The Arrival Of Aging: Shoemaking Enterprises Tap The "Silver Haired" Market

In the past 2013 order meeting, the innovative footwear industry put forward the brand concept of "old fashions", and developed several kinds of shoes for the elderly in the market of "silver hair".

There is no coincidence.

The Jinjiang brand jijiabao, the main product, is also in the deep market for the elderly.

In their concept, there is still much room for digging in the old market: the elderly not only begin to "dress", but also like fashion in sports and fitness.

For this reason, more and more

Shoes brand is filling gaps in the "silver hair" market.

However, at present, most cities in China do not have any old products stores, and old shoes are sold in ordinary stores. The sole product of old shoes can support the construction of monopoly system. The industry is still in the exploratory stage.

However, in the view of industry experts, we must solve a series of difficulties faced by the elderly market, and enterprises that make senior footwear products first play the "emotional cards" and resonate with consumers.

The market share of "silver hair" is considerable.

"In Jinjiang, there are few brands that sell old shoes."

It is Zhang Jie group, director of marketing department of Jinjiang innovation Footwear Co., Ltd., which gives an evaluation of the present footwear market for the elderly.

"In the latest quarter of the order, our company has developed many fashionable shoes for the elderly market.

Not only is the shoe material soft and comfortable, but also in terms of color matching, we also focus on the bright colors that the elderly can accept.

Zhang Jiequn told reporters that the fashionable footwear of the elderly has always been a market that is not fully developed. The innovative footwear industry will sell fashion to the elderly and create a "fashion brand" in this "silver market".

Zhang Jiequn's words are not without reason.

In recent years, the traditional shoes market seems to be facing such a situation: Although most styles of shoes are changeable in style and style, the main consumers are mainly childhood, teenagers and middle-aged people.

Correspondingly, the elderly consumer is facing the embarrassment of nowhere to buy shoes and clothes.

"Most of the shoes on the market are still too hard and uncomfortable for me.

It's harder to buy clothes, buy smaller ones, wear tight clothes, buy bigger ones, wear long clothes and feel sloppy. If you can't find them, you have to buy sportswear.

Ms. Liu, who has lived in Qingyang for over 60 years, told reporters that she was facing an embarrassment of consumption.

"Some people think that most of the elderly are frugal, and they are not willing to spend money. Basically, they can not afford higher shoes prices.

In fact, this is a traditional misunderstanding.

Zhang Jiequn passed the "

"The survey found that although the traditional elderly have frugal shoes and clothing consumption concept, a large part of the elderly have a strong compensation for consumption psychology, eager to compensate for the consumption needs and aspirations which have not been realized before. They not only begin to" pay attention to "dress, but also like fashion in fitness and sports.

At the same time, with the increasing number of quasi "silver haired" people who hold the concept of enjoying life and pursuing quality life, modern seniors' demand for aesthetics, entertainment and health and their desire for consumption are more and more intense.

"Compared with traditional elderly people, they will be more active, more intense, willing to meet their better material and spiritual needs and invest and consume."

Zhang Jiequn told reporters.

To this end, the shoe industry has shouted the slogan of "elderly fashion", and more and more Jinjiang shoe brands are filling the gap of this "silver hair" market.

"The market for the elderly is very early, and has been working hard to develop it."

Zhuang Xiaofeng, general manager of Yi Jiabao Industrial Co., Ltd.

In fact, Jinjiang brand Yi Jiabao, whose main product is cotton shoes, has always been sought after by the "silver haired" market.

"Cotton shoes sold to the elderly must be thicker. Keeping warm and healthy is the key to this product."

For the "silver hair" market, Zhuang Xiaofeng obviously has his own knack.

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Low unit price and high cost.

As early as last year, the special shoe industry Co., Ltd., located in Jinjiang, has planned pformation to specializes in the production of shoes for elderly shoes.

Later, the plan was shelved by the company's top executives.

"Mainly the channel problem.

A single old shoe product is hard to sustain the cost of the original channel.

If you really want to be a franchised store, I have to make a store for senior citizens when I check it out. The shoe product can only be tied up.

Ding Xiangjun, general manager of te Xiang Shoes Co., Ltd., told reporters.

Different from Zhang Jiequn's view that he is more willing to satisfy his material and spiritual needs and invest and consume, in Ding Xiangjun's eyes, the market development of old shoes should still be dominated by low price strategy, but the low price of products leads to the limited profit space of old shoe products, which makes it difficult for the brand to support the laying of monopoly channels for old shoes.

Take women's boots as an example, making a pair of popular women's boots is a decade or even dozens of times the profits of a pair of old shoes.

Like an ordinary location store, you can only sell a pair of women's boots a day to pay the rent, while the old shoes need to sell more than a dozen to get back.

Ding Xiangjun calculated the accounts for reporters.

At present, most cities in China do not have any old shoe stores, and old shoes are often sold in ordinary stores.

And this has also formed a strange circle: low product profit leads to the old shoe enterprises can not lay the monopoly channel, no monopoly channel leads to the brand premium premium of old shoes, and the low brand premium leads to the low profit of the old shoe products.

"The product structure of the domestic elderly shoes market is too single, most of them are mainly cloth shoes, and cloth shoes are the low price of shoes category."

Zhuang Xiaofeng said that even if the old cotton shoes products are used, the unit price is only maintained at an acceptable level.

"The profits of cloth shoes will be lower."

On the other hand, although the unit price of the product is rather difficult, the funding for the special needs of the elderly is very high.

"We have invited professional talents to design shoes for senior citizens, not only that, but also for some parts of old shoes.

For example, enhancing the skid resistance and thickening the cotton wadding in shoes, etc., all these require a lot of R & D costs.

For the development of the elderly shoe market difficulties, Zhang Jie group is also "straight scratching the head", "for the elderly shoes research footwear design talent is also very scarce."

Now the design on the market is basically making shoes for older people by increasing the size of adult shoes.

This will lead to shoe structural design which is not in line with the foot characteristics of the elderly, so that shoes will be stuck, grinding feet and other issues.

Play the "emotional card" and do well in the layout of the channel.

"Old shoes are not only products, but also a kind of humanistic concern."

In view of the development difficulties of the elderly shoe market, industry experts believe that enterprises that do senior footwear products should play a good role in "emotional cards".

Ceng Youqi, a brand marketing expert, told reporters that in marketing, brands should establish emotional resonance with consumers.

"For example, for young people who buy old shoes for their parents, brands need to work on the key word" Mom and Dad ".

For this reason, we have an example of the old people's shoes brand "pleasant square": the brand specially developed for the middle-aged and old consumers a set of comfort, health, fashion and leisure shoes, which are professional, intimate, and so on.

"Products sell well."

It is worth mentioning that in the laying of channels, enterprises should also consider the "emotional" factor: according to the old people's mobility and generally do not want to run around, prefer to buy nearby consumption habits, sales terminals should be set up in convenient traffic lots or residential areas, to facilitate the elderly consumers.

"For example, the magazines that put old shoes into the elderly without leaving home, and pool with community supermarkets, are all avenues for the development of shoes for older people."

Zeng Qi said.

In the face of the rising temperature of the elderly shoe market, the enterprises in Jinjiang doing elderly shoes should pay more attention to brand building while playing the "emotional cards", highlighting the concept of "category first".

"Brand as a sign of product or service can be used to characterize and create the difference between similar products or services. Consumers rely on the brand to create a sense and experience to help them select or identify products or services."

Yu Fei, a brand marketing expert, told reporters how to make consumers feel the difference between brand and other brands and emotional experience to become the "homework" that many older shoe companies need to do.