Back Shoes Transform Young, Fashion, High-End Market

October 20th, corporate archives

　　 Warrior shoes The industry was founded in 1927.

After liberation, Huili was transferred to the six factory of rubber shoes in Shanghai, which reached its peak in the 70s and 80s of last century.

In 1993, the return shoes were purchased and sold in foreign countries and China. brand Gradually impacted under the impact.

After 2000, the trademark of "Huili" was transferred to Shanghai Huayi (Group) company.

Since 2006, the shoe industry has authorized more than 10 manufacturers such as Wenzhou to design, develop and sell back shoes, and turn them into running brands. Management Type enterprise.

In 2008, Huili began to play a big role in transformation, and the trend of retro led by the stars pushed back to Shanghai. market Fashion frontier.

With the opening of the flagship store in Shanghai by the end of September this year, Huili shoes will relocate the young and fashionable high-end high-end market and focus on developing terminal retail outlets. Within 3 years, it plans to open hundreds of stores in Shanghai and fight the same brands in the first tier cities.

In China, once a glorious shoe, after sitting on the bench for more than 20 years, it became hot again in recent years, and became the fashion shoe in the hearts of young people.

At the end of September, at the site of the original factory building of Huili, Pingliang Road, Yangpu District, Shanghai, the 83 year old Shanghai veteran "Hui Li" shoes returned to their hometown, leaving their first flagship store in Shanghai, which also announced that Shanghai Huili Shoes Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as the Hui shoes industry) formally rushed to the high-end sports shoes brand.

"Walking shoes are the way to revive overseas gold plating." In an interview with the morning paper reporter, GUI Cheng steel, the party secretary and executive director of Shanghai Hui Li shoes industry Co., Ltd., said that in 2008, the overseas retro trend pushed the shoe back to the forefront of fashion in Europe and the United States, making the "antique" that had been fading away for many years in China, becoming a new favorite of fashion fanciers overnight. It sold at abroad for up to 50 euros (about 500 yuan), and its value at least doubled 25 times compared with the domestic price. And the shoe industry, which is in the strategic transformation of the enterprise, is catching up with the similar brand quickly with the help of this fashion trend.

According to reports, after the expansion of products in recent years, at present, the shoe has developed four categories of more than 150 series, nearly 2000 kinds of styles. With the opening of the flagship store in Shanghai, Huili shoes will relocate the young high-end middle and high-end market, focus on developing terminal retail outlets, plan to open hundreds of stores in Shanghai within 3 years, and make a decisive battle in the first tier cities with similar brands.

The age of unification

As early as 30 years ago, the shoe was a pair of "tide shoes". As the earliest brand of rubber soles in China, in the 70s and 80s of last century, having a pair of back shoes is a symbol of "Chaozhou" among young people. "At that time, a pair of back shoes was almost 10 yuan, which is more expensive than a pair of Adidas or Nike shoes." Gui Chenggang said with regret, "back shoes" were once synonymous with fashion.

The shoe industry was founded in 1927, when it was one of the earliest enterprises in China's national rubber industry, a by-product of CHINT rubber plant in Shanghai. In April 4, 1935, CHINT officially registered the Chinese "back force" and the English "Warrior" brand.

According to the introduction, the creativity of the Jili trademark originated from the English "Warrior", which means warriors, warriors and fighters. From this, the homophone of "Warrior" can come back to the Chinese brand name of "Hui Li", while "Hui Li" contains "the power of recovery", which refers to the "great power to overcome difficulties".

After liberation, Huili shoes were transferred to the six factory of rubber shoes in Shanghai, which reached its peak in the 70s and 80s of last century. At that time, back shoes were the only symbol of sports and leisure footwear.

"The most classic WB-1 shoe of the back force shoe came out at that time." Gui Chenggang recalled that in the early 80s of last century, WB-1 was officially mass-produced. At the hottest time, it had just been sulfurized from the sulfuric acid tank, and the hot shoes had been taken away by the car and the car queued at the gate of the factory.

"At that time, the dealer got the WB-1, which means that he got the money, because he could sell it without worrying about it." Gui Chenggang said that WB-1 accounted for more than 80% of the total sales volume of the company. Up to now, WB-1 is also the most classic product of Huili shoes, which also accounts for 20% of the sales in the shoe industry.

The end of late purchase and sale

After experiencing the brilliance of the 70s and 80s of last century, the 1993 sales of back shoes ended in the state of sale and purchase.

According to Gui Chenggang, the end of Shanghai's rubber shoes industry is relatively late, and many foreign companies began selling their products as early as the early 80s. "In 1993 and 1994, the shoes need to go out for sale, wholesale, and sales network, but at that time, many enterprises have been engaged in 10 years, that is to say, the shoe market has been 10 years later than the others."

And when the shoe market was late, Adidas, Nike and other international brands entered the field of vision. At the same time, domestic private enterprises sprung up like mushrooms. Many shoemaking enterprises seemed to blossom all over the world in the 90s. According to incomplete statistics, there are more than 30 thousand shoemaking enterprises in the country, about more than 10 thousand rubber shoes enterprises. Wenzhou, Guangzhou and Jinjiang are all shoes city and shoe city, while Guangdong Dongguan specializes in high-end shoes. Domestic shoes such as Lining and Anta have become famous, making the force fade away from the consumers' perspective.

After 2000, Shanghai rubber shoes company and its manufacturer, Shanghai Huili shoe factory, were declared bankrupt. After the completion of bankruptcy in 2002, the "Huili" trademark was transferred to Shanghai Huayi (Group) company, and was invested by Huayi (Group) 80% and the operator group invested 20%. At the end of 2006, 20% of the operators also withdrew from the company, and the company became a wholly owned subsidiary of Huayi Group. {page_break}

"The shoe industry, as one of the few remaining state-owned shoe companies, urgently needs to transform its marketing model." Gui Chenggang recalled that the initial shoe manufacturing industry was looking for OEM for other manufacturers, taking the mode of "trading company" - wholesale products to dealers, but this mode not only had low profits, but also had low control of the market. According to the introduction, in the past few years, the fake back force shoes almost reached the 1:1 ratio with the genuine products, that is to say, the shoe sales industry has sold 5 million pairs of shoes, and there are 5 million counterfeit products on the market.

The mode of "trading company" is difficult to sustain. The management team of the shoe industry wants to get close to the market and understand the market. "We must build our own terminal sales network and expand the rich product line." since 2006, the shoe industry has authorized more than 10 manufacturers such as Wenzhou to design, develop and sell back shoes. Gui Chenggang said, this is a huge turning point for the old state-owned enterprise.

But how to reverse the concept of "back force" is an outdated brand while expanding the product? The management team began to consider the way of products returning to fashion and attracting young people. "No brand that young people care about is not viable." The question before us is how to go back to fashion.

Revive fashion and promote fashion transformation

In 2008, Orlanndo Bloom, the Elven prince in the Lord of the rings, appeared in the scene of "New York, I love you" in Manhattan. A pair of snow-white shoes were left at the foot. This is the "back shoe WB-1" from China. Soon, the trend of retro led by celebrities pushed back shoes to the forefront of overseas markets.

"This is a rare opportunity for us to develop. We must seize the opportunity." Gui Chenggang told the Morning Post reporter, at that time, the whole team learned that dozens of shoes in Europe sold hundreds of dollars in Europe, and they were a little excited.

The problem of how to return to the fashion road is solved before the overseas retro trend. In 2008, it was a busy and exciting year for the management team. GUI Cheng just began to promote the story of force back in some international media. He hoped that the overseas retro trend could speed up the fashion turn in the domestic market.

That summer, a group of foreign guests invited to the Olympic Games, the Belgian crown prince, the Deputy Prime Minister of Denmark and vice president of Mongolia, came to the third floor of Lisheng sports mall on Wangfujing (45.15,1.05,2.38%) in Beijing. They snapped up the Chinese national product "back shoes" because they saw the news that China Daily reported the sale of the shoes in Wangfujing.

"The retro trend has just promoted our transformation." Gui Chenggang told the Morning Post reporter that in 2008, Huili began to play a big role in transformation. After repackaging the Beijing Lisheng sports counters, the turnover of only one month exceeded the turnover of the previous year. And the display shop in the 798 Art District of Beijing sells its limited edition products with a price of up to 538 yuan.

Huili began to cater to the preferences of young people and develop personalized design products. "The painted shoes now displayed in World Expo are personalised representatives." The products sold by Gui Cheng steel show that the shoes are priced between 150-800 yuan and are very popular among young people.

At the same time, Huili began to focus on multiple types and high-end products when selecting authorized partners. Gui Chenggang said that at present, Hui Li, in cooperation with Fujian's sports shoes manufacturers, is using their cold sticky technology to empower them to develop "back" brand of high-end sports shoes, each price can be sold to 100-300 yuan.

First tier cities

But how long can Huili's bowl of "retro" meal last? After experiencing the overseas gilding, the back shoes will evolve into "memory". If you can't continue to innovate on products, GUI's brand goal will only go farther and farther away.

After the product line was perfected, Huili launched the designer's hand painted limited edition canvas shoes. On the pure white sneakers, what kind of patterns the customers liked, the designer painted what patterns, and the customers could return to the DIY with their colored pens. This practice soon aroused concern among the young consumer groups.

"Back shoes are the fashion's image at the very beginning. We must combine the elements of the trend to make the more than 80 year old return to youth." Gui Chenggang said, Huili will gradually be accepted by young consumers, and will quickly enter the terminal of the first tier cities. It is reported that through cooperation with partners, Huili has already had many sales networks in the two or three tier cities and rural markets. At present, there are more than 200 stores in the country, but there are still few in the first tier cities.

At the end of September this year, the first flagship store in Shanghai was opened. At the same time, it planned to enter some of the first department stores in Xujiahui, Huaihailu Road and Nanjing Road, which announced that the force began to enter the first tier cities. "In the next three years, a flagship will be opened in every district of Shanghai, and at the same time, it will attract franchises and plan to reach 50-100 stores in the whole city." Gui Chenggang said. From January to August this year, the total sales revenue of Hui Li company increased by 32% over the same period last year. This year's sales volume will strive for 200 million yuan, and it will reach 5 hundred million after 3 years. In the past more than 10 years, the sales volume of Huili has been hovering around 150 million yuan.

"In the future, our plan is to build the brand positioning from the middle to the low end, and gradually develop some high-end products." According to Gui Chenggang, while developing the sales network, the Huili shoe industry also plans to develop its high-end brand separately. Previously, Huili has set up counters in Hangzhou Yintai department store to test the water high-end market, a pair of WB-1 basketball shoes, plus the commemorative stamp and information classic package, the selling price is as high as 268 yuan.

Gui Chenggang said that at present, high-end brands are ready to play down the brand of "back force", while developing their English brand "Warrior (Warrior)" will eventually compete with domestic brands and foreign brands in big cities.