Buying A Donation Of "BOGO Mode" Triggering Disputes Between Business And Charity

The world is not even, even at the foot.

When the women of Hollywood are always worried about a pair of shoes in the shoes and hats before the banquet, the poor children in Argentina are running barefoot on the barren land because of a pair of shoes.

The emergence of TOMS cloth shoes connects the two worlds by wearing the same shoes.

The social enterprise created a famous business by buying a pair of shoes and letting a child without shoes get a pair of new shoes.

In the early summer of 2006, American Blake McKoski (Blake Mycoskie) came to Argentina to learn polo, tango and some community service.

There, McKoski discovered that because of extreme poverty, many children have been walking barefoot on the land of SiO2 over a long period of time, suffering from various foot diseases.

One day, he met a group of city visitors on the road, and they were giving out old shoes for the children in the countryside. But the styles and sizes of many old shoes were not suitable.

McKoski wondered if there was a new way to put children on the right shoes.

McKoski is a natural entrepreneur. He was runner up in the US reality TV show The Amazing Race, and he founded several companies spanning different industries.

In those days, McKoski set up TOMS shoes company (Toms Shoes) in Santa Monica, Gary, with $300 thousand. TOMS shoes advocated comfort first, using environmentally-friendly materials, and using Argentina's traditional cloth shoes "Alpargata" as the design source, adhering to minimalist design thinking.

The shoes and shoes are pure cotton cloth, and the insole is soft leather, plus anti slip sole. It is light and comfortable. Even if it does not wear socks, it will not rub feet. The retail price ranges from 48 US dollars to 85 dollars.

The sale of TOMS shoes is different from that of other shoes.

McKoski decided to drive donations through sales. If shoes manufacturers can produce a pair of new shoes according to the sales volume, they can ensure long-term and stable donation.

Soon, the Losangeles times life version discovered his creativity. The headline report brought him business, and there were more than 900 orders on the day of the newspaper.

In just four months, TOMS sold more than 10 thousand pairs of shoes.

He returned to Argentina to issue the first batch of shoes and brought 10000 pairs of shoes (he originally planned to bring 200 pairs of shoes back to Argentina in the first year).

Soon, with the continuous reports of many fashion media, TOMS became the favorite of Hollywood stars in their casual clothes.

Business and charity complement each other.

These organizations provide children with sizes for TOMS, and provide photos of children to shoes and activities after receiving shoes, and then publish them to TOMS by TOMS blogs.

Because the feet of children grow very fast, TOMS will provide children with a pair of new shoes every six months to a year, and always accompany them to spend their childhood.

In order to let more people join in the donation, in April 8, 2008, McKoski initiated the "barefoot day" campaign, calling on volunteers to walk barefoot on this day.

Personally experience, let volunteers realize the pain and the value of shoes donated by millions of children in the world every day.

Every year after that, one hundred thousand people from all parts of the world participate in this movement.

In addition, the company also launched a "Tramp Tour" campaign, spreading ideas by volunteers on various campuses in the United States.

The company also collaborate with more than 1200 school clubs to allow students to design patterns or handwork for cloth shoes.

In 2009, TOMS cloth shoes were very popular in Hollywood, and were widely sought after by many stars.

By 2010, TOMS shoes had more than 500 stores in the world and sold over 100 pairs of shoes.

Bai Yu, a doctor who studied business in the US, met TOMS shoes on a trip to Mexico volunteers.

"Buy a pair of shoes, let a child without shoes get a pair of new shoes" story attracted her, she and her boyfriend bought a pair, found that "not only wild, but also uncomfortable," her American classmates almost a pair of TOMS canvas shoes.

Moreover, TOMS sends a blue and white flag or a shoe bag every time, and sends a bracelet or a letter more regularly. The letter reads, "dear friends, when we gave our new shoes to the children in Africa last year, they were very happy.

One of the children put a similar style bracelet on my wrist, and I have been wearing it to today.

Now I'll give you this bracelet, and please wear it with pride, because you have more children wearing new shoes.

I hope you feel the joy you bring them.

Thank you. "

Bai Yu felt that TOMS's contribution to the society was a very positive and moving advertisement book.

After 2011, the company began to replicate this model, launch TOMS glasses, and sell a pair of glasses, to provide treatment or eye care for an eye disease.

This model has brought about the promotion of employee loyalty.

85% of its staff and interns are customers of the company.

Why is there such charm? Perhaps, as a young customer said, "I would like to buy TOMS shoes, I think this is very cool."

McKoski wants entrepreneurs to think about giving.

McKoski described himself as a "continuous entrepreneur" and "travel addiction".

As early as sophomore year, he dropped out of school and started a laundry service for college students. Later he set foot in TV reality shows, outdoor advertising and other industries.

By 2006, he had successfully established 5 pure profit enterprises.

McKoski does not spend too much time in his office. He usually has only 5-6 days in Losangeles every month, and has a short and effective meeting with his team in the afternoon.

The rest of the journey is on the way: distributing shoes to poor children, giving lectures to universities and enterprises around the country, spreading his donation business model.

Usually, he gets up at 8:30, after breakfast, spends some time thinking and writing diary.

He now has more than 50 copies of his diary. He says keeping a diary will keep him awake, especially when he is confronted with difficulties and pressures.

When he read the diary he had written, he found that what happened at that time was not important - he had already passed through the pain, which would prepare him for the next difficulty.

(Southern Metropolis Daily www.nddaily.com SouthernMetropolisDailyMark Nandu net)

He hopes to inspire the next generation of social entrepreneurs and leaders to think about how to "give" to their business models.

Many people who listened to his speech would buy a pair of TOMS shoes and share their stories with others.

Can BOGO mode land in China?

In China, although the combination of business and charity has been explored, the difficulties in policy and law still make social enterprises difficult.

For example, Shanghai's social enterprises are ploughing workshop, and their salesmen are often questioned at the exhibition to make profits by charity promotion.

In addition, since 2010, Jiangsu has issued a ban on corporate fund-raising promotion.

It is still a topic for social entrepreneurs to learn from BOGO and to combine business and charity in a legal and policy way.

Bai Yu has her own understanding of the localization of BOGO mode in China. She believes that due to cultural differences, despite the economic progress, Chinese people have an instinctive resistance to businessmen, because the gap between the rich and the poor has strong hatred for the rich.

"Therefore, the discussion of TOMS can not be divorced from the background of American Culture -- a common attitude towards charity and social responsibility.

I think that copying TOMS to China may not be a success soon. "

In addition to the direct donation during the disaster relief, he believes that donations to the local community should be a kind of "donation".

NGO and enterprises are looking for more effective ways to encourage community self-reliance.

In fact, in the process of combining business with public welfare, as long as the result of the project is to serve the disadvantaged group, and the project itself is lawful, safe, healthy and respecting labor, it is a matter of killing two birds with one stone.

(Southern Metropolis Daily www.nddaily.com SouthernMetropolisDailyMark Nandu net)

He said, "businesses also need to advertise. If they can use this money to do charity, they will benefit both sides.

At present, in the context of China's reality, public awareness in this area needs improvement and media publicity.

(Southern Metropolis Daily www.nddaily.com SouthernMetropolisDailyMark Nandu net)

Topic

TOMS sparked controversy over business and charity

With the rapid growth of red, "buy one donation" mode has also been questioned.

For example, the founder of "more than one kilogram" founder believes that free shoes may steal customers from local shoe manufacturers, causing more unemployment.

Researcher Garth Frazer found that between 1981 and 2000, the drop in capacity of the African apparel industry by 40% and 50% of the employment decrease were due to the large number of second-hand clothing donated abroad.

In addition, the economy is inefficient, and the cost of intercontinental freight is higher than the cost of shoes itself.

TOMS is also gradually adjusting its procurement strategy, purchasing more from the manufacturers in the donor countries, in order to create a dual social effect of local production and local donation.

Some experts also suggested that TOMS could donate cloth and then organize women to donate shoes for donation in donation places.

Another doubt comes from the needs of local communities.

Although TOMS's starting point is to get children to wear shoes, not having shoes is not the only or greatest predicament faced by the poor.

Critics also point out that Tom shoes are hard to get rid of the label of sweatshops in factories that have not yet been effectively protected by labor rights.

There are also some skeptics who are disgusted with consumer charity itself.

They satirize TOMS shoes only to make those who have not much money in the developed countries want to wear brands, do not care about the suffering of developing countries and want to keep up with the trend of people who bought a good feeling.

A non-profit group even launched a "no dignity" boycott campaign for TOMS's "no shoes for a day" campaign, urging consumers to see clearly that TOMS is not the essence of effective charity.

about

Bai Yu believes that a good charitable model must be a recycling mode rather than a model of robbing the rich and helping the poor.

From this point of view, TOMS not only made profits while beneficent, but also gave consumers a sense of participation and pride and became a part of charity action.

As long as an enterprise can make consumers understand the donation link openly and pparently, or invite consumers to participate in volunteer activities like TOMS, it can not only solve this problem, but also further improve the product image and promote the idea, which is a virtuous circle.