Low Profile "Niche" Luxury Brand Goyard Ushered In The "Tipping Point"

It seems as if overnight, the exposure rate of Goyard bags in Beijing and Shanghai has greatly increased, often with the Louis Vuitton and other brands, the high frequency appears in all kinds of luxury science and popular texts, and the recommended images of all major buyers, and even some netizens shout themselves to experience the "tragic" Goyard collision scene on the subway.

The French luxury brand, which has entered the Chinese market since 2008, may be experiencing an important selling point. While some luxury brands are racing towards a more popular and younger target group, Goyard is quietly catching these brands once a number of VIP.

The special feature of Goyard is that it almost never initiates marketing offensive or dialogue with the media. It only regards products as the only carrier of word of mouth marketing, and its traffic is 100% of "tap water". When consumers are bombarded with countless brand advertisements online and offline everyday, buying high quality products of "low-key minority" has become another "flaunt" consumption.

The paradox is that in today's complex Chinese market, although the Goyard brand is so low-key, its products and classic designs are no longer "niche" and become the most common ones. Then, is it true that the brand is really burning, or is it just a product or design that happens to become a bomb? Will this fashion damage the long-term value of a luxury brand? What risks will the brand grow in the future?

Why is Goyard getting more and more popular from this tote bag?

In 2010, Faye Wong was photographed shopping and sharing micro-blog with Goyard, bringing the first wave of social media dividends to the brand.

It has been many years since then. Suddenly, the Saint Louis large tut bag, now priced at 12780 yuan, is everywhere in the streets of Beijing and Shanghai.

This is probably due to the fact that Goyard's highly recognizable classic pattern coincides with the current "logo" resurgence, and perhaps a few of the true expressions of die loyalty powder in the small circle can be fermented and enlarged more rapidly in today's digital communication environment. In particular, when consumers are being oversold by more and more luxury brands and lead to aesthetic fatigue, they are more likely to scramble for their own "niche" brands.

We saw some netizens describing the feeling of Goyard classic pattern: "once I thought Goyard looked ugly, now I like it more and more."

The hip-hop community, who loves the big logo, seems to have rediscovered this 100 year old brand and has launched a wave of "carrying goods": Pharrell Williams has mentioned Goyard in her own songs; Kanye West has made a Saint Louis Tote for her five year old daughter North; A$AP has been carrying on the Grammy Award ceremony on the back of the postman package; according to social media, Chinese stars such as Wu Yifan and Wang Ziyi are also loyal fans of the brand.

It seems that Goyard seems to have trampled on the current trend of Monogram (alphabet pattern), but its iconic Y word Monogram graphic design is actually derived from the post impressionist painting. It was first created by the second generation Edmond Goyard of the family in the late nineteenth Century, and has been followed so far. It has been learned that a piece of fabric of 80 x 80 needs to be drawn by the craftsman for more than 4 hours. Finally, the handwritten signature of "E.Goyard" and the address of the flagship store in Paris are finally marked.

The prototype of Goyard brand can be traced back to 1792, a handcraft workshop which was built by Pierre-Francois Martin Martin, which specializes in wooden cases and suitcases. The brand has spread so far, it is not only the efforts of several generations, but also the relay between different families with different surnames.

More than 200 years of historical heritage and centuries old classic designs are precious wealth that brands need not disclose, and are also the key to keeping a low profile.

Goyard has always attached importance to the accumulation and inheritance of brand files. For example, in an antique filing cabinet in the flagship store of Paris, the order records of customers in 19 and twentieth Century are still kept in the form of index cards: Spanish painter Picasso, French explorer Jacques Cartier, India Tara king, Italy Fiat automobile founding family the Agnellis, American Rockefeller family, Russian Tsar Romanov family, Princess Duke and Mrs. Windsor, Mrs. Pompidou, Princess Aga Khan, original Chanel creative director Karl Lagerfeld are among them. .

A secret warehouse on the ground floor of the flagship store in Paris has quietly stored nearly 700 antique Custom Boxes in the Goyard brand historical archive. These antiques are also the inspiration for artisans to customize orders for high-end customers, such as the Jeanne bag that comes out of bowling bags and the Beluga bag from the laundry bag.

In 2010, Goyard and Devambez publishing house jointly published a book devoted to the history of brand technology. The world only issued 233 copies (meaning the flagship store of Saint-Honore 233 in Paris). At that time, it was called "luxury Bible" by Suzy Menkes, a famous fashion critic in New York. It can be viewed only under the conditions of advance booking.

It is worth mentioning that until today, the decoration design of every Goyard store is modeled on the flagship store in Paris (below), and even the list of background music in the store is the same.

When consumers are curious about the historical sense of brand presentation, they even take the initiative to explore the ins and outs of their brands. They will take full advantage of the brand's luxury status and authority.

　 Goyard, in fact, it has been innovating.

When consumers buy genuine Todt bags, they will be surprised by their ultra lightweight touch. Many people may not understand that this is a canvas fabric invented by the Goyard family's second generation of Edmond. He also invented the classic Y character pattern. So far, only natural dyes have been manually painted on the finished products.

According to the official website of the brand, Goyardine canvas is a kind of natural coating fabric similar to leather, firm and soft, waterproof and preservative, and is initially used in artificial dyeing and printing. The printing process now requires three consecutive mortars on the bottom cloth, giving the canvas a slight three-dimensional effect and unique appearance. Before the outbreak of World War II, Goyardine canvas once brought brilliant achievements to the brand.

Fabric innovation, bag production and pattern drawing become the core secret of the brand, and also the key to the authenticity of the product. Looking back at history, ingenuity and innovation have always been rooted in Goyard, which also makes the brand face more technical barriers when faced with imitation products.

For example, the tot bag of the fire, after being bought by French businessman Jean-Michel Signoles, has added red, orange, yellow, green and blue colors from this brown improvement.

In order to break the inherent impression of "canvas" and "hard box", the brand has recently played a joint role with Snoopy Snoopy, launching "canvas + cowhide" double-sided Anjou tote bag (above), Caravelle2 folding suitcase, unlocking 24 backpack Rouette soft bags, seasonal Aligre net bag beach bags.

On the website of Goyard, the design of black and dark gold collocation is extremely low-key. What's pleasantly surprised is that we have also found a direct interaction with users. This is also the most important service provided by the brand for high-end customers.

Over time, once served only for celebrities, and even refused some orders, Goyard can now complete personalized customization for every customer, and such customization has also become one of the barriers for brands to stay away from imitation products.

Goyard every time a new store is opened, special edition series will be launched, such as the Magnolia of Shanghai store, the red family of Beijing store, and the hippocampus bag of Monte Carlo.

Although no electricity supplier has been opened, Goyard did not completely give up communication with other users in other digitalized ways. In fact, as early as 2012, Goyard announced the first film in the history of the brand. In 2013, it opened the official account of sina micro-blog, opened the official WeChat in 2015, and opened the Instagram in 2016. Even when the new Artois package was released in 2018, micro-blog and WeChat became the preferred channel for brand distribution.

In the brand case list, Goyard pet dog fashion series Chic Du Chien, which allows pets to enjoy customized services, was selected.

Although this is also launched by the family of the second generation of Edmond Goyard, the dog fashion series was launched, and the boutique store (Saint-Honor Avenue 352) was specially designed for this series. But for Goyard, through pet dog fashion series, some pets loving users have a brand-new understanding of brand image, and they also find a common language to communicate with brands.

Goyard, "low key" is a double-edged sword.

When we look at the Goyard brand awareness (not a bag), the attitude of consumers is obvious polarization:

Some users say that bags are now only bought for Goyard, because other luxury brands are too easy to bump into their bags and have long since given up. But more people say they do not know what brand it is. Though they see someone carrying it, they do not understand why it is so expensive. Even netizens refer to Goyard when they know what the ugliest design you have seen.

Although it has a history of 100 years, in the face of completely different communication environment and retail ecology, if the brand is overly silent at the time when it should release the brand power, it will inevitably miss the best window period for brand voice.

Especially in China's unique market environment, if the brand is controlled by the circulation of goods at this stage, its brand image and brand value will undoubtedly suffer heavy losses. When we call the store, we find that the brand does not even provide inspection services.

Goyard has been refusing automation and mass production, which has led to its low output. In the face of China's big appetite market, the future may appear to be inadequate.

Looking at the brand micro-blog, many netizens began to talk about products or prices a long time ago. The reply of brand unification is "please call for consultation or visit boutique boutiques". Many consumers who have been to Goyard Paris general store say that queuing outside the shop is commonplace, because the store can only receive a fixed number of customers in a certain period of time.

Goyard, which does not expand its business, has direct outlets in 21 cities around the world.

In 2008, Goyard entered China. The first store opened in The Peninsula Hong Kong in 2008, and second stores in 2012 fell to Shanghai. After that, they moved from the original the Bund to Hang Lung Plaza. In 2013, third stores entered Beijing China World Trade Center, and 2014 opened a new shop in Taigu square in Hongkong. Recently, they opened a new store in Chengdu IFS.

As the visibility of this tote bag and classic Y character is getting higher and higher, imitation products are beginning to show signs. Even on a well-known e-commerce website, we can see that the Y character design is linked to Kaws's mobile phone shell, with a price tag of only 35 yuan.

Such a phenomenon deserves the brand's high vigilance, because the similar situation is not the first time:

As early as 2012, Louis Vuitton also faced a similar situation. At that time, the brand bag design was highly recognizable, gaining popularity among consumers, but soon began to overrun counterfeit goods. At that time, LVMH chief financial officer Jean-Jacques Guiony admitted in the third quarter of 2013 fiscal year's conference call that although benefit from overseas tourism shopping, the overall sales of Chinese consumers still had a "median number" growth, and Louis Vuitton's sales in mainland China were "flattish" (flat, no growth).

If the problem of shortage of supply can not be alleviated, the new user who is full of enthusiasm may lose patience and turn around. The overflow of fake commodities will make the original loyal VIP of the brand have no light or even "Empathy".

For these problems, Goyard, which is still operating independently, is undoubtedly facing a dilemma.

epilogue

According to the second-hand luxury goods consignment platform The Real Real in the 2018 Christmas season, the second luxury consignment report shows that among women's favorite brands: Goyard is second only to Herm s, and its handbag sells at 80% of the original price.

Rati Levesque, chief purchasing officer of the platform, evaluated Goyard's value in the secondary market because it is like a Jiabao, a bag that the fashion industry will choose, rather than a grandiose luxury.

In 2016, two groups of French luxury goods group LVMH and Kering were interested in acquiring Goyard.

Pam Danziger, a luxury retail analyst, believes that Goyard, as a private holding company, can act more in accordance with its own thinking than some large group's luxury brands. It does not have to consider responding to questions from shareholders and Group executives. This is the latter's advantage.

But it goes without saying that as an independent luxury brand, its investment and anti risk capabilities are relatively weak. Facing the booming and changing emerging markets such as China, low-key is an attitude and a choice of strength.