in the Chinese market. It adopted a zero inventory system and required how much goods are required to enter from the headquarters. It is manifested on the consumption end, and there are often incomplete or out of stock. This is not flexible enough to make the brand lose people's hearts.

Furthermore, ignore the cultivation of the Chinese market. Before the evacuation in 2013, the brand did not invite a Chinese spokesperson, and the cooperation was the global spokesperson unfamiliar with domestic consumers. The first TV advertisement was launched in 1999 to promote the fading lipstick. This advertisement brings obvious results to sales, but the company's headquarters believes that the cost is too high, and it only drives the sales volume of single items. Since then, it has not made advertisements until the evacuation in 2013.

In terms of marketing promotion, Merboline, which is similar to Louvido, has worked hard. In addition to sober positioning as a mass consumer product and squeezing into China's supermarkets and convenience stores, Meibian also invited Chinese star Zhang Ziyi to be the spokesperson for Asian image and frequently launch advertisements in television and magazines. For the pain points of lack of makeup knowledge of consumers, Meibian teaches buyers' makeup skills.

In the end, Luhua Nong missed the six years of the rapid development of the Chinese beauty market. From 2010 to 2016, the rise of e-commerce platforms such as Taobao, and expanding multi-level channels became the consensus of beauty brands. Many Chinese and foreign brands seized the bonus of e-commerce channels, and increased the quality and sales of sound and sales to seize the market share. Lvoson after returning, once also supplemented the previous homework. For example, Liu Yuning, the first spokesperson for China in 2020, used the fiery momentum of the variety show "The Sister of the Wind", and signed Lisanni as the spokesperson. He also ran to the live broadcast room of the "Friends". Sell ​​20,000.

However, in the face of Estee Lauder, L'Oreal and other old rivals, as well as Hiroshi and Perfect Diary of the New Ruizo domestic makeup brand, these actions of Louvon have been unable to shake the current market seats.

"Yun wants to make clothes flowers, and the spring breeze brushes the threshold." Li Bai described Yang Guifei with a song "Qingping Word". Huang Zhan, a well -known lyricist in Hong Kong in China, learned "Luouvon" as a new business card for Revlon's entry into the Chinese market.

I wonder if Louvon can continue this poetic?

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