What's interesting about Jack Wolfskin's Changchun store?
Jack Wolfskin opened its global new-image store at Changchun's Eurasia Mall on September 8th - with Shenyang following the same week. Beijing, Shanghai, Munich and Zurich are also planned as locations selected for the new image stores.
Changchun has a MixC - a premium, luxe mall.
BUT Jack Wolfskin did not go there. It went to a mass-market regional department store run by a local operator with "Eurasia Mall."
Anta & Amer group's premium brands have filled out premium retail spaces like MixC across China.
Arc'teryx, Descente, Salomon and Kolon Sport are firmly established at the top of the retail landscape. That TOP TIER however, is close to being fully built out. Arc'teryx Greater China growth has slowed for four straight quarters, from 47% to 35.5%.
Growth now has to come from middle-class volume. Arc'teryx starts near ¥3,600 and tops out at ¥8,200. Jack Wolfskin lands at ¥500 to ¥3,000, clustered around ¥1,000. The low-end of Anta's brands sit in a range of ¥439 to ¥1,199.
Stretching Arc'teryx down would dissolve the scarcity its pricing rests on. And, while it has been slowly shifting prices for brands below Arc'teryx (and Descente) downwards (such as with Salomon), it has a gap in the mass-premium which they are going to position Jack Wolfskin for.
