ByXUJUNQIANinShanghai
[email protected]L
ocated onShanghai’sBund,
which is lined with some of
the world’s most prestigious
banks and financial institu-
tions, the office of startup MatchUis
in an area that has nurtured some of
China’s finest bespoke tailors.
The founders of MatchUare try-
ing to leverageChina’s decades of
experience in apparel manufactur-
ing and leading artificial intelligence
technology to create a new approach
to tailoring.
“MatchUoffers tailor-made shirts
and menswear, but the term ‘tailor
made’ has been redefined,” saidWei
Xing, co-founder of the company
that was established in 2 0 16.
At a cost of 199 yuan ($29) to 399
yuan, consumers can get a made-to-
measure cotton shirt after uploading
a few body measurements on their
phones.Aside from the conventional
options of small, medium and large,
the style choices offered include col-
lars, cuffs, waists and front plackets.
It takes one to two weeks for manu-
facturing and delivery after the order
is placed.
“Traditional tailor-made is strong-ly associated with luxury.Customers
are paying as much for the products
as for the meticulous, personal ser-
vices and the exclusive, well-deco-
rated spaces where such services are
provided.We have removed all the
unnecessary parts and are targeting
office workers and fresh graduates,”
saidWei.
Together with four co-founders,
theShanghaiJiaoTongUniversity
graduate made several entrepre-
neurial forays before settling on
“accessible menswear tailoring”.
“We have spotted a gap between
the supply and demand. On one
hand, manufacturers and brands are
struggling to keep consumers in an
increasingly competitive market. On
the other hand, the young consum-
ers are always looking to find the
next perfect shirt or dress,” saidWei.
Today, the company is in partner-
ship with a dozen apparel factories
across the country, which help pro-
duce not only shirts, but also jeans
and jackets for the company’s 1.5 mil-
lionmembers.
Sales this year are expected to
reach 8 00 million yuan, four times
that of 2 0 18.
“Idon’t think we are in compe-
tition with any particular brand.Instead, we are creating a new cat-
egory,” saidWei.
But she admitted that the pricing
of their offerings has put them in
the same field as fast fashion brands
likeUniqlo andChina’s homegrown
menswear giantHeilanHome.
“The market for menswear in
China has been underestimated for
a long time.It’s not like men don’t
need to look smart or have the finan-
cial capability to spend, but it’s in our
traditional mindset that there is not
a market for them.If there is any dif-
ference, it is that they are less willing
to spend time on selecting styles and
brands, which means higher brand
loyalty,” saidWei.
Consultancy firmEuromonitor
International estimated thatChina’s
menswear market was worth over
57 2 billion yuan in 2 0 18, up 7 percent
year-on-year.It is projected to sur-
pass 612 billion yuan by 2 0 23.
EverbrightSecurities estimated
thatChina’s tailoring market wouldbe worth 2 00 billion yuan by 2 020 ,
almost twice that of 2 0 16, and about
80 percent of the business would
come from the mid-price sector.
InBeijing, a similar team has
its eye on the market too. Online
businessS martShirt, which was
launched in May, was introduced to
China by four youngChinese people
with a similar academic background
in aviation to the founders ofAustra-
lian brandDecentShirt.
After managing theChinese fac-
tories for theAustralian brand, the
founders decided to bring the con-
cept ofC2M (custom to manufac-
ture) toChina, targeting those aged
20 to 3 0 in bigger cities.
In the first month following its
launch on aWeChat mini program,
it sold hundreds of shirts, which was
better than expected as the small
team spent nothing on advertising,
according toHuShizhe, a 26-year-
old co-founder of the company.
Hu toldChinaDaily that theywant to become the country’s best
online tailor-made brand for men.
“Being the best does not neces-
sarily mean being the largest, or the
richest, but a model that is consid-
ered the prototype in the industry,
which latecomers want to follow,
and consumers aspire to,” saidHu.
For MatchU, the future plan is
more concrete: to combine offline
and online markets by working
with conglomerates likeWanda and
Suning.
The company has developed anAI
body-measuring cabin, which con-
sumers can walk into, turn around
and have their measurements taken
with the precision of aSavileRow
tailor within minutes.
The machines, which cost 1 00 , 000
yuan each, will be placed in cinema
hallsand shopping malls to help
attract new customers.TangXiaofancontributedtothe
story.Customersusesmartphonestoupload
theirmeasurementsandplaceorders
Tailor-made
mensweargets
techmakeover
ByHEWEIinShanghai
[email protected]Private banks inChina are increas-
ingly using cutting-edge technology
and expertise to offer cost-effective
services to micro and small enter-
prises.
MYBank, the online lending
offshoot ofAntFinancialServices
Group, wants allChinese mom-and-
pop shops to be able to apply for and
receive loans in one second within
the next three years, as it continues
to leverage artificial intelligence,
computing and risk management to
increase efficiency and reduce costs.
The number of micro and small
enterprises served by MYBankhas jumped tenfold in the past
three years to some 1 7 million,Hu
Xiaoming, the newly appointed
chairman of the bank, said during
a conference last month celebrating
the bank’s fourth anniversary.
Roughly 7 3 percent of applicants
get loan approvals on their first
attempt, and 8 0 percent of them do
not have a credit history in other
financial institutions to gauge,Hu
said.
“According to our in-house statisti-
cian, out of 1 00 loan applicants, 99
can repay in time,” he said. “It shows
the level of creditworthiness of these
smaller business owners.”
MYBank extends loans based
on customer risk assessment thatis determined by big data analysis
powered by algorithms.According
to data released last year byAnt
Financial, by circumventing human
involvement, the cost of issuing a
loan is slashed from 2, 000 yuan
($29 0 ) to just 2.3 yuan.
Thanks to its technological prow-
ess, MYBank gained its reputation by
issuing a brand-new industry stan-
dard: three minutes for application
submission, one second for loan issu-
ance, andzero human intervention.
The “31 0 model” and its tech suite
were officially opened up to other
bankslastJune through a “Star Plan”
heralded byAntFinancial.Hu said
5 0Chinese financial institutions
have already embraced such tech-nologies in their daily operations.
According toTowardUniversal
FinancialInclusion inChina, a joint
report published by the People’s
Bank ofChina and theWorldBank
in 2 0 18, only 14 percent ofChina’s
small businesses have access to
loans or lines of credit, compared to
27 percent of smaller firms inG 20
members.
“Due to a lack of credit history and
collateral, micro and small business-
es have suffered from a credit crunch
due to higher costs, bigger risks and
the discrepancy between supply
and demand,” said LiDongrong,
president of the NationalInternet
FinanceAssociation ofChina.
The goal to accelerate the penetra-tion of credit services is further fueled
by the proliferation of the mobile
internet and the increasing adoption
of the quick response code, a popular
payment method inChina.Several
million street-side business owners
and shopkeepers accept bills via QR
code payment,AntFinancial said.
MYBank reported net profits of
670 million yuan in 2 0 18, one of
the lowest readings amongChinese
banks,according to its annual report
released inApril.ButHu said earn-
ings and profits have never been the
primary target of MYBank.
“Our goal was originally to be the
bank that services the largest num-
ber of micro and small enterprises
with the smallest profits,” he said.PrivatebankslikeMYBankleveragehigh-techtorolloutefficient,cost-effectiveofferings
Boostingfinancialservicesforsmallfirms
Smart technology is used to show the visual effect of suits at a tailor’s shop in Shanghai.
PROVIDEDTOCHINADAILYCHINA DAILY GLOBAL WEEKLY August 2-8, 2019 BUSINESS 1 3