Italy Shoe King

The strategy of polegato is to put GEOX's brain in the headquarters of Italy, which is mainly produced in countries with low manufacturing costs, such as Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia, Brazil and China.

In June 15th, when more than 250 shoemakers from Italy, Spain and Portugal went to Brussels to apply to the European Union for restrictions on the export of Chinese shoes, polegato, the chairman of GEOX, the "shoe king" of Italy, came to Shanghai to promote the so-called "breathing shoes" that swept the world.

In October 2002, when his colleagues in Italy thought that entering the Chinese market would smash the brand, polegato firmly came to China and finalized the Wenzhou AOKANG group, a partner in China.

"Now when they are ready to enter the Chinese market, they find that the threshold is very high, because every order in China's good shoe factories is full, and it will take some time to build a new factory."

Polegato said with pride.

"Global assembly mode"

"Now the headlines in European newspapers are talking about the threat of Chinese shoes."

Polegato said.

The market share of the European footwear industry has indeed declined sharply, but he is not very worried.

"GEOX has not seen such a situation. Last year it even appeared more than 30% growth, and the profit was very good."

Polegato owes this credit to his "global assembly mode".

The shoe making industry is one of Italy's pride. 28% of the world's high-end leather shoes and 33% of the top leather shoes are produced by Italy's skilled craftsmen. Most of the world's famous shoemaking enterprises have a history of over 100 years.

"Obviously maintaining Italy's taste is our advantage."

Polegato said, "the advantage of a country like China is manufacturing, and the ability of Chinese to reproduce is very strong."

The key is how to maintain the taste of Italy and overcome the disadvantages of manufacturing.

The strategy of polegato is to put GEOX's brain in the headquarters of Italy, which is mainly produced in countries with low manufacturing costs, such as Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia, Brazil and China.

This "brain" includes research and development, design, market strategy and so on.

"You know, we have officers from headquarters who specialize in the feet of Asians."

Polegato is a mystery.

At present, GEOX products are sold in 68 countries and 28 in the world.

These global production bases are mainly concentrated in Eastern European countries such as Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Czech, Vietnam, Indonesia and other Southeast Asian countries, Brazil and China.

It is no longer important to put factories in place. Global assembly shoes are the trend of the times.

Polegato said.

Win in the market

Wang Zhentao, chairman of AOKANG group of Wenzhou, a Chinese partner of GEOX, appreciates the marketing of GEOX; "GEOX wins more in the market."

Unlike other international brands entering China, GEOX and AOKANG developed from the first simple Chinese market brand agency relationship to the subsequent strategic cooperation in marketing, production and design development.

In Europe, polegato has built up a huge marketing network.

Nearly 200 stores across Europe have realized the rapid development of GEOX. Through these stores, GEOX sells an average of more than 6 million pairs of shoes annually.

In addition, GEOX is authorized to generate sales of not less than 400 thousand euros per year through the authorization of production and sales by agreement.

The ultimate goal of polegato is to open at least one GEOX store in the best locations in the world's most important cities.

GEOX's Chinese partner, AOKANG, is also famous for its marketing network. After inspecting 7 enterprises in China, polegato finally chose the AOKANG that was not valued. This is the main reason.

AOKANG has a strong market network of more than 2000 stores and more than 800 stores in the Chinese market.

Through AOKANG, GEOX has made unimaginable growth in China.

So far, GEOX has established 62 stores in China.

According to polegato's plan, by the end of this year, GEOX will have 102 stores in China.

It is worth noting that GEOX entered China only two years ago.

"A good idea is better than a good factory".

What is interesting is that polegato has entered the shoe industry entirely.

13 years ago in the summer, polegato, 40, inherited his ancestral estate and brew wine.

After attending a conference on wine in New York, he went hiking in the Rocky Mountains, who loved mountaineering. The hot weather made him sweat. The sneakers at the foot were light but not airtight, and soon his feet were red and swollen with sweat.

In desperation, he had to dig holes with his knife to ventilate.

He knew perfectly well that the shoes could no longer be waterproof.

This touched polegato's keen business nerves.

Is there a shoe that is waterproof and breathable?

After returning to Italy, polegato visited all the shoe stores, but got nothing.

He decided to develop proprietary technology and sell it to shoemaker.

Experts convened by polegato successfully developed a waterproof breathable membrane.

The bottom of the shoe is made of rubber membrane with holes, and the hot and humid air inside the shoe is discharged through the holes in the soles of the shoe.

Polegato called this unique invention a "breathing" technology and applied for a patent successfully.

However, the resale of the patent is not smooth. No shoemaker is willing to accept the technology.

This makes polegato very embarrassed.

Is it a complete abandonment of patents, a continued operation of the brewing industry, or the pformation of this technology into commodities?

Finally, in 1995, polegato set up GEOX company.

GEOX is just a new brand. It can not even be regarded as a brand.

However, in less than ten years, GEOX defeated all shoemaking enterprises in Italy and became Italy's first casual shoes brand, ranking fourth in the world, with an annual growth rate of over 50%.

For this success, polegato thought it was a victory for the idea. He said, "a good idea is better than a good factory."