Well, time to bid farewell to yet another big international brand in China – this time, fast-fashion retailer Forever 21.
According to WWD, the company announced that it would close all online shops on April 29 while huge clearance sales are ongoing in its physical stores. The
company later confirmed exclusively with
WWD that it would exit the China market completely although it has yet to issue a formal statement.
According to Shanghai-based branding specialist Wu Junyan, this departure was pretty much inevitable. 'Its prices are low, but its offline shops are too big, with high operating costs,' Wu told
Sixth Tone. He also attributed the company’s downfall to bad marketing and stiff competition from other fast-fashion brands like Zara and Urban Revivo, and Taobao.
As Forever 21 follows in the footsteps of
Topshop and
Marks & Spencer, perhaps the only thing left to do now is to take advantage of the massive sale (up to 75 percent off) at the brand’s
Nanjing Dong Lu outlet while you can.