How Long Can The Cage Mode Go?

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In China, the trend of cracking down on "Shanzhai" has become more and more intense. However, there are few brands that are keen on counterfeiting and protecting others.

Recently, the shoe brand has been playing a defensive role in China.

Get into a lawsuit

Went to court.

It is worth noting that Skech was accused of plagiarism from Adidas two times within a year.

Lawsuits are wrapped up in rights.

Skech said that in the Mega Flex 2 and Mega Flex 3.0 two sports shoes, Skech deliberately infringed two patents of Adidas's product three years ago.

Plagiarism is a great damage to Adidas brand and R & D personnel. Adidas will not stand idly by about the infringement of intellectual property rights.

Adidas said it would take all legal measures to investigate responsibility and protect innovation.

It is worth noting that this is the second time that Skech had been taken to court by Adidas. In September last year, Adidas accused Cage of copying Stan Smith, the representative of his classic sports series.

And in the first instance of February this year, Adidas won the lawsuit. The second instance is expected to be held in May 2017.

What the industry is questioning is that Cage is obviously in a state of "knowing the law and breaking the law". Skech is very keen on safeguarding China's rights in the Chinese market.

At the beginning of this year, Cage dealer discovered that "SKEWRONS" brand shoes sold in Guangrao Dongying Jiale shopping plaza in Shandong were suspected of copying the products of SKECHERS. Not only did they sell very similar products in the shopping malls, but the publicity design and shop display style were also heavily suspected of plagiarism.

In the case of repeated inactive contact with the other party, Cage joined the local law enforcement agency to arrest 275 pairs of suspected infringing shoes, and ordered the other party not to re sell and withdraw.

Public data showed that in the 2015 fiscal year, Cage's total income was $3 billion 150 million (about 20 billion 660 million yuan), an increase of 32% over the same period last year.

In the first 3 months of 2016, Skech's share of the American sports shoes market was 5%, according to data from NPD group, a retail marketing company.

Skech, who repeatedly copied the cottage, even surpassed Adidas's 4.6%, sold better than Adidas, and became the second largest sports shoe company in the United States after Nike.

Make good use of marketing means

In fact, apart from Adidas, Skech has also been involved in many lawsuits on suspicion of plagiarizing intellectual property rights.

Nike sued Cage in January this year, and infringed Nike's 8 patents in the past two years.

Another sports brand CONVERSE also accused Cage of having mass production, distribution or sale of Shanzhai CONVERSE Chuck Taylor classic sneakers in 2014.

In this regard, Zhang Qing, a clothing industry expert, told the Beijing daily news that Skech was able to exceed Adidas in the market share, not because of the high performance of the product itself, but because the brand was very good at using marketing means.

"Cage's initial explosion did not come from the US market, but from Korea.

Driven by Korean stars, Cage's "panda shoes" have been well received by fashion fads in the near future.

Zhang Qing pointed out that compared with other sports brand's obvious function, Si Cage is more inclined to fashion in products, which also makes Cage win the favor of many young consumers.

But at the same time, Zhang Qing pointed out that it may be too much emphasis on the use of fashion elements, and there are some problems in Skech's hardware design.

"In order to ensure that the product has a certain sense of design, in the process of research and development, Cage will probably learn from the brand of higher grade brand, such as Nike and Adidas.

How long can the Cage mode go?

Zhang pointed out that there is widespread doubt about whether Cage's "reference" move can work in the long term.

It is understood that Cage's positioning is biased in the middle and high-end, priced at between 500-800 yuan, less than 1000 yuan of shoes.

Such pricing is difficult to attract high-end consumers who value quality, and it is not easy to enter low price market.

Cage's partial explosion has been favored by some Chinese consumers because of both the big brand design and the price advantage, but this strategy can not work for a long time.

There are many competitors in Skech's medium - price market, including NewBalance, CONVERSE and so on.

Nike and Adidas also have products of this price range.

In addition, Zhang Qing believes that in the short term, Nike and Adidas are both going to court, consumers will doubt Cage's brand trust.

But for Cage's "reference" action can be "convicted", Zhang Qing somewhat helpless, "in the field of shoes and clothing," draw lessons from "has become a kind of ethos.

The brand of Zara in clothing area is to copy the big name design on the exhibition line to its own product line, and move the middle class consumers with low price advantage.

As for the Chinese market, there is no corresponding law in the aspect of appearance, material and design of the products in China, so it is very difficult for the copycats to safeguard their rights.