A Thin Shoe Industry: From Shoemaking To Shoe Sales

From an obscure little shoe stand on the streets of Taiwan to the year

"Wipe 3 times, brighten 3 days".

One morning in the 50s of last century, it was the "peak" of work. The "East Dragon Pavilion" restaurant in the two section of Yanping Road north of Taipei has formed a "dragon". The workers working in the "Financial Street" are queuing up for shoes that are famous for their reputation.

In the era when many people could not wear leather shoes, shoeshine was "the five star service at the top of Pyramid".

At the forefront of the "dragon", the "thin skinny" who has a good command of the hand is greased, polished and polished by the pig brush and the wiping cloth, and the same procedure is carried out without any carelessness for the 3 round.

In the vicinity of the shoe booth of the "thin skinny" shoe shop, the shoe stands and shoemaker shops are standing. But in order to find the shoeshine master who has rubbed 3 times and brightens for 3 days, besides "thin skinny boy", it can be said that there is no semicolon, and the slogan "shoeshine is thin" spreads like wildfire.

In those days, the shoemaking master was one of the leading brands of the footwear industry in Taiwan, the founder and chairman of the "thin leather shoes", Luo Shuimu.

This year, 73 year old, he smiled and recalled: "when I was young, I was thin and weighed less than 50 kilograms, and the neighborhood called me" thin ", which was both cordial and appropriate.

Young gamblers return to the prodigal son

Look at Luo Shui Mu in those days, he was thin and weak. When he was young, he was on the gambling table, but he had a strong posture and was "proficient in everything".

However, gambling is no better than that of the dealer. Before the age of 23, Luo Shui Mu had gone through two ups and downs for entering and leaving the casino: for the first time, he had run away from home to Taipei in debt because of his debts. The second time, the "noodle stand" which was hard to manage was lost in the second time.

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At the end of the game, Luo Shui Mu paused the remaining property - a watch, bought a shoeshine tool, and began shoeshine career.

Luo Shuimu said, "it was just to fill the stomach."

Relying on this technology that does not contain too much "gold content", he has made a real world.

"I will never reduce one procedure because of the number of guests."

Luo Shui Mu proudly said, "the eyes of the guests are bright, even if they can deceive for a while, the guests will eventually find out."

He dropped out of school at the age of 10, and he had a vague idea of "brand name" - "a thin boy" sign, with no dust.

Luo Shui Mu, which is not "professional", has not only advanced "brand concept", but also "advertisement precedent" in the shoeshine industry. He displays the shoes that he has rubbed for guests and has not been taken away in the glass cabinet.

"Like the new ones!" the passers could not help but applause.

From shoeshine to shoe sales

One day, a passer-by suddenly asked for the shoes in the glass cabinet.

Luo Shui wood was shocked, which gave him the idea of "selling shoes simply".

At the time, a pair of shoes cost two yuan and a pair of leather shoes cost up to 200 yuan.

Luo Shuimu returned to his hometown of Yilan, hired a shoemaker, and made shoes and shoes business.

From shoeshine to shoe sales, Luo Shui Mu's business has always been maintained at the stage of "stall vendors". The shoe maker's "production capacity" is only 4 pairs of shoes a day. Luo Shui Mu's "storefront" is a trolley. There are 20 pairs of leather shoes in the glass cabinet, with the sign of "thin leather shoes" on it.

"Store" looks quite "simple", the old customers are very many, many people are directed against the reputation of Luo Shui Mu shoeshine to buy shoes.

"At that time, the output was limited, and it was impossible to produce a full size."

Luo Shuimu said, "I sell samples to old customers, tailor made for customers, and shoes are really good and cheap."

Luo Shui Mu relies on word of mouth established by word of mouth to do business. Although the business is good, but the output is not high, and the money on hand is limited, it seems that it can only be a mobile stall.

A chance to let Luo Shuimu pfer from here.

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"Cold time" "hot advertisement"

At that time, listening to radio was the most common entertainment for ordinary people.

A staff member of a radio station was a regular customer of Luo Shui Mu. When he saw that the business of "thin skinny boy" was getting better and better, he sold him the "cold hour" advertisement from 11 to 12 p.m.

The cost of a week's advertising is equal to the price of 4 pairs of shoes. The abacus, who has played the best game, did not want to advertise. But he didn't want to offend the old customers. Plus the other side gave 50 percent off discount, he agreed to bite.

Unexpectedly, this somewhat reluctant decision made the "thin skinny boy" upgrade from a mobile peddlers to the owner of a physical shop, laying the foundation for the kingdom of thin shoes.

It turned out that when it was summer, many people couldn't sleep in the heat at night. When they went outside to enjoy the cool, they listened to the radio chatting, and in the "cool hour" advertisement, the audience became more and more. "Ah thin" became a household name.

"Trust is more important."

After catching up with the broadcast of the "free ride", Luo Shui Mu began to implement "clear price" in sales.

In the 60s of last century, shoes displayed in shoe shops were not priced, but they were sold by shopkeepers.

Luo Shui Mu felt that this way could not establish trust between store owners and customers.

So he posted all the shoes in the shop and declared "no price".

Luo Shui Mu recalls that one day, a couple brought their children to buy shoes.

Luo Shui Mu sees the old customer. Without saying anything, he immediately gives 10 percent off discount, but the customer still wants to get another 50 yuan cheaper.

Luo Shuimu said, "if you see that I sell to others 1 yuan less than you, you will punish me 10 thousand yuan."

As soon as the guests heard this, they left without coming back, but soon came back to buy shoes.

Luo Shuimu said: "in business, besides the quality of things, trust is more important."

It is the trust of customers that has made "thin skinny".

Now, there are more than 300 branches of "thin leather shoes" in Taiwan, with a turnover of more than 4 billion yuan.